A plus writer

Prompt: In the Introduction, Michele Stepto remarks that the ease with which Erauso moved throughout Spain and the New World after dressing like a man speaks to masculine freedom in this period. Through analysis of Erauso’s example and the stories she recounts about other men, how would you describe masculinity in colonial Spain?

Some things to consider:

1. Masculinity and femininity, the traits associated with being male or female, have changed over time. Context also changes the way gender is defined: a father evinces one form of masculinity, a monk another, a conquistador another.

2. In this short essay, you should concentrate on a specific point. Do not try to explain all facets of life in colonial Spain.

3. Your essay should be thesis-driven (an argument that requires defense) and include ample evidence (direct quotations from the next, not summary) and analysis that connects the evidence to your thesis (explains why the evidence works in your argument).

4. Components of masculinity that you might discuss include: nationality and patriotism, relations with women, religious piety, physical attributes, personality traits, relations with family, occupations and social classes, etc. Please note that this requires more analysis than simply explaining that masculinity included violence or pride. Think instead about other categories to which masculinity was attached, with which it overlapped, or on which it had an impact.

Below each quotation, analyze how it provides insight into masculinity.

“Then [Reyes] told me I’d best disappear, or he’d be forced to cut my face wide open….I said, ‘This is the face you were thinking of cutting up,’ and gave him a slash worth ten stitches.” (12)

“[My master] offered to speak to the company officers and get my enlistment annulled…but I…had a mind to travel and see a bit of the world.” (17)

“On occasion I went with [my brother] to the house of the mistress he kept in town, and on other occasions I went there without him.” (19)

“When I saw the flag being carried off I rode after it…I killed the chief who was carrying the flag…” (20)

“I went into a nearby gambling house…[and my companion] told me I lied like a cuckold. I drew out my dagger and ran it into his chest.” (22)

“This is how things stood when I saddled up and vanished. And I have never heard exactly what became of the black girl or the little vicaress.” (29)

“We carved the boy into ten thousand pieces. Meanwhile, the Indians had returned to the village more than ten thousand strong. We fell at them again with such spirit, and butchered so many of them…” (34)

“A lawyer stuck his head in and pointed out that I was a Basquero, and therefore exempt from torture by the privilege of nobility.” (37)

“It just goes to show that persistence and hard work can perform miracles, and it happens regularly—especially in the Indies!” (38)

“The friars kindly took me in and looked to my wounds, and I held up in the monastery, convalescing, for five months.” (47)

“Brother Luis Ferrer de Valencia, who is a great man, arrived and took my confession…[he] encouraged me to take heart and tried to comfort me.” (56)

“I told the man that I had no order, and no religion, and that I was simply trying to get back to my country…” (69)

“‘It has been my experience that the sorriest Spaniard is many times better than the best Italian.’” (78)

Questions to consider as you write your thesis:

1. How does Erauso’s performance of masculinity differ from other men, in other stations, she meets on her journey? (For example, men in positions of power, religious men, etc.)

2. How does her life as a man compare to the short period that she lives as a nun again?

3. How do nationalism and masculinity reinforce each other? How does religious affiliation compare?

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