“There is no truth”

The expression “There is no truth” names a contradiction at the center of Gertrudis’s advice to Tita: truth, she argues, depends on perspective, yet Tita must acknowledge the reality of her love for Pedro and face what Rosaura already knows or suspects. The phrase is less a settled doctrine than a rhetorical turn that loosens one account of events before demanding an honest confrontation.

The Phrase in Context

Tita asks whether Rosaura knows the truth about her and Pedro, adding that she does not know how Rosaura would react if she learned it. Gertrudis answers by repeating the word “truth” and disputing that it has one simple, neutral meaning. In Tita’s case, she offers a competing account: Rosaura married Pedro despite knowing that Tita loved him. Tita counters with the undeniable fact of Rosaura’s status as Pedro’s wife. Gertrudis asks whether the wedding changed what Tita and Pedro feel; Tita says it did not. The exchange sets legal marriage beside continuing love without pretending the two facts are interchangeable.

A Contradiction That Becomes an Argument

Gertrudis’s claim that truth depends on a person’s point of view might seem to excuse secrecy, but she turns it toward disclosure. She calls Tita and Pedro’s love “one of the truest loves I’ve ever seen,” then says they have both made the mistake of concealing it and that it will emerge in time. Her reasoning therefore shifts from skepticism about a single account to a demand that Tita act on what she knows about her own feelings. The expression does not erase the conflict between Tita’s love and Rosaura’s marriage; it exposes how differently those facts can be framed.

From Assertion to Action

Gertrudis distinguishes Rosaura from their dead mother, whom she says would not listen to reason. She maintains that Rosaura knows the truth and has probably understood it all along, and urges Tita to stand up for it now. When Tita asks whether she should speak to Rosaura, Gertrudis begins to offer advice while asking Tita to make syrup for her fritters. The practical request keeps the conversation grounded in their shared domestic setting, even as its subject turns on whether a concealed relationship can remain concealed. The evidence ends with the proposed conversation still ahead: Gertrudis has pressed Tita toward disclosure, but does not establish that Tita actually speaks to Rosaura.