Flowering Judas by Katherine Anne Porter

First published: 1930

Type of plot: Psychological

Time of work: About 1920

Locale: Mexico

Principal Characters:

• Laura, a twenty-two-year-old American who teaches school and participates in the revolution in Mexico
• Braggioni, the leader of the revolution and suitor of Laura
• Mrs. Braggioni, his wife, who works hard for the revolution and weeps for her husband
• Eugenio, a political prisoner who takes an overdose of narcotics, which he has obtained from Laura

The Story

In "Flowering Judas," Laura, after teaching school and visiting Eugenio in prison, comes home to be warned by Lupe, the maid, that Braggioni is waiting for her. Although she detests his presence, Laura, a young American, allows the Mexican revolutionary leader to sing to her. She is afraid of him, as he is known for his cruelty and vanity. As she "owes her comfortable situation and her salary to him," however, she does her best to tolerate him. For the past month he has been spending the evenings with her. Laura is in the precarious predicament of attempting to resist his advances without seeming to do so. His "gluttonous bulk . . . has become a symbol of her disillusions" with revolution and leaders. Braggioni has come to represent the disunion between her idealistic view of life and the life she is actually living.

Born a Roman Catholic, Laura still slips into a church now and then but can no longer find comfort in it. She instead tries to embrace revolutionary theories but without much success. Her private heresy is not to wear lace made by machines, even though the machine is "sacred" to the revolutionary forces with which she is working. She fears that she may become as corrupt as Braggioni, who sits before her in his expensive clothes and his great self-love. As he sings his love songs and lectures on his philosophy, Laura wonders why she stays in Mexico. She teaches the Indian children, attends union meetings, visits political prisoners, smuggles letters and drugs, and delivers messages. However, her motives are unclear.

To the Mexicans who know her and see her in the street, Laura is an erotic mystery. Although she remains aloof she is admired for her green eyes, sensual lips, beautiful walk, large breasts, and long legs. The legendary virginity of the gringita spurs Braggioni and other potential lovers into constant courtship—but Laura says no to everyone. Not even the children are able to penetrate her remoteness, and they, too, remain strangers to her. The word "no" becomes symbolic of Laura's entire existence, as she denies to all people and things the chance to affect her emotions. Braggioni, however, believes that he has all the time in the world to break down her resistance. As a teenager, Braggioni was rejected by his first sweetheart, and now he makes every woman pay for the anguish he suffered. His wife is included in this vengeance, despite her devotion to him and to the revolution. She works hard organizing unions for the cigarette factory girls but spends much of her time weeping for Braggioni because this is what he prefers. Currently, he is observing a month of separation from her for what he describes as higher principles. Laura, though, envies Mrs. Braggioni's loneliness because she feels trapped by Braggioni's persistent presence. As he sings on, she reflects on her visit to the prison that day and on Eugenio's condition.

Braggioni interrupts her thoughts by telling of the May Day disturbances he is planning for Morelia, where the Catholics and the Socialists will be having celebrations. He asks Laura to oil and load his pistols, while he speaks of revolution and sings of love. He wraps his fingers around the throat of the guitar as he sings, and he strokes the pistol in Laura's hands as he expounds on Marxist philosophy and his faith in dynamite. Laura finally hands back his gunbelt and tells him to make himself happy by killing someone in Morelia. When he leaves, Laura feels a sense of relief, but she does not flee, as she knows she should.

Braggioni goes home, ending the month long separation from his wife. She continues her weeping at his appearance and even offers to wash his feet. As she performs the task, she begs for his forgiveness. Braggioni happily consents because her endless tears and humility refresh him.

Laura, meanwhile, prepares for bed. Before she falls asleep, she is concerned about her confusion with love and revolution: her inability to understand what her life is all about. Haunted by the thought of Eugenio, who may be dead by now as a result of taking the drugs she delivered to him, Laura has a nightmare in which Eugenio asks her to follow him. He calls her "Murderer" and offers her flowers from the Judas tree. She accepts them from his fleshless hand and eats them greedily. He calls her "Cannibal" for eating his body and blood. Laura cries "No." She awakes and is afraid to sleep again.

Bibliography

Carr, Virginia Spencer, ed. "Flowering Judas":Katherine Anne Porter. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1993. An indispensable casebook of the title story "Flowering Judas." Among the seven essays is Ray B. West's "Katherine Anne Porter: Symbol and Theme in ‘Flowering Judas,' " the first and still one of the most influential criticisms of the work. West groups the symbols into three major areas—religion, secular life, and love—and concludes that Laura is lost because of her failure to recognize the necessity of love.

DeMouy, Jane. Katherine Anne Porter's Women: The Eye of Her Fiction. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983. Though flawed by inaccuracies, this is a significant feminist study which argues that the major theme of Porter's work is the internal conflict of women caught in a changing society. Includes Freudian and mythic interpretations.

Hendrick, Willene, and George Hendrick. Katherine Anne Porter. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1988. An important general introduction to Porter's work, with its brief biography and an examination of the writings individually as well as collectively.

Mooney, Harry J., Jr. The Fiction and Criticism of Katherine Anne Porter. Rev. ed. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1962. Provides valuable insight into the political implications of Porter's work. Argues that while Porter's fiction centers on the suffering and disillusionment of the individual in the modern world, it also reveals her compassion for humanity and suggests the possibility of hope amid the despair evoked by the individual's predicament.

Nance, William L. Katherine Anne Porter and the Art of Rejection. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964. An important study, though compromised by an apparent desire to fit Porter's work into a unified theme—rejection.

Unrue, Darlene Harbour. Truth and Vision in Katherine Anne Porter's Fiction. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1985. Provides an insightful study of Porter's major themes and concerns.

West, Ray B. Katherine Anne Porter. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1963. A short but good introduction to Porter's work which emphasizes the autobiographical aspects of her protagonists and discusses the tensions produced in her characters by a changing society.