Of Love And Other Demons

Music has many valences in the novel. It first enters via the chorus of madwomen at the Divina Pastora, whose singing provides the "lullabies" (34) of the Marquis' childhood. The morning and evening prayers of the convent mark the passing of Sierva's days in captivity. The Marquis' first wife, Doña Olalla, brings musical training with her from Spain and teaches him to play the theorbo. When the Marquis tries to bond with Sierva, he brings out the dusty instrument and plays her a song that makes her ask whether "love conquered all" (49). Later, when Father Delaura comes to ask the Marquis about Sierva pre-possession, the Marquis plays the song for him and its melody reveals more about Sierva than words ever could.

Like Dominga de Adviento, Sierva María is both baptized Catholic and "consecrated to Olokun" (42), a Yoruban deity. Sierva wears both a baptismal scapular and strings of Santería necklaces to symbolize her devotion to both religions. The necklaces represent not only the six Yoruban deities, who are transformed in Sierva's mind to the six demons in her painted portrait, but, like her hair, also represent her ties to the black community that raised her. When the convent nuns steal her necklaces, Sierva doesn't give them "a moment's peace" (71) until they're returned to her.

The book taken from Father Delaura as a child is a collection of chivalric romances by Amadís of Gaul. Though he never got to know the ending, Father Delaura's life seems to have unfolded in a similar fashion to those of the genre's heroes. Abrenuncio says he knows that this book, along with all "the best novels of our time" (114) is forbidden. He laments that the only things published anymore are "treatises for learned men" (114) and asks Delaura what "the poor of our day" (114) should read if not forbidden books in secret. Delaura tells Abrenuncio that this book went missing from the "hidden section" (114) of the diocese's library, so he should denounce Abrenuncio to the Holy Office. Abrenuncio thinks he's joking and claims that of the eleven people to touch this edition of the book, three died "of some unknown effluvium" (115).

A bite from a rabid dog with a "white blaze on its forehead" (7) begins Sierva María's tragic tale. Father Delaura bears a shock of white hair at his forehead just like the dog. When Bernarda learns that Sierva's been bitten but hasn't contracted rabies, she claims that the dog "must have died because it bit her" (16), implying that Sierva has such power she could kill a rabid dog. Similarly, affection for Sierva seems to infect Father Delaura to the point that it drives him nearly mad. Abrenuncio, the other man with the power to cure Sierva, has a last name that means 'dog' in Portuguese. 

On the other hand, the Marquis' mastiffs, of which he was once afraid, serve as loyal companions and guards to him. The mastiffs keep Father Delaura from entering the Marquis' house and they seem only to obey the Marquis and Dulce Olivia, the latter of whom trains them with food.