The Battle of the Virgins
The Battle of the Virgins (Original title: La batalla de las Vírgenes) is a 1993 novel by Puerto Rican writer Rosario Ferré.Having lived in Spain for six years with husband Marcos, Mariana travels to Puerto Rico to join her husband who is on the island for business. It gives her the chance to get in touch with her mother, who went mute after returning from a trip to the sanctuary of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje, the former Yugoslavia.
Tropes present in this work
- Bury Your Gays: After a group of AIDS activists show up at the Sanctuary of the Virgin, Aunt Rosa goes off in a nasty rant about how AIDS is a punishment for gays' evildoing and it would be better if they just died.
- Elective Mute: Matilde, Mariana's mother has made a vow of silence ever since she witnessed an apparition of the Virgin in Medjugorje. She plans to keep it until the local crime wave ends. She finally breaks it when Padre Angel stops at the Asylum. Afterwards, she only speaks while confessing.
- Epigraph: It quotes a passage from Spanish author Benito Perez Galdos’s novel Misericordia where a rich bride and groom are ambushed by beggars.
- Despair Event Horizon: Padre Angel hits it after Mariana reveals to him under confession that she had sex with her old classmate Ariel.
- Impractically Fancy Outfit: For the long car trip to the Sanctuary of the Virgin, Mariana dresses casually in jeans and a t-shirt. In contrast, her aunts wear fancy designer dresses.
- Karma Houdini: Marcos tries to shoot Mariana in court right after the judge gives her custody of their son. He is released after making bail and returns to Spain, and there is no talk of getting him extradited to answer for criminal charges.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: At first, Padre Angel sees Mariana's charity work, and in combination to her resemblance to his deceased sister, becomes obsessed with her. After Mariana divorces Marcos, and admits her involvement with Ariel during Confession, Padre Angel writes in his diary that even though he treats her the same, he sees her as a cesspool of corruption.
- Mean Boss: Mariana's Aunt Rosa has a live-in cook. She never gives the poor woman permission to go out so that she does not find out that she could get paid at least four times her salary by working someplace else.
- Meaningful Rename: The gang known as Los Alacranes Eléctricos (Electric Scorpions) rename themselves Los Arcángeles Eléctricos (Electric Archangels) to signify their commitment to Padre Angel's work.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: The Goddess Amita and her cult are based upon the Mita Congregation and its deceased spiritual leader.
- Sexy Priest: Mariana is driving her mother, aunts, sons and Padre Angel to the sanctuary of the Virgin of the Well. The priest ends up sitting right next to Mariana and she cannot help noticing that he seems to lean against her.
- Shout-Out:
- Mariana is often told that she looks just like Claudia Cardinale in Il Gattopardo.
- Mariana compares the political status quo in Puerto Rico to The Green Table.
- The people of Oviedo refer to Teresa and Ángel as Eloisa and Abelardo, in reference to Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard".
- Slut-Shaming: Mariana's aunts Lola and Rosa blame the high rate of divorce on women who are unwilling to put up with husbands'. Padre Ángel shares their perspective.
- Taking the Veil: Padre Angel's sister Teresa ends up joining the order of Discalced Carmelites.
- Twincest: The nature of Teresa and Angel’s relationship.
- Unreliable Narrator: With multiple POVs, it is to be expected. One of the final chapters describes the bloodbath at the Sabana Grande Sanctuary but it depicts the Archangels as thugs.
- You Can't Fight Fate: In Medjugorje, Matilde has a vision of a bloodbath where many will die. It ends up happening at another sanctuary of the Virgin Mary.
