porterand mena

Miss Young is also portrayed in this story as a stereotypical Anglo-American tourist, who is immediately intrigued by Petra's extrinsic qualities. These stereotypical illustrations go on by describing Petra as the subordinate child-like indita, who refuses to take a picture for superstition purposes, as Miss Young prepares to take the photograph. Another instance in which this could be illustrated is when Miss Young is invited into the home of Don Romulo's tenants, in which he precedes by telling her "this house is your house." Miss Young's reaction towards Don Romulo's kind words clearly show the invasion of Mexico by the Americans, when Miss Young literally believes that house really is hers. .
             In Another one of Mena's works, "The Sorcerer and General Bisco" which was published by Century Magazine in 1915, you begin to see some of Mena's work leave the romantic scene as seen in "The Gold Vanity Set" and evolve into a more revolutionary piece. The Sorcerer and General Bisco" begins to show the rising of the women during the postcolonial period and some occurrences of the Mexican Revolution at the time. In this story we are introduced to Carmelita who is one of Mena's main characters which later becomes a soldada after being on the run for so long during the revolution in Mexico. Carmelita also seems to possess clairvoyant powers, which is another stereotypical aspect of the Mexican culture, and is able to see the coming of El General Bisco, a revolutionary, in which his mission is to bring down Don Balthazar Rascon a rich and powerful land owner. These points in Mena's story seem to interpret more of what is really happening in Mexico during the time of the revolution and the Mexican culture's witchcraft which is found deep in Mexico. This story by Mena as described in one of Doherty's notes "could also be interpreted and was probably read as a metaphor for political struggles in Mexico.