Women enemies, women accomplices: relationships of parody in four tales by Elena Garro and Elena Poniatowska

Abstract

This article analizes the relationships of re-signification, reading and parody between two stories by Elena Garro (“La culpa es de los tlaxcaltecas” & “El árbol”) included in La semana de colores, and two other stories by Elena Poniatowska (“La banca” y “Coatlicue”) included in Tlapalería. The four stories deal with the relationship between the upper class female protagonists and their female servants, through which the writers discuss problems linked to gender, ethnicity and class. The article analizes thematic and stylistic resemblances and divergences between the stories, as well as the contrasts between Garro and Poniatowska as public figures and regarding their careers.