Introduction
In Rosario Castellanos’ The Nine Guardians, Ladino authority declines as agrarian and educational reforms as well as emerging Indigenous political consciousness threaten the traditional hacienda hierarchy, yet the Argüellos’ racist beliefs about Indigenous inferiority persist and at times intensify. This paradox raises an important question: why do Ladino characters continue to believe in the legitimacy of this hierarchy even as it begins to destabilize? Anthropologist Jan Rus’ analysis of Chiapas after the Mexican Revolution helps clarify the historical context behind this apparent contradiction. Rus argues that although reforms during the “time of Cárdenas” in the late 1930s weakened the dominance of landowners and extended new rights to Indigenous communities, the state achieved a “more intimate form of domination” by intervening in Indigenous governance. In doing so, the Cardenistas and their successors co-opted the community structures used to resist external exploitation and ultimately harnessed these “closed corporate communities” to the state. While Rus emphasizes the political structures that subverted Indigenous autonomy, Castellanos focuses less on the institutional reorganization of power than on how Ladino elites responded to the erosion of the kind they previously held through distorted portrayals of Indigenous people. Despite this distinction, situating the characters within this historical context clarifies that their distortions are not merely expressions of personal prejudice but defensive strategies reflecting the broader limitations placed on Indigenous autonomy at the time and used to maintain control over Indigenous communities. Moreover, the ease with which other characters reproduce these distortions underscores that the ideology of Ladino superiority was deeply embedded in the surrounding social environment rather than simply the product of personal prejudice.
Indigenous Resistance Provokes Defensive Assertions of Superiority
Indigenous people’s assertions of autonomy repeatedly provoke intensified racist reactions from Ladino characters, an indication that they function as a defense of a hierarchy beginning to destabilize. For instance, when César complains that the government is “handing . . . over rights the Indians don’t deserve and can’t use,” he portrays Indigenous people as incapable of responsibly exercising political rights and thus unfit for self-government. In doing so, he frames the hierarchy not merely as an economic system based on landownership but as a natural order requiring Indigenous subordination, a belief that allows him to defend his superiority even as agrarian reform begins to weaken Ladino power. Although César interprets the Cardenista government as siding with Indigenous communities and it appeared to be doing so through agrarian and educational reforms, as mentioned, Rus shows that these measures were actually used to co-opt native structures and incorporate them into a state-controlled system that ultimately constrained Indigenous autonomy. Rather than correcting the novel’s depiction, this context clarifies that César’s reaction exemplifies not merely personal prejudice but a defensive response in which Indigenous assertions of autonomy were met by outside authorities with efforts to limit them. His reaction grows more extreme when direct Indigenous resistance threatens his power after the workers set fire to his land. César’s deeming them “savages” and claiming that “there have been cases of raping the women” amongst them invokes racist stereotypes that portray Indigenous men as violent and uncivilized. By depicting them as dangerous criminals rather than workers protesting injustice, he frames cruel repression, having Indigenous workers “tied elbow to elbow and dragged off to jail,” as a necessary defense of social order.
César’s transforming challenges to Ladino authority into proof that this dominance remains justified is echoed by Zoraida’s reaction when Indigenous boys disregard her authority at the river. When she insists that “nobody has a right to fetch water from the river or bathe as long as the patrones are here,” she assumes Ladino landowners still possess unquestioned control over the land and Indigenous people. Yet, the boys swim “as silently and easily as fish,” a simile that emphasizes their indifference by portraying their behavior as effortless and unconcerned and that thereby suggests that the fear that once enforced the social hierarchy has weakened. Zoraida’s racist reaction, “they’ll foul our pool,” reveals a defensive attempt to reassert Ladino superiority. Since the encounter is more trivial than the overt resistance to which César responds, her reaction may initially appear to stem from personal delusion; she even screams that the “Indians were naked” although Castellanos explicitly notes that the “Indians hadn’t stripped naked in front of them,” a suggestion of prejudiced hysteria. Yet, Rus’ historical context again clarifies that this apparent delusion reflects racist defensive reactions to the threat of Indigenous autonomy; although claims such as those of Zoraida were blatantly detached from reality, they were fabricated to maintain Indigenous subordination.
Social Reproduction Sustains the Ideology of Ladino Superiority
Castellanos suggests that the denial of Indigenous autonomy is further reinforced through social reproduction as individuals who defend Ladino superiority through distorted portrayals of Indigenous people transmit these views to others. César acknowledges signs of instability when he tells Ernesto, “You’ll be thinking those who say this is the end are right,” yet he counters this threat by reaffirming Ladino superiority, in part by treating Ladino men’s sexual exploitation of Indigenous women as a sign of continued dominance. After he states, “There are the Indian women to do your bidding, Ernesto. . . . I’ve a sprinkling of children among them,” Castellanos reveals how César’s reduction of Indigenous women to objects of sexual use is adopted by Ernesto, a demonstration of how this racist defense is reproduced socially. Castellanos’ statement that “whatever dark and primitive sense of justice Ernesto might have possessed was smothered by custom, by the usualness of events which nobody else’s conscience considered a reproach” suggests that Ernesto’s moral awareness is suppressed by the normalization of exploitation within Ladino society, a process that defensively sustains Ladino dominance. The spread of this racial ideology is also visible in the aftermath of Zoraida’s reaction to the boys bathing in the river, and her social authority as a Ladino landowner helps explain why her distorted account is not immediately challenged. Although Matilde recognizes that the “Indians hadn’t stripped naked in front of them, or insulted them, or forced them to leave,” she remains silent after realizing that the “right moment” to correct Zoraida’s fabricated racial threat has passed and her explanation “wouldn’t be believed now,” an indication that Zoraida’s position of social dominance grants her accusations greater legitimacy. When Zoraida later tasks her with accompanying the children to the river, Matilde silently “nod[s] her agreement,” a reaction that, along with Castellanos’ note that it had “become automatic by now,” supports that her earlier hesitation to contradict Zoraida stems from deference to her authority. In this way, Castellanos shows that the continued influence of Ladino authority enables its racial ideology to shape others’ actions even when individuals privately recognize its distortions. Viewed with Rus’ analysis in mind, the ease with which Ernesto internalizes César’s beliefs and Matilde submits to Zoraida’s claims reveals that the ideology of Ladino superiority both sustains Ladino dominance and is reinforced by it, an additional indication that these attitudes emerge from a broader historical environment rather than merely personal prejudice.
Sources
- The Nine Guardians by Rosario Castellanos
- https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/1762/chapter-abstract/184550/The-Comunidad-Revolucionaria-Institucional-The?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- Feature image: https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Guardians-Rosarios-Castellanos/dp/0930523903