Week Four: Gabriela

After reading Sueann Caulfield’s article, “Getting into Trouble: Dishonest Women, Modern Girls, and women-Men in the Conceptual Language of “Vida Policial,” it is easy to see how the title character in the movie Gabriela was treated so harshly. It was apparently customary to completely disregard the comfort and wishes of one’s wife during this time period. Gabriela’s husband knew exactly the type of woman that he was marrying, even going so far as to forge her papers. It seems unfair for Nacib to expect her to completely change her customs for him. However, as the article shows, men had complete control over their wives, expect them to sit along side them and perform their womanly duties. Anything a wife may wish to do beyond what is expected of them is an embarrassment to the husband, who is looked upon to have complete discipline over his wife.

            Women do not have free will, which most likely drives many of them to commit infidelities, like Gabriela, as this gives them a little control over their own lives. Cheating, however, is seen as the most extreme embarrassment for the husband and they are encouraged to treat the guilty very harshly. Women in this time are also expected to essentially stay out of sight. We see how Nacib reacts in anger when Gabriela comes to his bar, even though she is doing a proper activity for a woman in bringing him lunch. This incident also shows us how Nacib considers Gabriela his property by getting angry with her flirting at the bar even though they are not married. This seems to be the sole reason that he chooses to marry her, after which he immediately forces her into a role that she does not like.

            Nacib forces Gabriela to attend things like the poetry reading when she would much rather watch her friend in the circus. Women like Gabriela, who were considered of the lower class, were seen as a corruption to the upper class society. Nacib treats Gabriela very differently alone than he does in public. Being ashamed of who she really is, she is forced to wear uncomfortable clothes and hide the fact that she is illiterate. Caulfield points out that the police magazine often categorizes maids in with prostitutes, which seems to be a general feeling at this time. Although it is apparent to the viewer that Nacib did love Gabriela, he was humiliated to be in love with a woman of lower class, and, instead of accepting her for what she was, decided to attempt to change her completely. This shows how hard, and almost impossible, it was for women to climb the social ladder and have an identity that was separate from their husband.