Nation and Woman: From Conquered to Conqueror in Los Estados-Unidos (notas y episodios de viaje) by Alberto Lombardo

The Mexican conceives of love as combat and conquest. It is not so much an attempt to penetrate reality by means of the body as it is to violate it.

Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude, 42.

Nothing compares to the marvelous prosperity of the United States of the North . . . if the absence of a female spirit, origin of the artistic sense and complement of the national being, hardens and corrupts the heart of this amazing people, time will let us know.

José Martí, Coney Island,¹ 82.

Alberto Lombardo presents in Los Estados-Unidos (notas y episodios de viaje) (1884) the psychological trauma of the conquest of Mexican territory by the United States. It is precisely this trauma that incites him to travel to his Northern neighbor, because he considers that studying the USA will benefit his Mexican homeland. Lombardo starts the prologue by explaining the different ways of life of Uncle Sam’s sons. According to the author, this study will be supported by his own observations and the research of other experts. This Mexican lawyer² and scholar, influenced by the scientific and political³ spirit of the “Porfiriato” (1876–1911), embarks on a luxury trip that will give him the opportunity to visit New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco, among other cities in the country.

The “national” discourse related to the gain or loss of a territory is very similar to a sentimental speech, because the land, like a desired woman, is besieged, conquered, and may be lost to a rival. Traditionally, the American land is associated with the female figure that is conquered on the battlefield, and then covered with the mantles of civilization and masculine power. The homeland or nation becomes a mother or wife that her citizens – sons and husbands – should protect from the hegemonic desires of others. According to this discourse, Lombardo projects on men (the masculine figures), the military hostility of the conqueror and on women (the female figures), his desires of the re-conquest of national pride. In other words, the role of the author changes from that of conquered to conqueror of women, in order to compensate for the loss of part of Mexico.

The thesis of this paper is to explore how Lombardo projects psychologically the military loss of part of the Mexican territory by U.S. men, and his attempt to compensate for that loss by romantically conquering women in the U.S. Additionally, I will explore the confrontation of the author with different female models he meets in the U.S., and why he feels attraction, rejection, or indifference towards them. I will also address the reasons behind the lack of representation of African American population in this discourse. This essay takes a psychological approach in order to analyze racial, gender, and class issues in Lombardo’s travel book.

The Mexican-American War (1846–48) demonstrates the imperial agenda of the U.S., a nation that appropriated a significant part of Mexico’s territory. Although North Americans considered this territorial conquest a legal enterprise, Mexicans perceived it as an illegal military intervention.⁴ After the war, the previous Mexican admiration for the United States changed to hate and fear. The impact of the conquest of this part of the Mexican territory is twofold, on the one hand Mexicans consider it an attack to the sovereignty of their motherland that has being violated and amputated by the imperials desires of the U.S; on the other, they project their traumatic fears on the citizens of their neighbor country, the Americans. Lombardo is not immune to these disturbing feelings which he reveals upon observing the behavior of U.S. men during his trip in “Yankee land.”

Lombardo projects the military outrages of the United States in his description of American men’s conduct. Sigmund Freud defines the “uncanny” as what “is undoubtedly related to what is frightening – to what arouses dread and horror” (219). Lombardo exposes the anxiety he feels towards American men, whom he regards as...