The Fountains of Silence: A Novel

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

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Symbols & Motifs

Blood

The book opens with a group of women waiting in line at the slaughterhouse to collect the blood they need to make blood sausage. This motif encompasses many different understandings of blood: In addition to symbolizing the blood spilled during the war and the blood spilled by Franco’s minions after, blood also indicates birth and social status.

For Franco, blood represents purity and unity. Those with noble blood, like Daniel’s mother, represent the elites of Spain. Blood ties and inheritance also apply, represented by Daniel’s “genetic connection to Spain” (235) and the “magnetic tug” Cristina feels on arriving in Spain with Daniel (429). Blood also binds families together, both in goods ways—as represented by Julia’s devotion to and sacrifice for her family—and in frustrating ways, as shown in Nick’s desperate attempts to spill the blood that ties him to his lecherous and malevolent father.

The Orphan

The orphan is an ever-present symbol throughout the text, and refers to all of the children of Spain harmed by Franco’s policies. Orphans are symbolized by former victims of Franco, like Rafa and Fuga; current victims like Clover and Puri; and future victims who suffer during the 18-year gap between the first section of the book and its closing. As Sepetys notes, the “adoptions and thefts began in 1939 and lasted into the 1980s” (477).

Moreover, the majority of the characters in the text are orphans: Rafa, Ana, Julia, Puri, Fuga, and Cristina are all literal orphans, whose parents are dead. Nick too is a kind of orphan; although his parents are not dead, they seem to have abdicated all responsibility to him. Spain itself is also a kind of orphan, abandoned and exploited by the larger world community.

The Cowboy

The cowboy, represented by Daniel, is used symbolically throughout the novel. Cowboys represent physical and emotional toughness, heroism, masculinity, honor, and American individualism. Daniel is a boxer who fights for the powerless, both physically and through his work as a photojournalist; nevertheless, he is powerless to effect any real change.

Despite Daniel’s cowboy mentality and his wish to rescue those in distress, Daniel neither understands the situation in Spain nor owns the story. To portray the Spanish people as needing rescue by the American cowboy is to portray them as victims. As Daniel recognizes when he first sees Vallecas, there is “a thin line between helpful and humiliating” (192). As much as Daniel wants to ride in and save the day, he cannot—and arguably should not.

The Bullfighter

Fuga dreams of being a matador, to use the power and influence of his position to rescue Spain’s victims. Indeed, the word bull and its variants appears over a hundred times in the text.

Fuga and Rafa are enchanted with the figure of the bullfighter from childhood. For them, the bullfighter represents power and influence. The figure of the bullfighter also entrances Puri. Her girlish daydreams about famous matadors indicate that for her, the bullfighter represents romance and passion.

The history of the bullfighter is linked to mythological tales of the bull as a god. Symbolically, by facing a bull, the bullfighter achieves closeness to God and unity death. Bullfighting is also one of the few Spanish traditions to survive Franco’s regime. It symbolizes Spain’s proud heritage and the fire and passion that still lurk within the population, despite their oppressive circumstances.