Birds Without A Nest is a story about Andean living and churchly subjugation in the Andes of Peru. The novel is an accusation made by Clorinda Matto de Turner against the Peruvian aristocracy regarding the oppression of the Andean Peruvian population. Also known as Matto’s greatest work, this novel is recognized as the precursor novel of “indigenismo,” which is a literary movement that essentially began in Peru. Matto’s novel and the indigenista movement both express a new awareness of Indian culture.
The novel relates the misfortunes of the Yupanqui family in the Andean town of Killac, where the priest, the governor, and their henchmen abuse the local population mercilessly. To make matters worse, the authorities require unpaid labor of the Andean men, as well as domestic chores and sexual favors of the women. Marcela, wife of Juan Yupanqui, has been called to the mita the "force labor" imposed on native women forcing her to leave her husband and two young daughters. In addition, the priest has put an embargo on the family's potato crop to reimburse himself for the expenses of the funeral of Juan's mother. In desperation, Marcela seeks help from Lucia Marin, the clear-thinking wife of Don Fernando, an enlightened white progressive.
However, Lucia's appeals to the priest and governor on behalf of the Yupanquis go unheeded. The town authorities, who consider her and her husband interlopers and "foreigners," organize an attack on the Marins. Juan tries to defend the couple, but in the melee he is killed and Marcela is fatally injured. Before she dies, the Indian woman confides to Lucia that Juan is not the real father of her older daughter, Margarita. After Marcela's death, Lucia adopts her two children, the "birds without a nest." Margarita eventually falls in love with Manuel, stepson of Don Sebastian, the drunken, ruthless governor who is responsible for her parents' deaths. An intelligent, idealistic young man who has been educated in the capital, Manuel plans to marry Margarita and live with her in Lima. However, both he and his beloved turn out to be the offspring of the same abusive priest, which brings the story to its tragic conclusion.
The narrative, Birds Without A Nest, has various purposes. Despite this novel being fictitious, there are many underlying messages created by Matto that can be extracted from the text. One of its main objectives was to provide a close, inside observation of daily Andean life. It also afforded the reader with an idea of the Peruvian mentality regarding issues such as race, ethnicity, power, corruption, and gender during the late nineteenth century when this novel was written. Furthermore, it provided an early feminist viewpoint of Peruvian society. Matto was a representative of the progressive feminist ideology during her time, and thereby supported women’s ability to reason and take action independently of men. At the same time, this progressive feminist ideology still maintained the importance of wifely and motherly duties as their primary roles. Schneider (2004) summarizes that “Birds Without A Nest is a work of greater sociological than artistic interest” (p. vii).
Also, underlying meanings of this fictitious novel brought negative consequences to Matto’s life. Birds Without A Nest created controversy upon its publication yet its popularity declined during the early twentieth century. The Catholic Church disliked the work of Matto and believed that she was a dangerous detractor of their institution. Because of this, the first English version of Birds Without A Nest was translated by J.G.H., a member of the American Bible Society. This society’s purpose was to support the replacement of Catholicism with Protestantism in Latin America. Later in the twentieth century, because of support from the American Bible Society, readers began to develop a more conscious awareness of Matto’s feminist ideas in Peruvian society. Matto’s novel also became recognized as a feminist protest against the exploitation of the Andean nation as well as against the political and clerical corruption during this time. The feminist protest against these issues soon became recognized as another purpose of Matto’s work.
Another purpose of Birds Without A Nest was its petition for review and change of the political and clerical authorities, similarly to Sender’s Spanish fictitious work, Réquiem por un campesino español (Mexico, 1960). Both novels revealed the relationship between different social groups, such as the Andeans and criollos in Birds without a Nest and the peasants and authorities in Réquiem por un campesino español. These two works presented their concerns regarding Andean and peasant life surrounded by political and clerical abuse. Also, Birds Without A Nest was a source of social, historical and cultural knowledge. It was valuable because it presented new information about native people. Throughout the book, Matto searched for reform inside of the existing Peruvian system. She developed ideas of reform in an attempt to improve the lives of the native people, including the education of the Andean population as well as a change in their diet. She also supported the elimination of forced labor or “mita,” and the elimination of the institutionalized “pongo.”
In order to obtain changes with these reforms, Matto incorporated Andean people as characters in her narrative work, Birds Without A Nest. This was an innovative development in Peruvian literature during this time, and was also a strategy to bring support to the Andean people. Andean people such as the characters Juan and Marcela were finally able to have their own voices. These characters were able to express their ideas and feelings to each other and to other characters in the novel. This incorporation of Andean protagonists in the narrative provided a place for the Andean community in Peruvian literature and reinforced the importance of the Andean people. Juan and Marcela told their stories to the reader, allowing the reader to develop an appreciation for the Andean people and the issues encountered in their daily lives. Learning about their personal lives and struggles motivated the reader’s concern for the Andean people. Also, this allowed the Andean characters to gain sympathy from the reader. Matto was searching for the reader’s support of the “indigenista movement” by allowing Andean characters to communicate with the reader through the narrative.
Matto also made distinctions between among the Andean characters, and also between Andean and non Andean characters in Birds Without A Nest. Female Andean characters, such as Marcela, stood out for their determination, strength and willingness to respond to difficult moments. Conversely, Juan was an example of a male Andean character that lost control of situations and reacted with anguish and hopelessness. Marcela’s daughter Margarita was differentiated by her beauty and ability to draw attention, love, and compassion from others including Pedro, Lucia, and Manuel. Other Andean characters such as Isidro and Martina were characterized for having better financial situations as well as higher social positions. Regardless of the positive attributes among the Andean characters, they did not have the ability to defend their rights and confront authorities. Particular non Andean characters such as Lucia, Fernando, Petronila, and Manuel were characterized by their progression, compassion, honesty, and strength. They represented the good non Andean characters that put themselves at risk by helping the Andean people. On the other hand, other non Andean characters such as Pedro, were depicted as authoritarian and cruel toward the Andean community. He disliked his fellow non Andean people that wanted to improve the lives of the Andean people.
The good non Andean characters of the novel not only depicted personal positive attributes, but they also depicted positive characteristics of many Peruvian people. Their display of good behavior indicated that there was hope for change. It also represented the love and care of the Peruvian people toward the Andean culture. Through these characters, Matto informed the reader that there were Peruvians willing to work together in an effort to offer safety, education, and better treatment to the Andean nation. Peruvians were searching for a homogenous nation and were prepared to help others. On the contrary, Matto’s use of negative characters intended to reveal the existence of corruption in the Peruvian society. Through these characters Matto denounced the abuse of the Andean nation. She also attempted to gain the attention of the reader by demonstrating Peru’s need for help in order to create social reform. However, the message that the author attempted to deliver through the narrative was limited to those individuals that were aware of its existence and had access to the novel. It is important to remember that after the Catholic Church excomulgated Matto, the Catholic Church then placed her novel on the “Librorum Prohibitorum,” or index of Prohibited Books in English.
The prohibition of Matto’s novel presented a great obstacle in its ability to reach an audience. Furthermore, Matto’s original version contained a large amount of Quechua words such as “Wiracocha,” “Suhua,” “Huanuchly,” and “Pachamama.” In some instances, Matto offered an explanation of the meaning of the Quechua words while in other cases there was no explanation. In these instances without explanation, the author relied on the reader’s knowledge of the Andean native language. The use of these words and in some cases the lack of clarification limited the audience of this novel because not all people understood the Quechua language. In addition to other limitations of this book’s ability to reach a wide audience, the author used various types of vocabulary such as “mita,” “repartos,” and “pongo.” These terms were used to depict the Peruvian Colonial times and the history of the Andean society. The use of these words required the reader to have background knowledge about Peru and its Colonial history. Also, Matto mentioned Peruvian dishes including “cuajada,” “aguado,” and “locro colorado,” when discussing food. It might be possible that at times the reader understood the general idea behind Matto’s words without knowing the actual meaning of those words, but there might also have been instances where the reader would need to know and understand particular words in order to fully comprehend the narrative. Because of this, it is possible to believe that Matto’s book was written for a Peruvian audience or any other audiences familiar with the terminology in the book. Some of the author’s intended audience included people that were familiar with “indigenismo,” and also those that studied the Andean world and the history of Peru.
Throughout the examination of Birds Without A Nest and various elements including characters, language, and narrative, it is possible to state that the author’s main goals were to unmask the abuse of authorities toward Andean people as well as gain public attention regarding the issue of abuse of the Andean nation. Moreover, through her fictitious work Matto offered a series of ideas in order to solve the problems of the native Peruvian people. Matto expressed needs for political and clerical reform and also demanded the abolition of the “mita” and “pongo.” She suggested that the Andean community become educated and also that the non Andean community learned about the Andean world. However, throughout these suggestions for improvement Matto never told the audience how the current issues needed to be mended. She did not explain in an orderly fashion the process that people would need to adopt in order to achieve success when attempting to resolve the issues of the Andean people. She provided many positive ideas, yet failed to offer specific mechanisms of action in order to bring those ideas into reality. On the other hand, her work benefitted the Andean people because it exposed the existing political and clerical corruption to the audience and also demonstrated the need for change. Currently, her ideas and suggestions for social reform can still be seen as a starting point in order to provide a remedy to the Andean issues.
In order to improve the lives of the Andean people, it is important to resume Matto‘s ideology and continue her work. Peruvians need to use her ideas in order to find a remedy to the problem of the Andean nation. All Peruvians, including Peruvian authorities, need to understand that the Andean world is not a representation of ignorance or a source of exploitation. On the contrary, it is one of the most precious Peruvian regions and is filled with cultural diversity. The Andean world is rich in history, human strength, and natural resources, and should be considered a symbol of Peruvian pride rather that a representation of mistreatment and subjugation.
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