Masquerade in Ned Buntline’s Magdalena, the Beautiful Mexican Maid

I’m a bit obsessed with masquerades at the moment since I’m writing and presenting on masquerades for my British literature course, so when I saw that one of our options of inquiry was to look at racial transvestism/masquerade, I jumped on it pretty quickly.  With that said, I like how Streeby and Alemán in their introduction discuss the masquerade’s use within an American context.  Although this may seem like an obvious point, I’m used to thinking and reading about masquerade in a much more British context, so re-reading their discussion on “Transnational Transvestism and Racial Masquerade” helped me with my analysis of Ned Buntline’s Magdalena, the Beautiful Mexican Maid.  Streeby and Alemán point out that understanding “how international conflicts and imperial encounters reshaped gender, sexuality, and race can help us to understand the ubiquitous scenes of gender and racial masquerade in the sensational literature of empire, which registers anxieties about slavery, the incorporation of nonwhites into the nation, the changing boundaries of home, and challenges to traditional gender roles in times of war” (xxiv).  When reading Magdalena, I noticed not only both racial masquerades going on (Charles Brackett disguised as a Mexican and Magdalena dressed up as an Indian boy) but also, as Streeby and Alemán aptly phrase it “the incorporation of nonwhites into the nation” (xxiv).  I’d like to first briefly discuss the racial masquerades occurring in Buntline’s story, and then, I want to explore what I consider an important “hot spot” in the text that I believe may help us to see the complexities of Buntline’s heroine and cross-dresser Magdalena.

Streeby and Alemán briefly discuss Brackett’s racial masquerade as a Mexican and point out that the fatal fight between Brackett and Alfrede—with each one killing the other one with the weapon typically used by their respective enemies’—is a reversal that “is slight but significant because it is the culmination of the racial and national confusion first signaled by Brackett’s racial cross-dressing and border-crossing” (xxvi).  I think this “racial and national confusion” that Streeby and Alemán pick up on can also be seen in Magdalena’s decision to dress as an Indian boy.  Buntline describes both the boy and Magdalena as follows: “Both were nearly of a size, both dressed similarly, both nearly of the same hue, being fully as dark as a New Orleans quadroon, or a Seminole Indian” (79).  The two major differences Buntline argues are in their eyes, hands, and feet.  I think it is worth pointing out that it is only after she has disguised herself as an Indian that she offers Zalupah his freedom.  Perhaps, this suggests that she must physically identify with him before she realizes that she should free him.  After all, he has already saved her and Brackett once; it’s not until she is dressed like him that she identifies enough to consider freeing him.  Of course, we find out that he does not wish for freedom but to serve Magdalena for the rest of his life (which ironically, and this is my morbid sense of humor coming through, is not that long).  What I find particularly interesting about Magdalena’s disguise is that she does not only transgress the racial barrier (she must dye her skin) but also she transgresses gender.  She must not look like an Indian woman since she would still be easily discovered if she stays within her gender, which is what happens when her hair falls out and General Vasquez is then easily able to see “the beautiful female (for the hair of Donna Magdalena had burst from its fastenings, and her dress but feebly concealed her form so perfect)” (84).  Thus, her long hair and womanly figure give her away, but this discovery may well have helped save her since she was unconscious so could not scream or ask for help, but by seeing a helpless woman, General Vasquez asks, “Who is that lady? [. . .] Speak villain?” (84).  Automatically, Vasquez is able to see that this lady is in trouble.  Hence, when her gender becomes recognizable, she is placed in the subordinate position of needing help from men, but when she dresses as a boy or man, then she has the power to leave the “protection” of Buena Vista and go in rescue of her husband. 

Finally, my “hot spot” for the day or more specifically for this blog is as follows:

`A strange transformation has love worked in your heart, my daughter! [. . .] A few days since and on bended knees you would have prayed for the success of the Mexican arms, now you seem only to fear for the defeat of the Americans!’  `It is true my father; but when I wedded him, I became an American.  We are not Mexicans.  Spain alone has a right to our allegiance.  Why should we hope for the Mexicans to conquer in this battle?  That this now quiet city should be filled with troops of rude and licentious men, who respect no law, and are governed by no principles?” (96-97).

Magdalena explains her “transformation” from a supporter of the Mexicans to an advocate for the Americans as being tied to her marriage (though not consummated) with Brackett.  I find her words though a bit at war with the text though.  It is true that I think Buntline’s pro-American stance comes through in this passage, especially its anti-Mexican sentiment; however, her claim that “I became an American” makes me want to refer back to Streeby and Alemán’s point mentioned earlier about “the incorporation of nonwhites into the nation” (xxiv).  Magdalena sees herself as being incorporated into the American nation, but Buntline continually points out that she is a virgin bride, and she must die that way.  By only allowing a legal marriage contract to bind Magdalena and Brackett and refusing to allow them to consummate the marriage, Buntline seems to be ambiguous about how far he is willing to incorporate “nonwhites into the nation” (97) and question exactly how American Magdalena actually is.  As the last lines make pointedly clear, she dies “the noble `Magdalena, The Beautiful Maiden of Mexico” (106, my emphasis).  She does not die the American wife of Bracket but a maiden of Mexico.  Therefore, Buntline seems to romanticize Mexico but cannot bring himself to consummate Mexico with America.