Beverley Yuen: Mona

Reinaldo Arenas manages to turn one of the world’s most renowned pieces of art, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” into the centripetal force of this story. The protagonist, Ramon Fernandez, is captivated by this mysterious, young woman, Elisa, who seems to exhibit unique and unusual characteristics; characteristics not normally suited for a normal woman. Consumed with a great love and passion for this woman, Fernandez vows to “find out who this woman really was,” (p. 45) but to his complete surprise, he gets more than what he bargained for. He discovered that Elisa was really Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Mona Lisa” come to life, but here is the magical twist: Elisa is also Leonard da Vinci himself. His purpose was to have “have the woman he painted [to have] the ability to become the painter himself and to outlive him” (p. 57). This truly enormous revelation illustrates the magical realist binaries of male/female, reality/fantasy, and day/night. As the story unravels, Arenas incorporates subtle indications about societal opinions and treatment toward homosexuality, pointing out the horrible attitudes, dangers, and stereotypes that accompany being homosexual, which he had to experience throughout his life.

There is no doubt that Mona employs magical realism, especially through the male/female binary. Fernandez’s testimony quickly begins the story implying that he is in jail on purpose; he “wanted them to lock [him] up and have someone watch over [him] day and night” (p. 35). In describing the person who he wants protection from; the person who is seeking to take his life, Fernandez does not quite know which pronoun to use. He says, “I am saying she, and perhaps I should say he, though I don’t know what to call that thing, (p. 35) which essentially blurs the distinction between genders of his enemy, Elisa/Leonardo. Elisa/Leonardo is neither truly male nor female. Gradually throughout the story, Elisa demonstrates attributes and skills traditionally belonging to males, which further exemplifies how the line and distinctions between males and females are distorted. From Fernandez’s perspective, Elisa initially “[possesses] not only the imagination of a real pleasure seeker and the skills of a woman of the world but also a kind of motherly charm mixed with youthful mischief and the airs of a grand lady, which made her irresistible” (p. 38). She is portrayed as the perfect and ideal woman; she is a true woman. The love blinders of infatuation eventually begin to wear off and Fernandez notices odd phenomenon with Elisa. “She would begin a word in a very soft, feminine tone and end it in a heavy voice, almost masculine” (p. 38). Her voice is blending feminine and masculine tones together, creating one unisex voice. When having dinner in a fancy restaurant, the waiter lagged in bringing the couple water, so “Elisa grabbed the vase adorning [the] table, removed the flowers, and drank the water” (p. 39). This abrupt and rude act would appall many for it is not very “lady-like.” Women are not to act in this manner, so Elisa’s action was pretty unexpected; however, it might have been less surprising if Fernandez, a male, had done it. After Fernandez’s motorcycle had given out, Elisa quickly examines the motor herself and assures him that “[she] knows about these things” (p. 40). Fernandez, with a sexist mind set, “mistrust[s] her mechanical skills” (p. 40), but Elisa proves him wrong and fixes the motor. The gender roles have somewhat reversed as the female Elisa exercised mechanical skills to fix their mode of transportation, while the male Fernandez just sat and idly watched. Traditionally, males have the mechanical skills and fix engines or motors; however, Elisa is the one who dutiful fulfills this role in this story. While driving on the motorcycle, Fernandez watches Elisa’s elegant face in the rearview mirror but “once, instead of her face, [he] thought [he] saw the face of a horrible old man, but [he] this to our speed, which distorted images” (p. 41). Most of the story contains situations in which Elisa exhibits masculine attributes in terms of personality and mannerisms, but this is the first time in which her physical appearance is distorted, solidifying this magical realist confusion between male and female. Eventually, Elisa fully morphs into Leonardo, who is in an extreme moment of passion with Fernandez. Both lust after Fernandez and other men, so does that mean both identify as females? Elisa has displayed male qualities, does this make her male? Gender and societal norms are blended and distorted so much that one cannot identify this one entity, which contains both Elisa and Leonardo, as male or female.

Like many magical realism literary works, “Mona” focuses on twisting reality and fantasy; however, unlike the other stories, it also incorporates the day/night binary to accentuate the former binary. The concept of day/night is significantly connected to reality/fantasy because night is often associated with danger and evil or mythical creatures that emerge from the darkness, but most importantly it is often used with nonexistence, and all of this alludes to the idea of fantasy. While truth and reality is exposed by the day’s sunshine, fantastical creatures, such as Elisa, are able to walk freely, shrouded by the darkness and mystery of nighttime. Throughout the story, most of the instances in which Elisa’s existence is questioned are during the night. While resting peacefully at a hotel one night, Elisa had closed her eyes and fallen asleep, but “suddenly [Fernandez] saw them disappear. [He] screamed in order to wake [himself] up – [he] had to have been dreaming – and immediately [he] could see her eyes, looking at [him] intently” (p. 43). Quickly, not believing this incident to be real, he passed it off as a nightmare. He questions whether or not what he saw was real or magic; fantasy? He blames it on a nightmare, showing how fantasy has greater strength at night. At night, people are often disoriented or confused with less control over their senses, most importantly sight, so they naively ignore or attempt to rationalize strange instances that occur. It is important to note that Elisa’s existence is fading slowly as well, exemplifying how night is associated with nonexistence. In a similar instance, Fernandez was touching Elisa and “saw that Elisa had no breasts. [He] jumped to the edge of the bed, wondering where this woman was driving [him] insane. As if sensing [his] anguish, she immediately pulled [him] over with her arms to her beautiful breasts” (p. 49). This is another example in which Elisa’s existence fades in the night. First, she has no breasts, and then suddenly they appear. Fernandez does not believe anything magical or odd is happening, blaming himself to becoming “insane.” This scene occurs at dawn in which the fantasy or nonexistence of Elisa with no breasts quickly fades as the sun rises and her breasts return, conforming to reality. Readers soon learn that Elisa is actually Mona Lisa emerging from her two dimensional realm into the real world; reality.

To Be Continued…