Incantation

The relationship between appearances and wealth is heavily investigated in this book. Despite the closeness of their upbringings, both Catalina and Estrella are aware of the financial differences between their two families and how those manifest visibly. While Estrella relies on Catalina emotionally, Catalina resents the differences between them. By prioritizing the trappings of wealth over human relationships, Catalina contrasts with Estrella’s emotional growth and embodies Christian attitudes toward Jewish people in Spain at this time. 

Throughout the book, Estrella and Catalina rely on belongings and physical appearances as indicators of people’s social standing and wealth, but their responses to these indicators differ. Estrella sees that the juderia is populated with those who are oppressed in the current system. Noticing the lack of lime trees and gardens that she associates with comfort, she thinks to herself “the Jews [aren’t] rich” and has a hard time reconciling this fact with the complaint from the town that the Jewish population has been stealing (10). From early on in the book, Estrella therefore recognizes how prejudice and other negative emotions influence one’s perception of the truth. Moreover, Estrella herself does not particularly value wealth for its own sake or to display it. For example, where Catalina calls her father cobbler “worthless” and sets her sights on her cousin Andres as her path to financial success, Estrella appreciates Catalina’s father’s kindness, favorably comparing him to her grandfather. Similarly, when Estrella admits her feelings for Andres, she does so in secret and does not use him to gain any kind of status or benefit.

By contrast, Catalina values physical belongings for their ability to project the appearance of wealth and power. This is what motivates her to steal from the Arriases following their arrest. Catalina is also confronted by visual representations of Estrella’s relative wealth multiple times in the book, but she reacts differently based on whether she feels threatened by Estrella. When she first sees Estrella’s pearl necklace, she is dismissive, saying that she would rather have rubies when she’s older. At this point, Catalina believes herself close to her goal of marrying Andres, so her envy of Estrella is subdued. When Catalina asks for Estrella’s pearls, it is partly in response to Estrella’s avoidance of Catalina and her family.

Catalina’s society incentivizes such envy. A decree posted in the village proclaims that a person who turns in a suspected Jew is entitled to “all [the latter] owns, halved with the courts” (32). This rewards jealousy, plays on antisemitic stereotypes associating Jewish people with money, and ensures that the courts find the people they are looking to demonize. Because Catalina wants to increase her social standing, she seizes on the chance to enrich herself at others’ expense: Watching Catalina after Catalina has betrayed Estrella’s family, Estrella asks herself, “How had I never noticed how hard Catalina was, how brightly she shone when something bad was happening to someone else?” (56). In the courthouse, Catalina positions herself to be seen in her new finery while Estrella must hide herself in the back; Catalina’s ill-gotten material wealth is here a stand-in for her rising power.

The novel therefore positions Catalina’s jealousy within a broader societal system where success comes at the cost of someone else’s failure. This incentive to hurt a vulnerable population turns individuals and communities against others and conflates appearances with truth.