Work of E. Portillo Trambley

Work of E. Portillo Trambley If it Weren't for the Honeysuckle" In the story, "If it Weren't for the Honeysuckle," Estela Portillo Trambley tells of a woman who commits murder in order to grant her and two others the freedom she feels they so rightly deserve. Trambley tells this story in two different versions, however, and although the main plot is the same in both, there are many differences between each story. Trambley first published this story in 1975.

This earlier version recounts the tale of a woman, Beatriz, who marries an older man, Robles, at a young age. Beatriz marries Robles to escape the subservient lifestyle she leads with her older brothers, only to be thrust in the role once again. However, in her new life, Robles is not always at home, so Beatriz at least has some free time to herself. She even builds herself a home out of her bare hands, an act of great passion and determination.

Robles brings home a second wife, Sofa, to Beatriz's home, and Beatriz is actually thankful for this companion, and also because Robles' attention is now away from Beatriz. Robles is awful to Sofa and beats her constantly; Robles does not beat Beatriz, however, and we don't know why. Eventually Robles brings yet another girl home, and both Beatriz and Sofa want to protect her from Robles. Beatriz finds some poisonous mushrooms growing by her beloved honeysuckle vines, and she uses these mushrooms to poison Robles.

The later version of the story, published in 1993, is entirely more descriptive in both small and large ways. First of all, in this version, we now know where the story takes place: in a town in northern Mexico. We are also given a more vivid description of the town, which includes a large, abandoned mansion (this was not in the earlier version).

Some other small differences are that Beatriz is one of 7 children in this version, whereas she is one of 10 children in the earlier version; Beatriz speaks of a loving grandmother in the later version, and there is no mention of her in the earlier version; and in the first version, all we know is that Beatriz practically starved herself to build her house, whereas in the later version, we find out the different jobs she took (e.g., dishwasher, cook, housekeeper) to earn enough money to buy supplies for the house.

In the later version, we find out a lot more about both Beatriz and Sofia (she is Sofa in the earlier version). Beatriz has a much more fiery character in the later version, and we understand this because of the hardships she has endured. She also has a great love of reading.

We learn that she traveled for three years with Robles before even arriving at the land where she built her home; during these travels, Robles repeatedly beat and raped her, and she even tried to escape from him, but he caught her and beat her once more. In the earlier version, we know that Robles doesn't beat Beatriz when he visits her in her house, but we don't know why.

Well, we find this out in the later version -- it's because, after the beatings got so bad, Beatriz threatened to kill Robles with an axe if he ever touched her again. As far as Sofia, we learn in the second version how she came to live with Beatriz. We also see in more depth how terrified she is, and how all of her hopes for anything good in the world are dashed.

In the first version, Sofia had a willingness to believe in better things; in the second version, she does not. In the second version, when Beatriz tells Sofia of her plan to kill Robles, she pleads with her not to, and asks Beatriz why she does not feel guilty; in the first version, she is scared, but she does whatever Beatriz tells her to do without a second thought. Finally, the story of Robles ultimate death is different in the two versions.

In the earlier version, Robles comes home drunk, asks where Lucretia is, and when Beatriz tells him that she's out in the garden, Robles accepts this. He then eats his poisoned soup, rests on the cot, and slips into a coma while Beatriz and Sofa are digging his grave outside. When they return, they watch as he dies, and then they bury him. In the later version, however, Robles comes into the house drunk, gets sick, and then demands to know where Lucretia is.

When both women tell him that she has died, he refuses to believe this, and then grabs Sofia so tightly until she tells him that Lucretia is actually in town. Beatriz then concocts an entire story and somehow gets Robles to believe her; she then gets him to eat his poisoned soup and convinces him to rest while she and Sofia go to the village to bring Lucretia back to him.

In the meantime, the two women actually hide in the backyard, and when they are sure he is in a coma, they go back inside, watch him die, and then dig a hole and bury him in it. I believe that Trambley rewrote this story in order to give her readers a greater understanding of why Beatriz did what she did.

There is so much detail lacking in the first version, and although we are still sympathetic to the three women characters, there is not enough of a justification for Beatriz's actions. In the second version, we truly understand the hardships Beatriz endured, and these help to justify Robles' murder. We see just how cruel he was to her, and why her soul has become so hardened.

We also see how she was abused not only by Robles but also by another man, Don Carlos, and how she let him die by not giving him his medicine. This.