Conquistadora- Erikson's Stages- Trust vs. Mistrust

Erikson’s Stages of Development and Their Relevance in Ana’s Development

1. Trust vs. Mistrust

In this stage basic needs have to be met by parents. This is the stage where the child’s understanding of the world and society comes from parents and the parents’ interaction with the child. Parents who fail to provide warmth, regularity and dependable affection leads to mistrust.

In the first chapters we see that Ana’s parents failed to provide her with a secure trusting home environment. Due to 1830s-Spanish society’s perception of the ideal and idolized female, and Ana’s inability to fit that role, her parents disproved of her. Her childhood was a frustrating combination of rejection by the youth in her community, and disdain from her family. What she first discovered about her own society was perceived in the through years of alienation. For that reason she disregards many of the members of her community for their superficiality. She steers from the pettiness that engulfs the conversations among women in her society. However, her dislike for her particular urban European society differs from her perception of the rest of the world. From the journals of her ancestors she learned about the conquests and exploits that are possible beyond her world of limitations and confinement. Though Ana distrusts those around her and finds it difficult to take comfort in her current environment, she has a trust in the adventure promised by foreign lands. A part of this has to do with her obsession to control her own destiny. In her city, “well-raised senioritas in mid-nineteenth century Spain didn’t challenge their parents.” If she stayed within Spain, her future would imitate that of her mother, grandmother, and every female relative. It would be dull, shallow and hopeless. Her intense interest in intellectual endeavors and global travels would go unnoticed. In Sevilla, where she grew up, Ana never felt free, strong or capable. The conflict lies in society’s requirements for someone of her status, and her own opinion of her role as a female. However, in an uncharted territory, the regulations that chained her to her status don’t exist. In the wilderness and countryside she would not be forced to conform to the social norms.