Is it important for all to embrace their family history? Is it possible to embrace the past to an extreme degree? Gayl Jones ' novel, Corregidora (1974), is told in the perspective of Ursa Corregidora. Ursa is trained by her great grandmother,grandmother, and mother to live a life that advocates the evils committed by Simon Corregidora. Ursa fears being oppressed like her ancestors, so her actions in the novel are based upon what she has hear since the age of five. Ursa 's family history makes Ursa who she is. The graphic nature of the stories has created mental baggage and has altered Ursa 's perspective of certain characters. The people that Ursa encounters parallel to her families past and her interactions are influenced by the stories
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Ursa 's desire to sing a song to “touch other people 's hearts” is significant because Ursa 's singing is not supported by any of her loved ones. Ursa 's mother referred to her songs as devil music because the lyrics are about Simon Correigdora 's effect on herself and her family. Mutt does not like Ursa 's singing because it draws in the male attention and allows her to move away from the female role that she is expected to fulfill. Ursa being able to sing is her way of being unchained by what others want her to be. The song that she sings to Cat, Richard M. Jones ' Trouble In Mind (1926), is Ursa 's way of singing about her blues and rebelling against her families wishes of “Keeping Generations.” The lyric that Ursa sings to herself at Cat 's home, “taking my rocking chair down the river and rocking my blues away” (Jones 1924), is symbolic to how Ursa feels when she sings at Happy 's bar. Singing in front of a crowd gives her a sense of happiness and a short-term escape from her blues mindset. Ursa wants to break away from the male dominated world that she is apart of by singing and touching the hearts of not only the audience at the bar, but the Corregidora woman. Going back to the idea of consequences, Ursa 's family 's history with Corregidora has contributed to her singing,” They squeezed Corregidora into me, and I sung back in return (Jones 103).” Ursa 's internal resentment is the consequence of all the stories of Corregidora that Ursa has heard from her mother since the age of five, resentment that she can only release through performing. However, while the readers feel that Ursa 's singing is her way of taking a stand, at the end of the day, when she finishes her songs, she goes right back home to Mutt or Tadpole, male characters who somewhat parallel Corregidora. No matter how much Ursa fights her instinctive guard she has for men, she finds herself conforming
Ursa 's desire to sing a song to “touch other people 's hearts” is significant because Ursa 's singing is not supported by any of her loved ones. Ursa 's mother referred to her songs as devil music because the lyrics are about Simon Correigdora 's effect on herself and her family. Mutt does not like Ursa 's singing because it draws in the male attention and allows her to move away from the female role that she is expected to fulfill. Ursa being able to sing is her way of being unchained by what others want her to be. The song that she sings to Cat, Richard M. Jones ' Trouble In Mind (1926), is Ursa 's way of singing about her blues and rebelling against her families wishes of “Keeping Generations.” The lyric that Ursa sings to herself at Cat 's home, “taking my rocking chair down the river and rocking my blues away” (Jones 1924), is symbolic to how Ursa feels when she sings at Happy 's bar. Singing in front of a crowd gives her a sense of happiness and a short-term escape from her blues mindset. Ursa wants to break away from the male dominated world that she is apart of by singing and touching the hearts of not only the audience at the bar, but the Corregidora woman. Going back to the idea of consequences, Ursa 's family 's history with Corregidora has contributed to her singing,” They squeezed Corregidora into me, and I sung back in return (Jones 103).” Ursa 's internal resentment is the consequence of all the stories of Corregidora that Ursa has heard from her mother since the age of five, resentment that she can only release through performing. However, while the readers feel that Ursa 's singing is her way of taking a stand, at the end of the day, when she finishes her songs, she goes right back home to Mutt or Tadpole, male characters who somewhat parallel Corregidora. No matter how much Ursa fights her instinctive guard she has for men, she finds herself conforming