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...
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…
