La prostitución en La mestiza de Eligio Ancona: metáforas sociales de la identidad mexicana

Abstract

Through the philological analysis of the novel La mestiza (1861) by Eligio Ancona, the symbolism of prostitution is analyzed in the context of the work, which is part of the prosopopoeia that the author makes about Mexican identity. Juana’s fable is a narrative within La mestiza that is used for didactic, moral and warning purposes to the main character of the novel. The character of Juana symbolizes the identity process that the author grants for educational purposes in the middle of the 19th century. The Ancona narrative presents moral and social criteria about Juana, a character who, after her honor was mocked, is forced to practice prostitution. Thus, through the analysis of Eligio Ancona’s work, the sociocultural representations that the Yucatecan author uses as premises in the construction of identity are established, with Juana’s actions having a marked lesson: marginalizing the Spanish legacy of the construction of the Mexican identity.

Keywords

• prostitution in yucatan
• nineteenth-century literature
• nineteenth-century novel
• women
• society