44 pages • 1 hour read
Benito Perez GaldosMarianela
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1878A 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 19-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary: “Nela Is Tamed”
Teodoro and Nela walk together quietly before speaking. He asks her why she hid herself in the abyss when he came looking for her. Nela says that she desires to be with her mother. Teodoro interprets this as a desire to commit suicide, as Nela’s mother had done. He urges her to share the truth of her vexation. After much prodding, Teodoro realizes that Nela is in love with Pablo and jealous of Florentina for marrying him. Nela confesses that she is fearful of Pablo’s rejection. She dreads living a life beside Pablo and Florentina, unable to fully manifest her love for the former. Teodoro attempts to comfort her by telling her that she has no way of knowing how Pablo will respond until she sees him. He urges her to do as he says, which is to go to Aldeacorba and accept the charity that Florentina offers. He firmly believes that the civilizing powers of education will train her to have a better sense of worth. With education, she will have a better and more tranquil perspective regarding her circumstances. Taken aback by the force of Teodoro’s words, Nela allows him to carry her back to Aldeacorba.
At Pablo’s house, Florentina is praying when Teodoro arrives with Nela. She is surprised to see them return, especially with Nela looking so pale and sick with fright.
Chapter 20 Summary: “A New World”
The chapter describes the events of Pablo’s first days of sight. When Teodoro first removes the bandages from Pablo’s eyes, he begins to see the world in bright sharpness. Slowly, Pablo tests his new sight, eager to see more of the world. The first human that he sees is Florentina, whose beauty overwhelms him. As she is the first person that he sees, he begins to regard her as the highest standard of beauty. In his recovering state, he grows annoyed at other women who are less beautiful. He also demands to see Nela, who is nowhere to be found. Florentina tells him that she has tried to bring Nela to the house, but she has run away in a fit of ingratitude. Florentina is puzzled by her behavior and thinks the young girl may have gone mad. Pablo insists that the reason behind Nela’s odd behavior is likely out of consideration for him; he believes Nela simply does not want to bother him while he is recovering. When Florentina offers to look for Nela again, Pablo begs her to stay as he cannot bear to part from her. He tells her to pat the side of the bed when his eyes are covered so that he knows that she is there.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Eyes that Kill”
The chapter returns to the events of Teodoro’s rescue of Nela from La Trascava. When Teodoro returns Nela to Adeacorba, the young girl sleeps in Florentina’s room, pale and sick from heartbreak. Meanwhile, Florentina busies herself by cutting dresses for Nela in her room. Manuel observes Florentina’s obsession with her care of Nela and loathes that she spends so much time with such personalized charity rather than other philanthropic acts more befitting of a woman of her standing. Teodoro intervenes to say that Florentina should do as she like.
Teodoro visits Nela, who is residing in Florentina’s room, and inquires after her condition. Florentina says that Nela has been crying all night and is very weak. Teodoro expresses his sympathy for Nela, praising the young girl’s intelligence and potential. However, he believes that Nela’s current misfortunes are brought on by her “primitive” (190) thinking, that her lack of proper socialization and education has made her lacking in moral sense and temperament.
When Nela wakes up, Teodoro and Florentina tend to her. They each offer to take her under their care, asking her to make her choice between the two of them. Nela’s eyes fall upon Teodoro, appearing to make her choice to go with him when she is better. Suddenly, Pablo enters the room, searching for Florentina. Annoyed by his sudden interference, Florentina tries to direct his attention away from the bed where Nela rests. Pablo says that he is looking for Florentina because he misses the sight of her. He had seen a rainbow for the first time and felt a feeling in his chest much like the one he feels when he is with Florentina. He expresses that no other woman compares to her. In fact, his father tells him that he once foolishly proclaimed a desire to marry another, but he knows now that he is mistaken as his true love is Florentina.
Florentina calls to Teodoro to scold Pablo and to urge the recovering boy to bandage his eyes once more. Teodoro admonishes Pablo for being so reckless with his recovery. Suddenly, Pablo notices Nela in the room and assumes that she is one of Florentina’s poor charitable cases. When he approaches the bed, Nela grabs hold of his hand, much to his horror. She tells him that she is Nela and kisses his hand three times. Pablo is speechless as he looks at Nela. His gaze causes Nela to fade away slowly. Teodoro breaks the silence by declaring “The sight of you has killed her!” (197). They all try to wake Nela up with little success. Finally, Nela reaches out and takes both Florentina and Pablo’s hands, placing both on her breast. She looks at the two of them with a sunken expression.
Teodoro tries to cure Nela with every method he knows. Florentina wants to know the cause of Nela’s ailment, which Teodoro attributes to “passions” (200). Florentina does not understand what he means. Teodoro says that Pablo’s gaze has killed Nela as it represents “the awful collapse of an illusion” (202). What Nela feared has come true. As she expires, Nela seems to be whispering words that they do not understand. Florentina mourns Nela’s death, crying out, “I wanted to make her happy, but she would not be” (203).
Chapter 22 Summary: “Farewell”
A surprisingly extravagant funeral is held for Nela. The priests receive money from many people who wish for them to pray on behalf of Nela. The place where the funeral is held is adorned with fine décor. A tomb for Nela is built using white stone. While no one has ever known Nela’s full name, the parish registers of Villamojada are searched to find the proper name to engrave on her tombstone. Her tombstone has the following epigraph: “R.I.P. María Manuela Tellez, Recalled to Heaven, October the 12th, 186…” (206).
Several months later, after Pablo and Florentina have married, the people of Aldeacorba have forgotten about Nela. Some English tourists come to visit Aldeacorba, and upon seeing Nela’s tomb proceed to embellish the facts of Nela’s life in a news article. They write that Nela is a wealthy gentlewoman who dresses in rags to blend in with the poor. They also write that she is known for her beauty and that many poems exalting her have been written about her by Spanish poets.
Chapters 19-22 Analysis
In Chapter Nineteen, Teodoro’s recovery of Nela from La Trascava is described as a type of taming. In his conversation with Nela, Teodoro attempts to learn the reason behind her vexation, and in the process, employs different rhetorical methods to uncover her true feelings. His attempt to provide a rational basis to Nela’s feelings demonstrates a civilizing effort as a colonial explorer would do to win the trust of a New World native. Nela’s obstinance, however, proves a challenge to Teodoro, who declares forcefully, “you are my slave” and “You are mine and you are to do nothing but what I tell you” (168). Teodoro’s feverish speech is less rhetorically effective as it is stirring in spirit, and so, he convinces Nela to submit to him through “blind assent” (171). She does not fully comprehend what Teodoro describes of her potential through education and greater care but what she understands is the power of paternalism. Thus, Nela eventually relents to the force of Teodoro’s words and allows him to take her back to Aldeacorba.
At Aldeacorba, Nela’s greatest fear takes place when Pablo dismisses her with a glance. He rejects Nela in his newfound sight, proclaiming, “My father, to whom I confessed my mistake; told me that I had lived a loved a hideous monster” (195). In contrast to his earlier promise to Nela to adore her even when he gains his sight, Pablo finds his views change once he encounters the visible world. It is suggested that Pablo’s understanding of visible beauty is set by his first sight of Florentina. His cousin’s beauty renders all other women hideous by comparison.
Pablo’s plight mirrors the predicament of colonial powers who, upon encountering the New World, cannot help but hold their vision of their home country as the standard by which all other places should abide. Prior to possessing sight, Pablo is content in his ignorance of the world, sharing the same native imagination as Nela. However, once he gains his sight, he orders the world according to the first figure he encounters, the perfect Florentina, who embodies the virtues of Spanish religious benevolence. Without time to develop his understanding of the world more carefully, Pablo is overwhelmed by knowledge through sight and feeling, producing a whirlwind of passions that works against Nela. When Nela reveals herself to Pablo, he responds by looking at her in shock and silence. His gaze represents the colonial powers’ first encounter with the New World, which they discover is nothing like their home country, and perhaps far from what was expected.
Pablo’s gaze literally kills Nela, an event that Teodoro confirms when he turns to Pablo to say, “The sight of you has killed her!” (197). Later, when they try to resuscitate her, Florentina demands to know the true cause, which Teodoro can only answer vaguely through answers of “Death!” and “passions” (200). Yet these forces lie within Pablo’s gaze, which represents a different colonial desire than that of Teodoro and Florentina. Whereas Teodoro and Florentina respond to Nela through active attempts to civilize through their benevolence, Pablo represents the shock of the first encounter with the New World. This has a debilitating effect on the New World as the colonial gaze forces the New World to confront its own deficiencies. In the context of the novel, the consequence of such revelation is as severe as death.
The events following Nela’s death are ironic. While Nela has spent her entire life as a poor orphan who feels that she is ugly, her funeral seems to contradict such circumstances. Her tomb is lavishly built and attendees remark upon Nela’s pretty face. Furthermore, strangers embellish her legacy, narrating her life as a wealthy gentlewoman who keeps company with the poor. While Nela has actively refused opportunities that would improve her social standing or enhance her sense of self-worth, the world seems to ironically do the work without her.
