Bananas and Men: Carmen Lyra and the Aprista and Mariateguista Influence

This essay is a Marxist interpretation of “Estefania”, one of the stories of Carmen Lyra, in her collection Bananos y hombres. I discuss institutionalized subjugation of women by men, both whether rich or poor, as well as by wealthy women. The eponymous character represents all the women who suffer abuse, discrimination and injustice without having a voice to denounce and accuse the antagonists who take advantage of them. By means of this literary work, Lyra sardonically shows that Costa Rica, during the time of its work, was not “The Switzerland of Latin America”, but a sick society. Her friendship with Víctor Raul Haya de la Torre, the Peruvian founder of APRA, influenced her ideas in this particularly literary piece. Consequently, her story not only speaks of the deplorable situation of women, but also of an unfinished agrarian reform in Costa Rica.