Revolution, Literature and Motherhood

The Country under My Skin, by Gioconda Belli is an autobiographical narrative that describes her life as a Sandinista, poet, mother, and wife. Her role as a woman in the country of Nicaragua gives us a great glimpse of the historical position of this nation at the time. Her experience shows us the country's development from dictatorship to liberation. Her writings dictate to us her personal development from writer to revolutionary. All this time, we also see how this true story of her life reflects and relates to the everyday struggles of, not only women, but Latinos in general.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the underlying personal story that constitutes the bulk of the book, we must first understand the historical context that compliments it. It is more practical to begin explaining the history of Nicaragua in relation to the narrative, in the year 1893. In this year, Jose Santos Zalaya, heads a liberal revolution and amidst his victory becomes president of Nicaragua. After assuming presidency, Zelaya puts restrictions on the inter-oceanic canal that the United States of America was planning on building in Nicaragua. The United States decided to take their business elsewhere to Panama. When Zelaya attempted to negotiate the building of the