Aura

Aura is an examination of colonialism and national identity. Both the General and Felipe are representatives of colonizing European cultures. They mirror each other even though they are separated by several generations. The General is a type of a 19th-century conquistador, in the sense that he invades Mexico with Maximillian I, a foreign ruler. Felipe’s research is focused on the original conquistadors who came from Spain, but he does not indicate an interest in the indigenous peoples who suffered under European rule. In fact, Felipe’s interest in an idealized past and his desire to become a heroic figure (by saving Aura) make him susceptible to merging with the General’s memory.

The doubling between the General and Felipe is mirrored in the relationship between the widow and Aura. The younger woman turns out to be a replica of the older one. Aura’s beauty seduces Felipe and facilitates his loss of identity. In this way, the four characters are doomed to keep reliving and repeating the past, disconnected from the modern life outside the house.

A third potential doubling could be perceived between Felipe and the narrator. Felipe’s physical description—heavy eyebrows, dark eyes, floppy hair—could possibly mirror Fuentes. If the narrator is taken to be another version of Fuentes, then he is also talking to himself.

The process of doubling and the identity loss it entails parallels the process of colonization. In the story, the past plays the role of the colonizer by absorbing the present and recreating and reliving its own power dynamics. In a similar way, Spanish conquistadors imposed their own vision of society on the indigenous peoples they encountered. In other words, the past—the result of European expansion—is still shaping and subsuming Mexican identity in the mid-20th century.