Critique of Life in Mexico
In her many letters, and through her journals, Fanny Calderon de la Barca has left us a very informative eyewitness account of nineteenth century Mexico. Although these writings can be very useful in studying this period of time, it is important to note some of the factors that may have affected what she wrote. Fanny Calderon de la Barca's own social identity was one of the factors that had the most profound impact on her writings and observations. It is because of this social identity that her writings can be used advantageously as a source for social history...However, it is the same social identity that will help alter and be disadvantageous to using her work as a source for social history. Through examples of her writing this paper will argue these merits and show how this work can and can not be used as a source for social history. It is important to understand Fanny de la Barca's social identity, in order to help clarify the pros and con's of her work. She was the fifth child of ten born. Her father was well to do landowner, as well as a legal writer in Scotland. Her mother was related to the Earl of Buchan, in addition to other noble Scottish families (pg.5). She was very well educated as a child. She did see
Although Fanny was an outside observer, she was able to work objectively on the many things she saw and people she met. However, because of the time period she some times couldn't write exactly what she wanted to, especially when it came to certain government issues. Due to her husband's respected position in society she was able to meet many important people, generals and leaders. They were received and treated with respect just about everywhere. Sometimes even with a twenty-one gun salute, like the one from the Jason. She was able to make observations of what she saw as they traveled from place to place. This treatment had its own impact on her writing. Although she noted some of the negative things that she saw, such as the smoke blackened buildings on the way to Vera Cruz, etc., she and her husband almost always stayed in a nice and comfortable place or house. This kept her from witnessing and experiencing some of the problems firsthand. Also a lot of the information she gathered was from generals and governors, people such as Santa Anna. These were not true firsthand accounts from peasants and other lower class families. For this reason her information may have been biased. I believe Fanny's writings can be useful as a source for social history. One reason is because she was there. She was able, for the most part, to see and observe the trials and tribulations, good times and bad, almost firsthand. It is important to understand how her writings have been affected and bias. This is imperative in determining the merits of her work as a source for social history. Her work will only be a beneficial source for social history if you consider her biases and opinions that coul
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Approximate Word count = 1149
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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