Hey Alexa play What Was I Made For by Billie Eilish….

Jan 30, 2024

desire, Dreams, Family, Life, Memory, perspective, reality, temporality

Hey everyone! I’m really excited to talk about this week’s reading, “The Shrouded Woman” by Maria Luisa Bombal.

Firstly, the themes that were covered in general were super intriguing to me. I love thinking about life, love and the afterlife on my own time and am generally a fairly existential thinker so I personally really enjoyed the read.

I think one of the biggest things that made the book so interesting and I’m sure its the same for many of you is the fact that the narrator, Ana Maria, is actually not even alive, yet continues to think, feel and express her thoughts and opinions. I don’t think I’ve read anything that has been written this way which again made it so interesting to me. I really like how Bombal just got straight into it by describing the narrator’s own funeral. It really set the tone for the book and the rest of the story. I LOVED the whole dramatic irony of the story as if we were getting insider gossip on so many aspects of Ana Maria’s life like her first love Ricardo, Fernando’s crush on her and insight into her marriage as well.

Another big aspect of the storytelling is that it caused a lot of reflection. Bombal explains all of these regrets Ana Maria has even after DEATH. Even after death Ana Maria is so concerned with all of these societal ideations that shape you as a person and restrict you as you live. As a Sociology major, this was something I could not stop myself from thinking about.

Like I said I am a very existential thinker and this book got me thinking tons. Some of my own personal thoughts that arose were all surrounded on life and my life and expectations I place on myself and those that are placed on me by others. It is so interesting how some people spend the entirety of their lives restricted by silly societal constructs and idea within cultures and demographics that hold you back from doing what you want to or even exploring things that you MIGHT want to. I’m a firm believer that nothing in life is a waste of time as you consistently are growing and learning from everything you do and every person you interact with as stagnant as it can feel sometimes. But then there is this other part of me that is like what if im not doing enough? If I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with everything I have done, everything I have accomplished and everyone ive connected with? I like to think of it less in a regretful way and more of a hopeful way. I live my life to the fullest and with the most gratitude every single dya for that exact reason to try my best to live a fulfilling life I can say im proud of if I were able to recall life after death just as Ana Maria does.

ANYWAYS, not to get too sentimental and make this more of a personal diary but the book was definitely a reality check and like we talked about in class, being able to sympathize for Ana Maria really enhanced the reading experience.

And now a pretty deep question I personally LOVE to ask people:

Do you have any regrets in your life? If you were to reflect on your life the way Ana Maria does, is there anything you would change? Why or Why not?

5 responses to “Hey Alexa play What Was I Made For by Billie Eilish….”

Daniel Orizaga Doguim

January 31, 2024 at 2:09 am

‘I LOVED the whole dramatic irony of the story…’I like that definition to describe the tone in which the narrator speaks in some passages. I think this novel can also be read as a response to the masculine expectations of the novels of the Romantic movement in Latin America. One way to destroy melodrama is precisely with irony.

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Mehkai Manzano

January 31, 2024 at 2:42 pm

Hi Sam! As another sociologists, I too found that Bombal’s “The Shrouded Woman” had so many examples of doing gender and the greater impacts of gender stratification in action. While I personally do not have any regrets, I can’t deny that I did/do a lot of very cringe things, and it is hard to comfortably reflect on who I was, not even two years ago. I agree with you that it is silly to be held back by societal expectations, and as someone who has started pursuing more things they enjoy regardless of the gendered expectations behind it, it is a difficult jump to take. While reducing social structures to just social structures, I think there is an aspect of minimizing their very real effects by doing so and it is a tough line to walk on. Especially when remembering that despite social structures being socially constructed, it doesn’t make their consequences any less real. I look forward to reading more of your engaging blog posts and listening to your thoughts about future texts 🙂

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Maxene Uy

January 31, 2024 at 8:44 pm

Hi Sam! Sociologist here as well. Im in symbolic interactionism right now so I definitely relate to the nerding out (especially with the I and the Me). I also think a lot about what happens after death and I did also find myself thinking about my own life while reading this novel. I also found myself relating a little, did you? I really love the personal touch you added to your blog post as well. To answer your question yeah I feel like I will die with regrets (dark) but I believe I won’t look at them as anxiously as Ana Maria did. I believe I’ll look back and be like yeah I was a little dumb lol but it made life quite more eventful.

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seandeacon

January 31, 2024 at 9:04 pm

Heyyyyy Sam! Great blog post I really enjoyed the last paragraph on your personal beliefs. To answer your question, I USED to regret leaving competitive swimming. A short while after I did it felt like I made a mistake. But now, my take is different. I think Ana’s perspective of being proud of life and death is not necessarily one that has to come from death. Now when I look back, I realize that the decision I made has brought me to where I am today, and that it was all a part of how I have developed as a person, and learned what I have learned thus far. I think that in death, this will be the case with most of the things I will come to regret at some point, because its all over, and there is no use crying over spilt milk. That plays into why I don’t think her perspective has to necessarily come from death. The farther we get away from decision we regret, the easier it is to see them for what they are. Decisions we have made in the past, that have passed. Sure for a while we may rummage and brood over these decisions, but eventually, they are a distant memory. A point to reflect and learn from that has no imminent bearing (In most cases… if you decide that you want to chop off both your perfectly good working arms at the age of 21, that will probably have a large bearing on your life for the rest of your life.).

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Angel Manzo

February 1, 2024 at 6:52 pm

Hi Sam! First off, I really appreciate your vulnerability on feeling that as long as you’re growing and learning, you should feel quite fulfilled, but still wondering whether you’re doing enough. I’d classify myself as an existential thinker too. And to answer your question, I feel that I don’t really have any regrets in life because I also like to kind of view everything that comes into my life as a learning experience —whether good or bad. I definitely ponder a lot on my past but I try not to look at too many things with regret.

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