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Difficulty: MediumAuthor's Purpose and Point of View

Read the following excerpt from the English translation of the play *The House of Bernarda Alba* (*La casa de Bernarda Alba*), written in 1936 by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca:

BERNARDA: Silence!
SERVANT: (Weeping) Bernarda!
BERNARDA: Less howling and more work. You should have made sure this place was clean for the mourners. Go! (The servant leaves). This is what it means to be a woman.
PONCIA: (Entering) The men are in the courtyard. They want to come in.
BERNARDA: Let them stay outside. I don't want them looking at me or entering my house. For the eight years this mourning lasts, not a breath of wind will enter this house from the street. We will pretend we have bricked up the doors and windows. That is how it was in my father’s house and my grandfather’s house. In the meantime, you can embroider your trousseaus. I have five daughters, and none of them will ever leave this place to marry. The men in this town are not of their class. Their father’s money is theirs, but their lives and bodies belong to this house.
PONCIA: But Bernarda, your daughters are growing up. They need—
BERNARDA: They need nothing but to obey. A daughter who does not obey her mother ceases to be a daughter and becomes an enemy. My watchfulness never sleeps, and my word is the law.

Which of the following best describes the author's purpose in Bernarda's monologue concerning the eight-year mourning period?

  1. A
    To show that Bernarda genuinely fears for her daughters' safety from the dangerous men in the town.
  2. To critique the oppressive social expectations placed on women by depicting Bernarda's tyrannical control over her daughters' lives.Answer
  3. C
    To literalize the physical bricking up of the house as a necessary construction project to repair the historical building.
  4. D
    To establish a nostalgic and warm mood that celebrates the traditions of Bernarda's ancestors.

Answer

The correct answer is the statement that the author's purpose is to critique the oppressive social expectations placed on women by depicting Bernarda's tyrannical control over her daughters' lives.
The correct option is correct because Federico García Lorca uses Bernarda's extreme declaration of an eight-year mourning period, where doors and windows are metaphorically bricked up, to critique the stifling and oppressive social and gender expectations imposed on women in early 20th-century rural Spain. By showing Bernarda as a ruthless tyrant who prioritizes family honor and isolation over her daughters' freedom, the author exposes the destructive nature of these traditional codes.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context and character interaction in the passage.
Bernarda demands silence, dismisses mourning grief as something to hide, and decrees a harsh eight-year period of total isolation, claiming her daughters belong to the house.
Understanding the immediate plot and Bernarda's actions establishes the background of her tyrannical rule.
2
Analyze the symbolic and figurative language used by the character.
The decree to 'pretend we have bricked up the doors and windows' represents total confinement, and her assertion that a daughter who disobeys becomes an 'enemy' emphasizes absolute control.
Distinguishing between literal actions and figurative symbols is necessary to understand the author's deeper message.
3
Identify the author's attitude (tone) and broader social critique.
Federico García Lorca portrays Bernarda's rules as suffocating and unnatural to critique the rigid societal codes and gender roles of rural Spain during his time.
Connecting the character's behavior to the author's purpose allows for identifying the correct answer.

Key Concept

Author's Purpose and Point of View
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Author's Purpose and Point of View

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