Elena Poniatowska's graceful free indirect falls into Rosario Castellanos' self-deprecating rhetoric in the prologue to Cartas a Ricardo, a book of Castellanos' letters to her twice husband and lifelong love object. Poniatowska refuses both not to take her at her word, nor let her off the hook for what José Joaquin Blanco describes as the tone of a "plañidera", a wailer who fills pages with plaints and pleas, most of which are directed towards Ricardo, almost none of which are addressed. Castellanos sustained herself on the occasional small card from him, each one somehow erasing the buildup of bitterness.
“No cuesta trabajo adivinar lo que sucede dentro de la casa de Constituyentes. A veces visualizamos una película de suspenso; otras, una de terror. No es que como toda pareja Rosario y Ricardo se peleen, se dañen, se separen, se reconcilien, hagan propósitos de encomienda y se toleren, sino que, antes la incertidumbre y el rechazo, Rosario opta por culpabilizarse. Pide perdón. En realidad, ella es la única responsable por no saber aceptar, por padecer celos desmesurados, por no entender, por caer en estados de rabia, por reclamar. Ella debe comprenderlo todo, buscar la convivencia y, para no volver a haver nunca más una escena, recurrir a los tranquilizantes. Se piensa fea, gorda, fodonga, histérica. Con toda razón, él busca en otras lo que no encuentra en ella. Todos las demás han de ser mejores. Rosario no lo satisface porque es un ‘monstruo’. De Ricardo realmente no sabemos sino lo que Rosario nos dice o lo que resulta fácil deducir de las cartas cuando Rosario es explícita. Su disgrace gira en torno a la infidelidad de Ricardo, pero la única responsable es ella. ¿Cómo son las otras? Lilia Carrillo es apenas un fantasma, una aparición momentánea, un único telegrama que avisa que tal día recogerá a sus hijos. Selma en cambio tiene más presencia y Rosario, que a pesar de todo busca siempre la reconciliación´øn, le escribirá a Ricardo que no acepta viajar con él a Puerto Rico porque no quiere herir a Selma.” (17)
It is not hard to guess what happens inside the house on Constituyentes. Sometimes we visualize a suspense film; other times, one of terror. It is not that Rosario and Ricardo fight like every couple, they are damaged, they separate, they are reconciled, they make propositions of concession, and are tolerated, but that before the uncertainty and the rejection, Rosario opts to blame herself. She begs pardon. In reality, she is the only one responsible for not knowing how to accept, for suffering excessive jealousy, for not understanding, for falling into states of anger, for complaining. She must understand everything, pursue coexistence and, in order to never again have a scene, resort to reassurances. She thinks herself ugly, fat, lazy, hysterical. With good reason, he finds in others that which he does not find in her. All the others must be better. Rosario does not satisfy him because she is a “monster”. From Ricardo we really do not know other than what Rosario tells us or what is easy to deduce from the letters when Rosario is explicit. Her disgrace revolves around Ricardo’s infidelity, but the only responsible one is her. How are the others? Lilia Carrillo is just a ghost, a momentary appearance, a single telegram that warns that she will pick up her children that day. Selma, on the other hand, has more presence and Rosario, who despite everything searches always for reconciliation, will write to Ricardo that she does not agree to travel with him to Puerto Rico because she does not want to hurt Selma.
