The Tragic Mulatta and Storytelling in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Resumen
La figura de la mulata trágica tiene su origen en la literatura anterior a la guerra y se usó de manera extensa en la literatura de los siglos diecinueve y veinte. Se ha escrito mucho sobre este personaje literario, sobretodo en una época en la que el problema del mestizaje estaba en su punto más álgido, y en la que los estudios establecían que las razas eran inherentemente diferentes, entendiéndose que la raza negra era inferior a la blanca. Muchos autores han hecho uso de este tropo con diferentes propósitos, y Zora Neale Hurston fue una de ellos. En su novela Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston crea a Janie, una mulata que a priori tiene todas las características de este tipo de personaje femenino pero que, sin embargo, rompe con todos ellas. Supera todos los estereotipos y prejuicios impuestos sobre ella por su condición de descendiente de una relación interracial, y además es capaz de tomar las riendas de su vida y retar a todas estas imposiciones, sintiéndose cada vez más cerca de su raza y celebrando y empoderando su identidad femenina. En este sentido, la narración oral se convierte en la fuerza liberadora que la ayuda a conseguirlo. Se convertirá en el instrumento que la capacite para ignorar la necesidad de hacerse pasar por una persona blanca y le dará la oportunidad de conectar con su verdadera identidad y de sentirse libre y feliz, rompiendo con el destino trágico que espera a los personajes mulatos.
Palabras clave: narración oral, mulata trágica, negrura, Hurston.
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