What are global issues that are presented in this text?

The two leading characters in the novel, the girl Sierva, and the priest, Father Cayetano, are both people who are isolated, until they meet each other and fall in love. The girl Sierva is neglected by her parents and raised by slaves. Though Sierva identifies with the slaves, because she is white, or white and part-Indian, she cannot be a full member of the slave world. Since she cannot read or write, among other things, she cannot join white society. The girl spends long periods in total silence. Sierva does not have enough interest in society to learn music or much of anything else. When Sierva is sent to the convent to be exorcised of demons, she is in a hopeless situation. She is destined to soon die. Then, precisely there in the convent, for the first time, Sierva finds love with Father Cayetano. Likewise, Father Cayetano is exposed for his crime of love and lust for Sierva. He is stripped of all honors and positions. By discovering the secret tunnel, Cayetano is able to have a love relationship with Sierva, though this beautiful relationship is doomed. Against this, both Sierva's mother, Bernarda, and her father, the Marquis, do not find love. The Marquis cannot act on his desires and run away with the madwoman, Dulce. Bernarda's search for love involves the love that she buys from Judas Iscariote. This love leads to drugs, degradation, and her own destruction.

Sierva is the only child of a rich, aristocratic family. Normally, her future would be bright, yet after being slightly bitten by the rabid dog, her life disintegrates. This happens even though in the novel she is never shown to actually suffer from rabies. Sierva's mother and father, Bernarda and the Marquis, have every advantage, including wealth and power, and in the beginning of the story, also health. They squander and destroy all their opportunities because of their lack of courage and selfishness. The Marquis has no goals and no ability to accomplish anything. Bernarda cares only about immediate pleasure through drugs and other vices. In a different way, Father Cayetano also falls from his clerical position and scholarly ambitions. Father Cayetano breaks his priestly vows in both thought and intention by chasing after the girl. He does this partly from pity for the girl and also from his lust for her. Even in colonial times, a twelve-year-old girl would possibly be under-aged for sex and marriage. Sierva is too young and naïve to deal with what happens to her when she is imprisoned in the convent. In Sierva's case, her fall is caused because no one wants to do what is necessary to save her, including Dr. Abrenuncio and the Marquis. Even Father Cayetano does not try to flee with her. The Marquis could have refused to deliver her to the convent, but cannot refuse the Bishop's request. Father Cayetano could try to escape with her to the fugitive slave settlement, but refuses to give up his hope in justice from the Church and the Bishop.

The Bishop represents the authority that condemns Sierva to exorcism and death. In many ways this power is not pure evil, but is expressed in a haphazard and random way. Even though the Bishop knows that he and the Church are doing things wrong in the Sierva case, his pride in the Church and the system do not let him act on this knowledge. The Bishop is somewhat overwhelmed by all the challenges of the new world, from demons to racial intermarriage, and he depends on Father Cayetano for help and advice. Father Cayetano, despite his knowledge, betrays the Bishop by his love for Sierva. The Bishop is also betrayed by the Abbess of the Convent of Santa Clara. He trusts her ability to be fair in the case of the girl, despite what he knows of her rashness and fanaticism. The Bishop does not realize that the Abbess resents the power of the Bishopric, due to the fighting between the institution of the Bishopric and the Convent many years ago. When the Bishop makes a correct choice, it is thwarted by mysterious forces, in the magical realism of the novel. Father Tomas, who is substituted as exorcist for the Bishop, has the correct approach towards dealing with Sierva. He knows the African ways and beliefs that Sierva has adopted, but then he suddenly dies. Is this magic? Or, in a final betrayal, is Father Tomas poisoned by the Abbess?