The Fountains of Silence: A Novel

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

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Chapters 28-34Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 28 Summary

Carlitos looks for Ana, to give her the message from Daniel. He runs into Lorenza, who snatches the note and says she’ll give it to Ana. Carlitos refuses and snatches the message back, even though Lorenza tells him they “don’t want [Ana] to get in trouble again” (116). Carlitos doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and Lorenza tells him that “Ana’s sweet smile might not be so sweet after all” (116).

Carlitos finds Ana in a boutique helping the tailor fit a dress. She explains that the dress is for the fashion gala at the American embassy, and Carlitos is relieved.

Chapter 29 Summary

Carlitos’s reference to trouble alarms Ana, and she wonders if someone saw the note she ate earlier. She is relieved to discover the letter is only a magazine from Daniel, but she realizes she should not have been so informal with him. She tries to reassure herself that “it’s just a bit of harmless fun” but also acknowledges that the “life and liberties [she] sees at the hotel do not belong to her” (121).

Chapter 30 Summary

Miguel helps Daniel evaluate which photos are good enough for the contest, and Miguel helps Daniel arrange his photos so that they tell a story: “Some lines create a narrative with pictures from the same setting. Others build a story by the positioning of opposites” (124). Miguel acknowledges Daniel’s talent but warns him to be careful in Spain.

This paragraph is followed by an excerpt from a New York Times article about Robert Capa’s death, dated May 26, 1954. It provides details about Capa’s life and the way Capa “shrugged away the risks” he took (127).

Chapter 31 Summary

Ana laughs at Puri’s curiosity about Julia’s work. Puri is infatuated with the matador Ordóñez. To her, “he is Spanish perfection. Bullfighter, husband, father” (127). Ana gently reminds her that Julia doesn’t talk about her customers, and thinks that “La Sección Feminina, the women’s section of the fascist movement […] is succeeding with her cousin” who is very naïve and innocent (127). Puri meets Daniel and asks him many questions.

Chapter 32 Summary

Puri wonders if Ana interacts with boys at the hotel and and whether Ana is properly chaperoned. Puri hopes that she “can help Ana like she helps the orphans at the Inclusa” and that “she can save her” (132).

An excerpt from Medina magazine, produced by the Sección Femenina, follows this chapter. It offers a description of the “sensual woman” as a ravaged being with “sunken eyes, flushed cheeks, transparent ears, pointed chin, dry mouth, sweaty hands, broken waist, insecure step, and a sad overall being” (133). The author, Father García Figar, suggests that such a woman has no hope of finding employment, earning respect, or experiencing tenderness.

Chapter 33 Summary

At the cemetery, “Fuga paces the small space, nostrils flared, fingers splaying and clenching. Anger courses through his body with such force that the vibration is visible” (134). So angry he cannot speak, Fuga merely points in the direction of a small coffin when Rafa asks him what is wrong. Rafa assumes, at first, that Fuga is merely upset at the death of a child; hurt and vulnerable children trigger deep feelings within his friend. Then, Rafa is shocked when Fuga begins kicking the coffin, stamping it to pieces.

Rafa looks for the baby’s corpse, and Fuga begins “to push and punch him” screaming, “[t]he box is empty! There is no baby!” (135). Rafa is confused and frightened, which almost pulls him into another flashback. Finally, Fuga calms down enough to explain that the maternity clinic has brought him many coffins that feel too light because they have no babies inside.

Chapter 34 Summary

Daniel asks Ana to look at his photos and to help him tell the story of life in Spain for people their age. He wants to “illustrate the differences and similarities between us, between the U.S. and Spain” (139).

Daniel tells Ana that, like his heroes Robert Capa (Andre Friedmann) and Gerda Taro, they could create a pseudonym. Ana, for a brief moment, wonders whether Daniel ran his request by her manager. She thinks that perhaps she could help him, but quickly realizes that what Daniel wants her to do is exactly what her sister has warned her about. She refuses.

As she leaves, she sees a picture in the Hilton’s magazine of El Valle de los Caídos, the Valley of the Fallen. The magazine describes the place as a memorial where people can learn about the Spanish Civil War, and Ana recoils at the thought of people considering it a place for tourists and souvenirs.

Daniel realizes that Ana is upset and says this is why he needs her help to understand Spain. At that moment, she spots the photograph of the nun and the dead infant and tells Daniel, “[s]ometimes there is no explanation” and leaves (141).

The excerpt after this chapter is from the article Ana saw in Daniel’s room. It touts the Valley of the Fallen as a “marvelous combination of grandeur, magnificence, and simplicity. We strongly recommend a visit” (143).

Chapters 28-34 Analysis

This section continues to explore the differences between America and Spain. One significant difference: the suppression of women, not by unspoken gender norms but by overt religious oppression. Franco’s Catholic government believed women “should aspire to the ultimate cultural archetype—the Virgin Mary” (127). Women like Puri—who has internalized all the stereotypes of women that the regime has fed her both directly, through her education in state-run schools, and indirectly, through the overall cultural climate—fully invest in these beliefs.

Ana does not seem too concerned about Puri’s beliefs, nor does she know how concerned Puri is for her welfare. Puri sees there is more to Daniel and Ana’s conversation, indicating that she not necessarily naïve. Her concern for Ana’s purity is both touching and frightening: touching, because Puri’s wish to “save” Ana is indicative of Puri’s gentle and kind nature; and frightening because Puri considers the possibility of reporting Ana’s behavior to someone in authority.

Another female character seems concerned about Ana’s interaction with Daniel, although her interest is more antagonistic. Daniel has already had a run-in with Lorenza, who comes across as overly flirtatious. Here, Lorenza reveals herself to be more than just seductive; she is also actively trying to cause trouble for Ana. To Daniel, sending a note to a girl he likes is an insignificant act; he doesn’t understand that could have been disastrous for Ana.. Lorenza’s constant presence is, in some ways, a stand-in for the faceless specter of Franco and his minions.

Daniel’s—and by extension, America’s—role in Spain’s story comes into focus during his conversation with Miguel. Daniel takes Miguel’s warning that “Spain is not your country” in the same vein in which he understood Ben’s warnings about the risk of jail or death (126). Miguel is also warning that the story Daniel wants to tell about Spain is not Daniel’s to tell. The people of Spain are not victims who need rescued by an American cowboy. Miguel warns Daniel not to be presumptuous, not to let his privilege as a wealthy Americano blind him to the fact that this is not his fight—at least not without an invitation from those Daniel would seek to help. Ana wants to help Daniel but remembers her sister’s warning. She walks away, but the continuing presence of Lorenza, the worries of Ana’s family, and repeated references to a dark past event suggest that sorrow awaits Ana in the coming chapters.

The glossing over of Franco’s crimes is further revealed when Ana glimpses the article about the Valley of the Fallen, in the magazine in Daniel’s room. Promoted by Franco as a memorial to those who died during the Civil War, it cost millions of dollars to build at a time when many of the Spanish people were starving. Built by prisoners, the memorial is considered an abomination by Ana and many others.

The continuing discovery of Franco’s lost children continues to play a role in the narrative. Fuga has figured out that the maternity clinic is lying about the deaths of babies, and, though he may not know why, he knows that it cannot be a good thing.