53 pages • 1 hour read
Silvia Moreno-GarciaThe Seventh Veil of Salome
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Cecilia Galvadon”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, cursing, substance use, sexual content, physical abuse, and sexual harassment.
During her documentary interview, Vera’s cousin Cecilia (Celia) recalls her impressions of Vera. Since Celia grew up in Los Angeles, she was keenly aware that many people are racially prejudiced against Mexicans and Mexican Americans, whereas Vera was much more naïve. Celia also found Vera to be shy and withdrawn around men, while Celia was much bolder in her flirtations. Celia heard rumors that Vera had once been engaged and broke off the engagement, but Vera was always reluctant to talk about this subject.
Chapter 11 Summary: “Vera”
In the 1955 storyline, Vera begins intensive preparations for her role as Salome while living with her cousin (Celia) and aunt. The studio begins constructing a publicity image for her, deciding to “sell her as mysterious, exotic, and unattainable” (67). Her first public appearance will be at the party of a well-known musician; she will be accompanied by an actor named Simon Gilbert, who is also under contract with the studio.
At the party, Vera chats with Marla, a fellow actress. Marla cautions Vera about the harsh realities of Hollywood, especially for actresses who are not white. Marla is quickly proven correct when an actress makes rude and racist comments to Vera. Later, Vera meets Jay by chance; she mentions that she will be playing the role of Salome, and he explains that he is a musician.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Salome”
Agrippa arrives at Salome’s palace, and Salome is annoyed that her mother does not want her to meet him immediately. She arranges to be lingering in the garden when Agrippa walks by, and the two of them talk alone. Agrippa explains that he has asked for Salome’s hand in marriage but that Herod has demanded a huge dowry, which Agrippa does not have. Agrippa cautions that Roman imperial powers are growing increasingly displeased with Herod and that more information will be revealed shortly.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Vera”
When filming begins, Clifford Collins (who is playing the role of Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus) asks Vera on a date and is annoyed when she hesitates. Vera is becoming increasingly aware of the sexual attention she attracts; for example, she and Ceci are catcalled when they go on an outing to the movies and discuss how “when you [are] a Mexican girl everything [is] a come-on” (93). After getting approval from the studio, Vera goes on the date with Clifford at a popular nightclub. During the date, Clifford openly admits that the two of them being seen together will create attention for their careers and the movie project. He also suggests that Vera exploit the hypersexualized stereotype of Mexican woman since he thinks this will help her cement her celebrity.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Kenneth ‘Kent’ Shaw”
Kent, another documentary interviewee, is a Hollywood musician who was familiar with Benny and Nancy because he regularly bought drugs from Benny. He shares his recollections of the couple’s volatile dynamic and explains that Benny quickly figured out that Nancy was dating Jay Rutland. This knowledge made Benny extremely jealous and resentful.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Nancy”
When filming begins, Nancy quickly becomes consumed by jealousy as she watches Vera play Salome. Nancy’s jealousy is often exacerbated by her racism, and she becomes even more furious when she sees photos of Vera and Clifford Collins on a date (taken during the date that Clifford orchestrated). Nancy angrily shows the photo to Jay, and he recalls having met Vera recently at a party. Since Jay hasn’t previously told Nancy about the party or the meeting, this makes her jealous and suspicious: “Nancy spied a true interest in and attraction toward Vera” (103). Nancy begins a heated argument with Jay and eventually throws an ashtray at him. Jay is horrified by her behavior; Nancy storms out but believes that she will easily be able to seduce Jay into reconciling.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Salome”
Herod, Herodias, Salome, and Agrippa meet with Lucius Vitellius, a Roman official. Vitellius explains that he is only going to stay for a brief visit: He intends to observe Jokanaan and then move on to visit Pontius Pilate (the Roman prefect). Salome is concerned that Jokanaan’s critiques of taxation and Roman imperial power will anger Pilate if Vitellius conveys them. She expresses these concerns to Marcellus (who is accompanying Vitellius on his travels) but backs down when Marcellus seems confused about why she is so interested in Jokanaan. Later, Salome overhears her mother and stepfather discussing what to do about Jokanaan with some of their most trusted advisors. Given the increasingly tense situation with Roman authorities, they worry that tolerating Jokanaan’s preaching will make them appear weak. Salome is afraid that Jokanaan’s position is growing more and more perilous.
Later, Herod explains to Salome that both Agrippa and Marcellus have asked to marry her. Herodias supports Marcellus because he is much wealthier and the marriage would cement ties with Rome. Herod is undecided. He suggests that Salome allow Agrippa to woo her but that she use this opportunity to gather information. Salome asks her stepfather what he intends to do about Jokanaan, but he does not give her a clear answer.
Salome runs into Agrippa, who makes it clear that he anticipated that Herod would ask her to spy on him. Agrippa engineered this situation so that he and Salome could have time alone together (Herod will tolerate these meetings if he believes he is gaining useful information). Agrippa admits that he wants the authority and territory that Herod currently holds and that he thinks Salome can help him gain it.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Vera”
As filming continues, Vera feels increasingly anxious about the pressures of performing and about Clifford’s flirtations with her. One day, she runs into Jay again. They talk about music and realize they share common interests. Spontaneously, Vera invites Jay to have dinner with her family. Vera’s aunt, mother, and cousin are all very intrigued when Jay arrives at their home. However, Vera’s mother quickly dislikes him, cautioning Vera that Jay is “a lazy boy without a care in the world” (126). Moreover, Vera’s mother does not think that a relationship with Jay will advance Vera’s career as a relationship with a celebrity like Clifford might. Vera and Jay agree to simply be friends, although Vera knows she is falling for him.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Nancy”
Nancy tries to reconcile with Jay, but he insists that they are not right for one another and that their relationship is over. She is hurt and angry. Later, a man named Wallace “Wally” Olrof comes to visit Nancy. Nancy has previously posed for nude photos in exchange for money and Wally now blackmails her. Since “Pacific has a strict morals clause” (136), Nancy could be fired from the movie if anyone knew she posed for these photos. Wally demands $600 and leaves. Nancy tries to figure out how she can get the money.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Salome”
Salome learns from Josephus that Jokanaan has been arrested on the orders of the king. She and Josephus go to speak with Jokanaan in his prison cell. They try to persuade Jokanaan to be more temperate, but he refuses. Later, Salome goes to speak with her mother. Herodias is satisfied that Jokanaan has finally been imprisoned. She explains her plan to Salome: Herod has requested that his stepdaughter perform the Dance of the Seven Veils as part of his birthday celebrations. Traditionally, a woman is rewarded with a gift after performing this dance, and Herodias suggests that her daughter request Jokanaan’s execution. Salome reacts with horror, but Herodias insists that this plan is necessary for their safety.
Chapters 10-19 Analysis
Salome and Vera both must navigate treacherous contexts filled with intrigues, power struggles, and resentment. The court in Galilee is rife with political machinations, especially because of the complex system in which King Herod only holds power due to Rome’s support (which could be withdrawn if he falls from favor). Salome is caught up in complex power maneuvering between her mother, stepfather, cousin (Agrippa), and implicitly, Roman authorities.
Likewise, Vera finds herself ill-prepared to navigate the ambitions, schemes, and betrayals that are rife in 1950s Hollywood. For women in particular, a career as a film star offered the potential for fame and fortune and, tantalizingly, seemed to be accessible to everyone: If someone was talented and charismatic enough, they could rise from humble origins to wealth and power. However, the novel suggests that celebrity is tenuous, especially for women, whose status as stars is often linked to fleeting youth and beauty. In addition to the threat that Vera poses to other actresses as a rising starlet, she is targeted for being Mexican. Women like Nancy make racist comments both behind her back and quite directly to her. Vera, as her cousin recalls, is unprepared because of her sheltered upbringing: “Vera thought she was like everyone else because that’s what she was used to feeling” (65).
Vera, however, is not allowed to be “like everyone else.” Throughout the novel, Vera is exoticized and othered: Her supposedly “exotic” beauty is part of what makes her alluring, but it also limits the opportunities she can access and determines the way she is treated. For example, the publicist charged with curating her image decides “to sell her as mysterious, exotic, and unattainable” (67). Similarly, Clifford Collins tells Vera, “[Y]ou have that sashay only the Latina girls have, the swinging hips” (97), implying that her sensuality is somehow culturally determined. Such stereotypes of Mexican women as oversexualized inform the role into which Vera is cast: Within Western art and drama, Salome has typically been portrayed as a temptress and femme fatale. Indeed, these depictions are often racialized as well, as Salome’s association with an exoticized “Eastern” civilization led to her portrayal relying on stereotypes of indolence, luxury, and decadence. By providing insights into the emotions and motivations of both Vera and Salome, Moreno-Garcia challenges how both Mexican and “Eastern” women have been depicted. These nuanced depictions develop the theme of Consequences of Female Ambition and Desire. For instance, while Salome’s love for Jokanaan and desire to rule play out violently, Moreno-Garcia demonizes neither her sexuality nor her ambition, instead showing how the limitations placed on women generate frustration.
The storyline around Nancy being blackmailed also contributes to how the novel challenges the stigma surrounding female sexuality. Nancy has limited opportunities to support herself financially in an era where women did not often pursue higher education or well-paying careers. Her appearance and the desire it can elicit are the only currency she has to trade, but she can also be punished for doing so. Nancy isn’t necessarily ashamed of the photos she posed for, but she knows that “Pacific has a strict morals clause” (136), meaning she could lose her job if the pictures are revealed. Under the studio system, actors often were subject to morality clauses as part of their contracts. The novel frames this as both ironic and hypocritical, as young women like Nancy or Vera are both expected to titillate audiences and prevented from overtly capitalizing on their sexual appeal.
The famous Dance of the Seven Veils deepens this exploration of the ambiguous agency women engage in by displaying their bodies. The biblical story of Salome simply mentions that she danced, but in his 19th-century theatrical adaption, Oscar Wilde referred to her performance as “the Dance of the Seven Veils.” The term was subsequently widely utilized in operatic, theatrical, and film adaptations of the Salome story, where it was typically interpreted as an elaborate striptease. Particularly in visual mediums, the scene often conflates the audience with the figure of Herod, who gradually becomes more and more inflamed with desire. In writing a novel about a film, Moreno-Garcia both explores and undermines the visual spectacle of the episode. Vera’s storyline does indeed feature a performance in which a young woman is expected to display her body according to the instructions of men (she reports to a male screenwriter and a male director), and Salome’s storyline involves her stepfather (who is also a king, uniting patriarchal power within the family and the political realm) requesting that she dance as a public spectacle. However, in a non-visual medium that focuses on the subjectivity and interiority of these two female characters, readers are no longer spectators: They lack access to the visual eroticism of these dances and instead have access to the feelings and ambitions of two complex women.
Moreno-Garcia further challenges the conventional narrative around Salome by reimagining the role her mother, Herodias, plays in the events leading up to Jokanaan’s death. Prior to Wilde’s play, most accounts of the Salome story involved Herod offering her a reward after her dance, at which point she consults her mother, who urges her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. This narrative extends the vilification of women to both Salome and Herodias. By contrast, The Seventh Veil of Salome imagines a version in which Herodias proposes the plan, but Salome initially rejects it. Herodias’s proposal is also linked to what Herodias perceives as women’s lack of agency in a male-dominated world. She tells her daughter that “we are women. All we can do is survive” and reveals that she was physically abused by her first husband (148), Salome’s father. Herodias’s proposal sets the stage for a significant moral conflict in which Salome must try to understand how best to achieve her desires and develops the conflict surrounding the theme of Fated Love Despite Obstacles.
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By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
