Maria Concepcion

Maria Concepcion was originally written by Katherine Anne Porter in 1930. This story is about a young, strong woman who is trying to make her way in a man’s world. The reader can infer by the names of the characters and the town that this story takes place in a village in Mexico. The opening of this short story strongly suggests the expectations for the rest of the story by describing Maria Concepcion’s temperament and how it contrasted with what was socially acceptable in that time.

In the first paragraph of Maria Concepcion, the author describes the social order of men and women in the story’s setting. Maria resisted taking a break from walking due to the cactus needles she would get in her feet (208). The pain from the needles is not the reason she opposed taking a break. The deciding factor was that her husband and her husband’s boss were waiting on Maria to bring them their food  (208). Maria Concepcion lived within a

patriarchal society in which women were expected to wait on the men for the man’s convenience, even if it was a simple task that the men were capable of doing themselves.  
Maria was also deeply religious.

She already, at eighteen, had a “good reputation with the neighbors as an energetic and religious woman” (209). She was a devout Christian. Considering that her piety was the source of her good reputation, it is safe to assume the people in her village were also religious. Communities as such could pose as an obstacle for a strong, independent woman, as it was religiously customary for the woman to be submissive to her husband.

Maria Concepcion’s personality contrasted with the social standards at the time. Porter wrote her as a hard worker that was not unfamiliar with physical labor. Maria walked barefoot to the camp her husband worked at, carrying a sack full of live fowls for them to eat, and from there to the market to sell (208). She also had her own money as the villagers knew that if she wanted to purchase something, “she could bring out a sack of hard silver coins for the purpose” (209). It was uncommon for a woman in this time period to have her own money, separate from her husband’s

earnings.
Porter’s emphasis on Maria’s feminist personality leaves the reader understanding her struggle that presents itself later in the story. In a time and place where it was frowned upon to be an outspoken and self-reliant woman, the religious community and the patriarchal order of of society conflicts with her persona. The opening of the story suggests that there will be a clash between Maria’s nature and the social status of society. Although the climax of the story goes against Maria’s religion, the law, and societal norms, she relies on primitive instincts to solve her problem by herself, regardless of consequence or social backlash.