Lane 1

Stephanie Lane

Holly Batty

English 101

May 11, 2017

Sainthood vs. Motherhood: Perlas Struggle Between The Life She Imagined and The Life She

Created

She could walk on water. (citation)

The first five words of Alex Espinozas book Still Water Saints give us a glimpse into the power

of Perla, whose story is the hub around which each other characters story is woven. The novel,

set in the fictional California town of Aqua Mansa, follows the lives of Perla and the people who

visit her botanica. Each character in the book interacts with Perla in a different way, but she is

the common thread that connects them all. She is described as an almost magical being, who

knew how to pass through walls and read minds, to pull tumors from ailing bodies, to uncross

hexes and spells, to raise the dead, and to stop time.(citation) Perla devotes herself to helping

others through her work at the Botanica Oshun, where she offers advice and remedies to all who

seek her assistance. She is called Prophet. Medium. Saint. To the people of Aqua Mansa, Perla

is all of this and more. The seek her out to help with problems large and small, and she functions

as part doctor, part counselor, part mother to them. She goes above and beyond to help the

people around her, and through her work as a curandera, she touches many lives. She is regarded

highly by the people of Aqua Mansa, and revered for her kindness and benevolence. She loves
 Lane 2

her work, and cares for the people in her lifebut she has a difficult time seeing how valuable

she is to the people in her community. She serves a unique and important role in the community

of Aqua Mansa, but in her own mind, she is just Perla from the botanicaan old, childless

widowwho will remember her when shes gone?

When Perla meets Dario, he tells her that she has el don, the gift. Dario also has the gift, and he

offers to teach Perla how to be a curandero like him. He cautions Perla that her gift comes at a

priceDarios price was polio, and the crippling scars it left behindand Perlas price would be

that she would never have her own children. Perla doesnt want to be a curanderashe wants to

be a momand initially, she declines Darios offer of a job at the botanica. Eventually she

changes her mind, and the botanica helps to fill the void in her life caused by never having a

child.

In our classroom discussions of the book, Perla was described as motherly. I noted that its an

interesting choice of word, considering that she is not a mother. The Collins English Dictionary

defines motherly as having traits considered typical of mothers; kind, protective, nurturing, etc.

But why do we call these traits motherly? Do they not apply to men, or childless womenand

do they necessarily apply to women with children? Surely not all mothers are kind and

nurturing, and surely not all kind and nurturing people should be described as motherlybut it is

common to associate this sort of benevolent, caring personality as being characteristic of

mothers. What kind of message does that send to childless women? Is a kind and nurturing

woman respected and revered if she never has any children? These sorts of societal messages

cause women like Perla to struggle to recognize their value absent motherhood. While Perla
 Lane 3

exhibits the benevolent, nurturing personality we think of as motherly, she still feels like she is

lacking in some way because she isnt a mother.

The actress Jennifer Aniston has been the subject of intense scrutiny surrounding her decision to

remain childless. For decades, the tabloids have been littered with articles about pregnancy

rumors, pictures of suspected baby bumps, and all sorts of conjecture regarding her fertility. A

frustrated Aniston took to Huffington Post last year, writing an essay entitled, For the Record, I

Am Not PregnantWhat I Am Is Fed Up, where she discusses the perpetuation of this notion

that women are somehow incomplete, unsuccessful, or unhappy if theyre not married with

children. (Aniston) This message has been reinforced to women throughout history, and the

stigma of being a childless woman remains even today. It causes me to question whether Perlas

sadness is based partly in cultural expectations of women, and her inability to live up to that

expectation. Perla lives a full life, surrounded by people who care about her. She is kind, caring,

protective, and nurturingand yet she does not feel sufficient fulfillment from those

interactions. Are they really so different from parenting?

Many studies have focused on the happiness gap between parents and non-parents. The

overwhelming consensus has been that people without children generally have happier marriages

and greater life satisfaction than those who do have children, and nowhere is that more

pronounced than here in the United States. Researchers further concluded a direct correlation

between social programs that help support families and the reported happiness of parents covered

by those programs. (Swanson) In America, we dont enjoy the same generous family leave and

childcare subsidies that are standard in many other countries. American parents are expected to

go it alone for the most part, and parenting is an exhausting and expensive endeavor. In research

compiled for the American Journal of Sociology, it was concluded that The negative effects of
 Lane 4

parenthood on happiness were entirely explained by the presence or absence of social policies

allowing parents to better combine paid work with family obligations. (Belkin) Further, we see

that childless adults have higher rates of volunteerism and are more involved in their

communities, no doubt due to the extra free time that they enjoy relative to parents. If Perla had

been a mother, she would not have been able to devote herself to the botanica like she has. It is

unlikely that her influence on the community of Aqua Mansa would be as deep and widespread if

she had to juggle between the responsibilities of child-rearing and running her shop.

Perla worries that her lack of children means that nobody will really miss her when shes gone,

though she is relied on by many of her neighbors. Its hard to imagine Aqua Mansa without Perla

she fills a singular role in the community, and shares special bonds with the people who

patronize the Botanica Oshun. She guards their secrets, intercedes on their behalf, and offers

help and guidance. While Angela will likely take over the botanica someday, it seems clear that

nobody will ever replace Perla in the hearts of people like Rosa, Theresa, and Deborah. In life,

Perla has been the one they turned to when they were in needand it seems likely that Perlas

legacy will endure long after she is gone.

The Yoruba goddess Oshun, namesake of the botanica, is syncretized with Our Lady of Charity, a

popular title of the Catholic Virgin Mary. A popular depiction of Our Lady of Charity shows her

with a banner streaming above, reading, Mother of Charity who walked on the road of stormy

seas. Much like the blessed Virgin, Perla has walked on the road of stormy seas, and she has

guided and protected the people of her community. Just as Our Lady of Charity is revered and

venerated centuries after her death, I believe that Perla will continue to guide the citizens of Aqua

Mansa from beyond, interceding on their behalf as she always has. Hers is a legacy that
 Lane 5

transcends motherhoodshe is, like other saints who have come before her, interwoven into the

fabric of the lives she has touched.

Works Cited

Aniston, Jennifer. "Jennifer Aniston: 'For The Record, I Am Not Pregnant. What I

Am Is Fed Up'." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 July 2016. Web. 11

May 2017.

Belkin, Lisa. "Does Having Children Make You Unhappy?" The New York

Times. The New York Times, 01 Apr. 2009. Web. 11 May 2017.

Swanson, Ana. "Many Parents Will Say Kids Made Them Happier. They're
Probably

Lying." The Washington Post. WP Company, 06 July 2016. Web. 11 May 2017.