María Concepción

Porter in “Maria Concepción” uses characterization throughout the story to explain why the killing of Maria Rosa by Maria Concepción was seen by the village as a way to preserve the traditional norms of the community.

As you read the story you kind of know that Maria Concepción will not receive any punishment for killing Maria Rosa because of how Porter describes the two woman. While Maria Concepción is seen as a God fearing and hard-working woman, Maria Rosa is seen as a disrespectful, lazy “child” in the village. The first time we see Maria Concepción in action is when she was walking on a road next to thorns and cactus, with chickens slung over her shoulder, while she was pregnant and tired in the summer heat going to give food to her husband and his peers. This description shows the readers that Maria Concepción had every right to be angry at her husband’s infidelity, and the woman he cheated on her with, because she did all of this as a commitment and duty to her husband, yet he broken the pact they both made in front of God at the alter. But the first scene we read of Maria Rosa was when she was fooling around with a married man. This shows the readers that she is disrespectful to the cultural norms in the village. The contrast between these two woman shows that Porter wanted the readers to feel bad for Maria Concepción, so that when she finally kills Maria Rosa and take her baby, we will understand why, and some may even sympathize with her.

Throughout the story, Porter describes Maria Concepción as a traditional Christian Woman who is hard working, resilient and commands respect through her works. She took her marriage to Juan as a duty, even as to go far as paying extra money to marry Juan in the church, Which is seen by many Christians as getting God’s blessing. Her hard working and family driven personality made her respected in the tight knit community. For this, the village saw the Murder of Maria Rosa as Justified because it was done for the purpose of preserving culture and tradition in the community, it was not seen as a crime but as a way to give order to the disruption that Maria Rosa caused by having an affair with a married man.