Mona

Mona by Reinaldo Arenas disguises the deeper meaning of the story through magical realism. Arenas addresses and - of course - destroys many binaries that are commonly accepted like male and female or reality and fiction. Following the distinctive qualities of magical realism, Arenas also blurs the sense of time so that all the events are cyclical. Time is blended together with no true chronological order, and past and present occur simultaneously.

Males and females are generally thought of as two completely separate categories. In Mona, Arenas erases some of this border between the two, giving a less concrete definition to either. Within the first few sentences of the story on page 35, Arenas says, “I am saying she, and perhaps I should say he, though I don’t know what to call that thing.” Sexuality is an enormous topic of discussion throughout the story. Masculine and feminine stereotypes are definitely blurred and almost reversed in some instances. For example, on page 38, he states “For instance, she would begin a word in a very soft, feminine tone and end it in a heavy voice, almost masculine.” This takes a beautiful, charming character and attributes heavy, strong qualities with it. It erodes common assumptions about what a male or female should behave like according to our society. Also, on page 40, gender roles are definitely reversed. When the motorcycle breaks down, the male character seems helpless and gives up on repairing it. Elisa, on the other hand, knows about engines and is able to repair the motorcycle in no time at all.

Arenas is trying to erase these common, rigid lines that supposedly define each gender in our society. Especially as a homosexual male, Arenas is simply saying that not all men are macho just as not all women are homemakers. Ramon had strikingly feminine qualities: he was infatuated with her, emotionally attached, and forgiving. In this scenario, the man is being used while the woman is empowered. This seeming role reversal was attempting to show the audience that what is commonly accepted as being traditional male or female behavior is not always true. Arenas accomplishes his goal of showing this quite easily.

True to the magical realism form, the story forces the reader to challenge what is accepted as normal. While reading, everything at first seems believable and ordinary. Suddenly, Arenas blends fantastic, unique events that spark the reader’s attention. These events are quite unusual, but they are accepted as real to the audience because they are portrayed as such. This blending of reality and fiction is consistent throughout Mona. These situations begin as strange to the narrator as they are to the audience. For example, on page 39, “Elisa grabbed the vase adorning our table, removed the flowers, and drank the water. She did this so naturally that one would have through that [it] was a normal thing to do.” This clearly has both real and fantasy elements, but they are perceived in their respective manners. Later, the magical events begin to be accepted as normal by the narrator. This is seen on page 47, “I watched her go into one of those large galleries, and right there, in front of my eyes, she disappeared.” Mona is undoubtedly magical realism because the story is clearly based on a fantasy, but takes place in a real time setting.

Even then the audience begins to doubt the validity of the narrator’s words. On page 44, he is definitely displayed as an insane person: “This morning I was again shouting that I didn’t want to be left alone. By noon, the prison psychiatrist was sent to see me.” In this case, his view point on the entire story could, or could not, be skewed. Also, on page 37, he states “But with Elisa – let’s keep calling her Elisa…” This quote too portrays the story as fictional and made up, with no basis in reality. The Mona Lisa painting is obviously real, though Arenas puts it in New York to accommodate the story. Though the context is ordinary, the events are not. Once again, the reader is left in a grey area, unsure of reality and fiction. Another magical element of the story is the credible sources that accompany the story. Arenas invents an editor’s page, footnotes, and fake sources of information to give his story some background history. With this, his ideas and message seems more scholarly. Arenas is trying to make his message be conveyed as something reliable and of power.

Arenas breaks up the narrator’s tale by interrupting it with flashbacks to the present state of time. The story is a recollection of past events that are being told by the narrator in his current place in jail. By switching back and forth constantly between the past and present, the story jumps back and forth between being believable and being only fantasy. Just as the tale is approaching a climactic event, the narrator reflects back to the fact that he is currently in prison. While reading the recollection, it seems amazing, real, and is accepted. Once he snaps back to the present, the entire Elisa situation and all the fantastic elements seem fake again.