My Name Is Emilia del Valle

Religion appears throughout the novel as a way of understanding and coping with the world. Emilia frequently sees people turn to it (and to Christianity, specifically) in times of need. While she grew up in the Catholic tradition, it is not until her life is put to the test that religion and the supernatural take on meaning for her. Allende incorporates religion into the novel to show how people turn to the idea of something larger than themselves in order to cope with war, death, and violence.

Molly’s history with Catholicism and her training for a religious life provide important context for Emilia’s childhood. Raised by a devout mother and supportive father, she knew of Catholicism and its practices. Yet despite growing up religious, Emilia herself does not pray or demonstrate an affection for Christianity, noting that she “had distanced [herself] from religion years prior” (218). The closest act to religious expression is her choice to wear a medallion of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but this act is, at least at first, because she associates it with Don Pancho, who gave it to her. Therefore, when Emilia begins to pray while in jail, it marks a distinct shift in her typical attitude. Like many that she saw on the battlefield and like her father, she too turned toward religion to make sense of the horrific experience of war and the possibility of her impending death.

At first, Catholicism is what comforts Emilia as she “pleaded with the Virgen de Guadalupe, Sacred Mother of Jesus, rescue me from this terrifying cell, please do not abandon me now and if I must die, oh Mother of God, please do not abandon me in the hour of my death” (218). Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance introduces an element of magical realism into the narrative, and Janus’s acceptance of it as real, too, suggests the possibility of such experiences. However, Emilia moves beyond the Catholicism of her youth when she travels further into Chile; her spirituality evolves into a connection with nature. She uses religious language as she takes in the landscape, saying, “I pray that he will come here with me, that he too will grow old and die here” (278). Her decision to leave her medallion with the Mapuche signifies her final break from Catholicism to embrace an even older sense of spirituality, one that connects to her “most ancient roots, the roots of my indigenous, Spanish, and mestizo ancestors, running much deeper than my mother’s connection to Ireland or mine to California” (278).