Four Intertwined Stories of Loss and Despair in Francoist Spain
Four Stories Intertwined in Francoist Spain
The Story of Captain Carlos Alegría
The first story is that of Captain Carlos Alegría, a French army officer. After years of dedication and service, he decides to renounce war, as it has been a war won on the basis of violence and death. After submitting his resignation, he is arrested and condemned for treason. He spends his days in jail awaiting his execution. However, the bullet that lodged in his skull failed to end his life. Left unconscious, he was buried alive in a grave along with his comrades.
Alegría manages to escape from the pit and, dying, embarks on a journey to a village where he spends several days. Expecting to die on a path, he decides to surrender, as he is invaded by a great sense of guilt for having been part of so much tragedy. Back in jail, he provokes the jailers into killing him, thus ending his second life in a second suicide.
The Story of a Young Poet
The second story is that of a teenage poet who embarks on a trip to France, fleeing the new system that has been imposed in Asturias. He flees with his girlfriend, Elena, who is eight months pregnant. During their flight, Elena goes into labor and dies in childbirth. The father and son are left alone, and the young man decides he cannot continue the trip without Elena. He spends several days hardly looking after the child due to the frustration of being left alone. However, little by little, those feelings change, though he still feels deep regret for the death of his girlfriend and guilt for having undertaken the journey in her condition.
He takes refuge with his son in a cabin, where cows provide them with sustenance. But with the arrival of winter, the death of the three becomes imminent. Aware of this, and as we see in the text that he writes in the first person, he slowly goes mad. Finally, this story ends in death.
The Story of Juan Serna
The third story tells the story of a convict, Juan Serna, a prison officer of the Republican order. He is imprisoned but kept alive because he has information about the presiding judge’s son. Juan prolongs his life by lying about the son, leading his parents to believe he was a hero when the truth was the opposite. As days pass, he realizes he cannot continue with the farce, that death will come at any moment, and that he is in deplorable human conditions. To remedy this agony, he confesses the whole truth about their son, leading to his execution order. Just days later, he is taken away and shot. Juan witnesses the suicide of Carlos Alegría, as both were prisoners in the same penitentiary center.
The Story of Ricardo
The last story gives us insight into daily life in the new Franco regime. This is the story of Ricardo, a Republican hiding at home, protected by his wife, Elena, and his son. They create habits and rules so that Ricardo cannot be seen or heard by anyone. The child’s teacher is obsessed with a deacon, leading Elena to break into his house to harass him. This forces Ricardo to come out of hiding to help her. We discover that Ricardo had died days earlier, committing suicide by jumping into the void. This marriage not only had this son; their eldest daughter, also named Elena, was the pregnant girl in the second story.