Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mexican Gothic, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sexism, Female Independence, and Power
Nature vs. Love
Colonialism
Life, Death, and Rebirth
Summary
Analysis
Usually the maid, Mary, or Florence comes to deliver Noemí’s breakfast, but this morning Francis knocks on her door, tray in hand. He’s helping his mother because Howard has terrible leg pain, and Florence is very busy. He asks Noemí if she would like to meet in the library in an hour to look over the spore prints. Noemí quickly agrees, thinking it will be a great chance to ask him about driving her into town.
Francis and Noemí’s relationship is deepening, and here Francis asks to share something with Noemí that he’s quite passionate about. That Noemí immediately thinks of using this situation to ask Francis for a favor may seem manipulative, but she is doing this for Catalina’s benefit.
Themes
Noemí gets dressed, does her hair and makeup, and then walks toward the library. The hallway leading to the library is lined with photographs decorating the walls. One photograph catches Noemí’s eye; it shows a young woman about her age, with a hard-set mouth and an aggrieved look to her eyes. When Francis appears, she asks him who it is, and he tells her that it’s his cousin, Ruth. Noemí has never seen the face of a killer. She recalls what Virgil said about faces reflecting people’s nature, but there’s nothing murderous about the woman in the photo.
This passage directly contradicts the claims of Virgil and Howard. The Doyles believe that a person’s character is visible in their face—a killer would look like a killer, according to them. But when Noemí looks at the photo of Ruth she doesn’t see a killer at all, just an aggrieved woman.
Themes
Noemí says she’s heard about Ruth. She killed several people before killing herself. Francis points out all the people Ruth killed: her cousin Michael, her mother Alice, her aunt Dorothy, and her uncle Leland. Noemí asks Francis why she did it, but he doesn’t know—he wasn’t even born then. Who knows? This place could drive anyone crazy, he grumbles. He immediately apologizes. The two continue to the library to look at the spore prints.
Ruth’s motivation remains a mystery, even to Francis, a member of her family. Francis’s comment about High Place driving people crazy reveals his own discontentment, which will be made more plain as the novel progresses.
Themes
Francis spreads his prints on a table before Noemí. He shows her his plant pressings too. Noemí notices that Francis has beautiful handwriting, so she tells Francis that the nuns at her school would have loved him. They said they liked Noemí, but that’s only because they had to. Nobody is going to declare that they hate Noemí Taboada—it would be crass. Such a thing has to be whispered in private. Francis asks Noemí how she spends her time in Mexico City. He finds her life exciting, and he tells her so, even if she thinks he’s too honest. Noemí realizes that she wants Francis to like her, not just for show, but because she likes him in a way that’s different than how she likes Hugo Duarte.
There’s a certain inauthenticity to social gatherings in Mexico City. People have to say that they like Noemí because her father is a rich and powerful man; his shadow dominates even Noemí’s personal relationships. Yet here, away from the influence of her father, Noemí is able to form a genuine connection with Francis. This authenticity makes Francis a more desirable match than someone like Hugo Duarte, who probably likes Noemí for her father’s money.
Themes
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Though she’s having fun with Francis, Noemí is unable to get Marta Duval out of her mind. She asks Francis to drive her into town. He doesn’t mind doing it, but his mother will say that she needs a chaperone. They’ve asked him to keep an eye on her. They think Noemí is reckless. Still, Francis agrees to help Noemí. They’ll leave tomorrow at eight.
Francis’s honesty with Noemí about his mother’s intentions reveals that he feels closer to Noemí than to his own mother. If a conflict were to arise, there’s a chance that he would side with Noemí.
Themes
The door to the library swings open and Florence walks in. Francis quickly stands up straight and shoves his hands in his pockets. Florence complains that while others may consign themselves to idleness, she must keep the house straight. Noemí asks if there is anything she can do to help—she doesn’t want to be idle. Florence takes her over to a display case crammed with a staggering amount of dusty, dull silver, and asks her if she can polish them. Noemí, determined to prove herself in front of this woman, agrees. She spends hours polishing the silver, and when Florence returns, many pieces lie gleaming on the table. Florence examines the silver. She says that if Noemí wants to win her praise, it will take more. Noemí says that she’s not trying to win her praise, just her respect.
This exchange is a contest between women. Florence exerts her power in the only way available to her: through domestic labor. Noemí participates in order to win Florence’s respect, since she knows that Florence only respects women who adhere to convention. It’s ironic that Noemí polishes the Doyles’ silver, since Noemí also recognizes that the silver was obtained through cruel mistreatment of indigenous laborers.
Themes
Florence pauses to admire all of the gleaming silver. She asks Noemí if she has any idea how much silver their mine used to produce. Doyle is an important name. Noemí doesn’t realize how lucky Catalina is to be part of the Doyle family. To be a Doyle is to be someone, Florence says. She then demands to know what Noemí was talking to Francis about. Noemí tells her that they were just talking about spore prints, nothing more. But Florence doesn’t believe her. She tells Noemí not to give her son any ideas. He’s content here. He doesn’t need to hear about parties, music, and booze, or whatever it is Noemí does in Mexico City.
Perhaps it’s the derelict condition of High Place that makes the Doyles so fervently defend the value of their name; as their wealth continues to decrease, they cling ever tighter to the past—to how important they used to be. These former colonizers have failed to modernize, so they construct their identity around the former wealth of their estate.
Themes
Florence rants on. She accuses Noemí of thinking that she has power because Howard thinks she has a pretty face. But that’s not power, it’s a liability. Florence looks at her reflection in a silver serving tray—it’s elongated and deformed. She says that when she was young, she thought the world outside High Place held such promise. She even went out and married a dashing man. She thought he would take her away, change things. But there’s no denying our natures. Florence is meant to live and die in High Place, and so is Francis. Noemí needs to leave him be.
Thus far in the novel Noemí has used her “pretty face” as a form of power (flattery, flirtation, etc.). Florence criticizes her for that because it's unconventional. Additionally, Florence here reveals her commitment to Howard’s ideas about eugenics and determinism. She herself once thought that it was possible for her to leave High Place, but her hopes were crushed. She’s been convinced (likely by Howard) that it’s in her nature to live and die in High Place, and she extends this same doctrine to Francis.
Themes
Florence dismisses Noemí, so she heads back to her bedroom. She thinks about the fairy tales that Catalina used to narrate to her: once upon a time a prince saved a girl from a tower. She sits on the bed and thinks about enchantments that are never broken.
This is perhaps the only time in the novel that Noemí shows some empathy towards Florence. In a way, Florence fell victim to the same delusions about marriage that Catalina did when she married Virgil. When women rely on their husbands to save them, it seems that they’ll only be disappointed.
Themes
