The significance of wall in The House of Bernarda Alba
The imagery of wall in The House of Bernarda Alba by Garcia Lorca has a significant connection with Bernarda Alba. The walls made up the House of Bernarda Alba, which do not only show the over protection of Bernarda towards her daughters but also shows Bernardas power over the entire house. Although her daughters changed as time pass shows as the colors of the walls change throughout the play, due to the continuous pressure given by Bernarda.
The very white inner room in the stage direction of Act I points out how Bernarda want the family to be protect from the world outside that is considered as an evil environment in Bernardas point of view as she knows about the gossips about her around the village told by Poncia. From the first scene of the appearance of Bernarda in the play in Act I, the word silence shows her power over others in the house, which is also used at the end of the play to show that no matter what happens, she still has the power that controls the entire house. The sentence Nothing, not one button on page 212 also shows that Bernarda doesnt want to have any connection with the world because she doesnt share with other people.
Bernardas statement towards Angustias, women should look at no man but the priestwhoever turns her head is on the prowl for a man (p.201), shows her over protection of her daughters, as she told her daughters that they are going to stay in the house for eight years of mourning on page 205 by seal up the windows and doors to prevent any connection with the world outside to make sure that her daughters live in the environment made up of white walls which will keep her daughters having the same thoughts and feelings as herself, this achieves the idea of powerful controlling over each member of the family.
By locking her mother up in a small room which is also part of the house, Bernarda does the same thing on her daughters to keep them away from those crazy ideas of getting married or out of the house as Maria Josefa said I want to get away from here! Bernarda! To get married at the edge of the sea (p.225). These words also present the daughters thoughts and wants as they knew that they are going to be away from world outside and be locked up as their grandmother.
However, the color of the walls have been changed from very white in Act I, to white in Act II and lightly bathed in blue in Act III, this significantly points out that the daughters behaviors and thoughts have been changed since they dont want to be lock up in the house as Bernarda ordered. As their changes noticed by Bernarda, Pepe el Romano has become the overall cause of the daughters changes, which causes the death of Adela at the end of the play. To show that her daughters werent out of her control, Bernarda said that My daughter has died a virgin (p.288), not only to keep her reputation but to show that all of them are still under her control, but didnt notice that the pure environment being made up by the white walls has changed because of the continuous pressure from her putting onto everyone inside the house.
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