I think the line where Eugenio calls Laura a cannibal stuck out for me more than anything. After reading this, I started drawing correlations with the Bible, and this one has really got me stumped! I'm going to go on a controversial limb...
I understand why he calls her a murderer. It is the connection with the Judas blossoms and Judas betraying Jesus, which lead to his death. Since I don't actually know what the connection between Laura and Eugenio is (there was a line about love, but I read it over and over and I cannot seem to grasp it!) I'm not really sure what the value of the murder line is here. I just understood the connection.
Now the cannibal line... I connected this with the loss of her Catholic faith. How I read the story was that she used to be Catholic, but life and especially the revolution has jaded her, and she doesn't really have faith in anything. She is walking this path that she has chosen for herself, but even though she's not fond of it anymore, she doesn't really care to change it. As I understand, during communion, Catholics take and eat and drink the actually blood and body of Christ. This is a literal view of the last supper where Jesus offers these things to his disciples. Can this be where the cannibal comment came from? Or have I just royally offended people by taking such a literal view myself? I guess we can take this more figuratively. The definition of cannibalism is one that eats others of its own kind. I didn't really see Laura as a life sucker of any sort, rather, just a good woman making the steps of the right path yet not really believing in any of it.
I would love to hear comments on this. Possibly from those that have more knowledge on either Catholicism or cannibalism.
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No, I don't think you're being offensive at all. Actually I think you are on to something.
I have studied a little about very early Christianity, and when I read the cannibal line, the connection that flashed in my head was from this early Christian period. Early Christians were thrown into the Colosseum by the Romans to be executed for pure entertainment value, and one of the charges against the Christians was that they were cannibals. The Romans did not "get it" and they were freaked out by Christians "consuming" the body and blood of Jesus.
So my initial thought was that Porter must be doing something with that. I'm not sure what exactly, but especially how Eugenio offers up the flowers for her to eat, and then says its his body and blood, then calling her a cannibal... this must be something about Jesus, offering up his body and blood.
Like I said, I'm not sure where Porter is going with this, but the connection between communion and cannibalism was one made very early on in early Christianity and one that had to be worked out and reckoned with.
Ok good. I was worried for a second there...
The only thing is, WHY he would call her a cannibal (or why she would consider herself a cannibal). I guess the issue of cannibalism hasn't been worked out. And coming from a Catholic writer!
Yes, I don't fully understand either. I know that Catholics have pretty strict rules on how and when you can partake of Communion. You must go to confession before, fast before mass. Am I right? It's been a long time since I brushed up on all of that, but maybe it's something about that...
Maybe Eugenio means that she is partaking with an impure heart, if you will. She does partake in the dream, and maybe her actions are being judged (with the betrayals, etc.) as being unfit for having consumed?
Hmm... I'm at a loss here. I was raised in a VERY anti-Catholic area in the south, so this is something I've never gotten a grasp on. I actually just put in a call to a friend of mine, who up until a few years ago, used to be a very strict Catholic. It would be interesting to see what she says.
I think cannibalism in this sense has a lot to do with Laura's role in the revolution. (I posted about this, so you can read that also). Laura is there in Mexico by choice, fighting a revolution which is not truly her own. She doesn't have to stay there, and she doesn't have a stake in the future of the revolution the way someone like Eugenio has. I think she enjoys weaving herself into the political narrative of the revolution, and I think she "feeds" off of the revolution in a sense. She feeds off of Eugenio by living vicariously through the misfortunes of his country.
She wants to be a disciple at the table, yet her heart is not in the supper. She betrays by taking the communion of the revolution, so to speak, without confessing (i.e. exposing her true heart, or being honest with herself about her political sincerity). Taking communion with out first confessing (at least for the week) is considered a mortal sin in the strict Catholic church, but is not usually observed in mainstream, suburban, middle class Catholicism these days.
Yeah I just talked to my friend and she said that because you consume both body and soul, it isn't considered cannibalism. If you consume only body, then it is. This actually would make sense if she going about the actions of a revolutionary and not having her soul be a part of it.
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