The Road From La Cueva

When Mary Charlotte Domandi interviewed me about my novel The Road From La Cueva on Santa Fe Radio, she asked why a woman like the main character Ana would not fight harder for her own rights and independence, especially "in this day and age". My answer was: Have you ever heard of a battered women's shelter? A rape crisis center? Have you heard of a woman's plight in a third-world country, or in the third-world countries that exist for many women right here in America? I answered that Ana was the modern equivalent to Edna Pontellier in The Awakening, or Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, or Flaubert's Emma Bovary.

The Ana in my story is constrained, yet passionate. She is subsumed by a controlling husband, but desperately craving her own fulfillment. It is the age-old story of male domination and woman's struggle for fulfillment within real or perceived boundaries. What I like most about Ana is that through hardship and grim determination, she learns to look with her own eyes, to feel with her own heart. Unlike the tragic characters in the novels mentioned above, she discovers a deep well of resilience and compassion, with room for growth and freedom. Ana's story is one of a leap of faith, away from despair and toward life at its fullest.

This type of 'survival' response to oppression is not automatic, despite our relatively recent decades of feminism and "liberation". Women everywhere are still afraid -- of their husbands, of themselves and their own urges, of danger, of judgment. I wrote the book so that those who are disenfranchised might be empowered -- so that women who now see through the eyes of fear might learn, as Ana does, to navigate themselves through small but profound changes, into new ways of living, of relating to friends, their children, themselves.

I have spoken to many women about the book -- in New Mexico, Texas, and Maine, so far. I find that the women who understand it and love it the best are those who have experienced a similar oppression. I know that "in this day and age", women may technically have all the choices available to them that would allow them to live free and complete lives. But I also know that many of us, like Ana, do not readily have the tools or knowledge or skills to do so.

Look at some of the books in Oprah's book club:

Sula and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve
Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman

What are these if not depictions of women who have been weakened by their patriarchal worlds, and who have learned, painfully, of the need to move beyond such worlds?

Jane Brunton, one of the book reviewers featured on my blog www.sheila-novel.blogspot.com says:

[You depict] the way that our early familial relationships form the unseen scars that twist and warp all future relationships. When our lives are ruled by a controlling parent, we are ripe and ready for the plucking by a controlling partner. And how the controlee, almost feeling she deserves this treatment, becomes subversive rather than rearing up and fighting it out or simply scuttling away in the night...

And Linda Bankard says:

I could not put this book down. To me it was a true love story, not of the usual type that is so common, but a love story of a woman for her child, her father and a friend. When Ana was able to love herself, she found she was able to be loved by a man and not be his possession. This book will stay with me for a long time.

Why was my interviewer so doubtful of the relevance of such a theme in "this day and age"? I can only be grateful, for her and the many other young women who have apparently not known such oppression, for the women's movement that has provided such freedom for them. But I must also stress, as I did in the book, that many women today are not so lucky.

If you are a woman who has been oppressed, or even if you just know of one, get the book. Read it, and learn why Theresa Studer said:

This book could pertain to any number of women around the world in trouble. Ana learned that life is not always what you're handed, and you can change the outcome. [The Road From La Cueva] captured me, educated me, and let me see that there are true friends and love out there, you only have to reach for them.

Comments

[Sheila Ortego]

Here's the link to the Santa Fe RadioCafe interview I referenced earlier, if you'd like to listen to it.

http://www.santaferadiocafe.org/podcasts/?m=200805

Scroll down to the May 20 interview with Sheila Ortego on 'The Road From La Cueva' and download!

[itolduso]

In "this day & age", domestic violence remains "America's dirty little secret". Despite the fact that one in four women are assaulted by someone they know, we want to believe that those living with abuse are somehow 'different­'..... weaker or cowardly. Those of us not caught in it's cycle NEED to believe 'it could never happen to me'. The most horrific injuries, even death cannot free the victims, we victimize them once again by dissecting their actions & lifestyles- looking for excuses, for justification, for what they did to make this happen...l­ooking for how they differ from us. We need to look closer. Stories of survivors are important to revealing the truth.... of women whose love was used against them, who were beaten & terrorized, threatened & humiliated, who were never allowed to feel safe, even in their own homes. Visit a domestic violence shelter & you will meet women who are very much like the rest of us, all economic levels, all religions, all levels of education.­...only one big difference­.....not one of them is a coward.

[Sheila Ortego - Huffpost Blogger]

Thank you for your attention and understanding! Your label, "dirty little secret", couldn't be more perfect. When the book first came out, I donated several copies to the domestic violence shelter here in Santa Fe. I hope a lot of women there were able to read it and draw inspiration from it -- though I certainly hope they read it in the safety of the shelter, as their men back home would not appreciate it at all, I'm sure...

[itolduso]

I'm a strong believer in the power of the arts to raise awareness, & to change the world. Through stories & music, sculpture & paintings, art allows us to stop & look closer at things that too often are pushed to the shadows, too painful to contemplate 'in the flesh'. It was because of a sculpture that I first became an advocate for ending domestic violence. view it here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owZKtAa0nqM

[itolduso]

In this 'day & age'..... a young woman (celebrity) is beaten by her boyfriend so severely that she requires medical treatment, and the public 'debate' centers around whether or not 'she started' the argument. In this 'day & age'... a young woman in Florida was taken from her home at gunpoint, driven to the beach, told to call her parents & say goodbye, and shot to death on the street. The questions from the public for the most part centered around "Why didn't she leave him?" - (A) She did, that's why he killed her. And "Why did she date a guy like that?" - (A) The fact is, abusers for the most part are charming & manipulative, able to fool close friends, family members, & coworkers. In this case, the victim only knew the abuser for a few months, and broke up with him because he seemed 'off'. And "Why didn't she get help?" - (A) She tried. She filed for an 'order of protection', she changed her locks and told her roommate & landlord, her employer & her family members. She did everything right. It wasn't enough.