When she does have visitors she has to sit behind a grille in order to maintain this separation from the outside world. While she does interact with guests, other sisters and those who serve her she is cut off from the outside world. When she enters the convent of Saint Paula of the Order of Saint Jerome she stays cloistered, only to leave twice. In the convent and even when she was at court Sor Juana experienced separation and at times isolation. One that is prominent throughout the novel is the setting. There are many gothic elements in the novel Sor Juana’s Second Dream by Alicia Gaspar De Alba. Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico Pres, 1999. Sor Juana’s cries to Conception to stay, as she is ill and dying, shows her regret and guilt for letting her leave. Conception and Sor Juana countine to think about and try to stay connected to each other’s sprits even though they don’t communicate after the day Conception escapes. It was the real reason, she realized now after all these years, that Sor Juana had wanted Conception to leave the convent” ( Calligraphy of the Witch 378). “Conception could not have known, standing there agape at the pageantry of that triumphal entrance, that the new monarchs would become avid champions of the writings of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and royal patrons of the convent of San Jeronimo, nor that la Condesa and Sor Juana would develop an intimate friendship, which would waken the monster of jealousy in Conception. If her feelings parallel that of Sor Juana to la Marquesa then it is understandable that she would not seek love in another. She uses sex as a tool because she cannot be with her true love. Her sexual fluidity and lack of passion for any man in New England could be due to her yearning for Sor Juana. The relationship of Sor Juana and Conception shapes how Conception uses her sexuality in Calligraphy of the Witch. She had been about the same age as Conception when she’d declared their truth of her feelings and spoiled their friendship ( Sor Juana’s Second Dream, 220).” Conception gets her name Jeromina from Sor Juana when she leaves the convent as an alias to contact her with, but there never is any contact after that point. “Juana was exactly fifteen years older, the same age difference between herself and la Marquesa.
It is at that time Sor Juana realizes this relationship somewhat parallel the relationship she had with la Marquesa when she was a teenager like Conception. Conception tasted sweet, like chocolate” ( Sor Juana’s Second Dream, 220). “Juana bent over and pressed her lips against the girl’s mouth. In the book there is a scene in which Sor Juana and Conception share an embrace and a kiss. What is interesting about Conception’s role in Sor Juana’s Second Dream is that she becomes somewhat of a love interest for Sor Juana. Sor Juana’s assistant and scribe Conception is the main character in Caligraphy of the Witch. Sor Juana’s Second Dream has a connection to another work by Alicia Gaspar De Alba, Caligraphy of the Witch.
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