Identidad racial en tres novelas mexicanas del siglo XIX: "El Periquillo Sarniento", "El Zarco" y "La Parcela"

This paper aims to analyze three nineteenth century Mexican novels with a focus on racial identity. Since colonial times, one of the ways novohispanos were classified was according to a caste system, but with the Constitution of Cádiz (1812) and later constitutions those legal terms became legally and politically meaningless. Nonetheless, in the novels to be analyzed, racial differences are highlighted by characters and narrators; thus reinforcing distinct identities among them. Therefore, Mexican society was segregated in identity during the nineteenth century. For this thesis, the sociohistorical context will be presented to situate each novel with its time and place in Mexican history. Additionally, critical analysis on these novels will be exposed to show how other critics have approached the topic of identity. Starting from these concepts, racist attitudes and comments made by the characters or the narrators on each novel will be analyzed and compared. In synthesis, this research will show that, by the end of the century, racial differences dissipated, at least in literature, since they eventually lost significance.