Mexican Gothic: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

The next day Noemí ventures into the cemetery. Catalina inspired this trip; “You must look in the cemetery,” she said. Catalina once told Noemí a story about the novelist Mary Shelly. Apparently, she rendezvoused with her future husband in a cemetery. Catalina always expected true romance for herself—passion in the moonlight. Noemí wonders if High Place has robbed her of that illusion, or if it was meant to be shattered all along. Marriage could hardly be the passionate romances one read about in books. Men tend to be well behaved during courtship, but after marriage, the feelings dissipate.

Noemí passes a small cluster of tombs. She sees something move, though she can’t tell what it is because it’s half hidden by the mist. She calls out to it, but it doesn’t respond or move. The shape almost looks like it has a halo. Noemí remembers Catalina’s words: it lives in the cemetery. She feels vulnerable and a little frightened. She moves away quickly, trying to retrace her steps to the house. She hears a rustling in the grass, as if something is following her. At a fork in the road, Noemí can’t remember if she should go left or right. She hears a buzzing noise, almost like bees. It lives in the cemetery. The buzzing seems to come from the right, so Noemí decides to go left. She moves quickly in that direction, nearly bumping into Francis.

To Noemí, Francis has always seemed rather insubstantial. But now he appears perfectly solid and real. She tells him that she could kiss him, she’s so happy. Francis blushes, turning as red as a pomegranate. It’s a little funny to Noemí. If anyone should play the bashful maid, it should be her, not Francis, who’s older and more established. Noemí tells him that she’s lost, and already she’s beginning to feel less afraid. She notices that he has a basket in his hands, and she asks what he’s doing out here. Francis tells her that he’s been collecting mushrooms—they grow all over the cemetery. Noemí jokes that he’ll be eating mushrooms that have sprouted from dead things, but he admonishes her: mushrooms always grow from dead things, in a way.

Francis shows Noemí the mushrooms he has in the basket. Cantharellus cibarius. The Zapotec Indians used them as an anesthetic for dentistry, and the Aztecs consumed them in order to experience visions. Noemí has heard of them—Teonanácatl. The Spanish chroniclers said that they’re supposed to make one drunk and lustful. Noemí knows that she’s flirting with Francis; maybe she’ll even kiss him before the trip is over. She’s moved by Francis’s passion for mushrooms. He invites her to come to the library with him sometime so he can show her his spore prints. The two continue towards High Place, and the mist gets lighter.

Noemí mentions that she’d like to have a cigarette, and Francis tells her that his mother wishes to speak with her about that. The family insists on certain healthy habits. It’s the way things have always been done at High Place. Noemí jokes that the cemetery sounds livelier than his family’s household. Maybe they should stay here instead and look for some of those lust-inducing mushrooms, and if Francis gets fresh with Noemí, she won’t complain. Francis stutters that his mother would say it’s quite wrong to suggest something like that. Noemí thinks that he looks disgusted with her. She imagines him whispering with his mother about superior and inferior types, calling her filth. Noemí stomps her cigarette and declares that she doesn’t care what Florence thinks. She calls Francis a bore and tells him she’s heading back alone.

Noemí stops a few steps later. Francis has followed her. He bends down and picks up a mushroom that she has crushed. He tells her that it’s a destroying angel—a white, poisonous mushroom. Francis places the mushroom back on the ground and stands up. He understands that he must seem ridiculous to Noemí, he tells her, since he’s afraid of upsetting his mother and even more afraid of upsetting Uncle Howard. Noemí realizes that the look of disgust she saw earlier wasn’t meant for her; Francis was disgusted with himself. She feels awful for being angry with him, and she grabs his hand and apologizes. They hold hands for a moment, and then Francis tells Noemí that she should go back to the house—he still has more mushrooms to find.