Milli mála - 01.06.2016, Blaðsíða 137

HÓLMFRÍÐUR GARÐARSDÓTTIR
Milli mála 8/2016 137
– a year after her affair with the American doctor – gives birth to
Orlandus’ son and makes sure that, despite ethnic diversity, all four
of them go on peacefully to share a home which is truly dynamic in
socio-cultural terms. The siblings come to embody the tolerance
required to live in a contemporary multicultural society marked by
the existence of complex combinations of social and individual iden-
tities. However, as demonstrated in Rossi’s narrative, the ‘I’ and the
‘other’ continue to be the common markers in the formation of iden-
tity. Mestizaje appears in Rossi’s texts not as a fixed condition but
one that is open to continuous modification, emphasizing the ever-
lasting social and cultural transmutation of the Costa Rican Caribbean
community. Therefore, it is no surprise to discover that Orlandus
and Irene constantly need to mediate the conflicting demographic
situations around them. The identity struggle played out in Limón
Blues reflects Woo’s theoretical formulations, just as Laura’s identity
quest, when viewed in terms of Bedley’s study, can be seen as repre-
senting the tasks awaiting future generations.
The tension between micro- and macro-concerns emerges as be-
ing the most characteristic feature of Rossi’s texts, and this corre-
sponds to Beatriz Sarlo’s observation that gender and social policies
are complementary parts of the same thought and action, and can-
not be separated.60 As mentioned earlier, in Limón Blues Nanah,
Leonor and Irene reconfirm clichés about women’s roles: Nanah, as
the devoted mother, conductor of Santeria faith, serves to represent
cultural rootedness; Leonor, as the sensual lover, embodies oppor-
tunism; while Irene is the realistic down-to-earth woman who can
always be trusted to seek the common good. At the same time,
because “the birth of Caribbean culture and identity can’t be lim-
ited to a single perspective”,61 these three female characters also
disrupt conventional female paradigms as they create a place of
their own where they are physically and mentally independent.
Similarly, the female protagonist in Limón Reggae represents the
continuous struggle of multiracial individuals to determine their
own ‘self’. Laura discovers through trial and error a way to survive,
60 Sarlo, Beatriz. “Women, History and Ideology”. Women’s Writing in Latin America: An Anthology.
Boulder: Westview Press. 1991, p. missing.
61 Corticelli, María Rita. El Caribe Universal, p. 25.