The Fountains of Silence: A Novel

The cost of silence is one of the main themes of the novel; it affects every character’s journey. For the Spanish characters, silence has, by necessity, become a way of life. For the Americans, silence takes one of two forms: the avoidant complicity of those who want to make money from Franco’s Spain, like Daniel’s father; or the quiet respect of those like Daniel, who must learn that Spain’s story is not theirs to tell. Fuga, the one character who refuses to be silent about the lost children of Franco, is killed.

Rafa remains silent about the abuse he endured after the war. He does not want to burden his sisters with this information, nor does he want to get in trouble by complaining. Similarly, Ana tells no one about the threatening notes she receives. Like Rafa, she does not want to burden her family, especially Julia. Julia’s silence lasts the longest; she never tells anyone that the fascists kidnapped one of her children. It is not until after Franco’s death that she speaks of it, and even then, she worries that there might still be some punishment or penalty for speaking of it. Her continued silence represents the Pact of Forgetting, the willingness of some of the Spanish people to simply pretend as if all the things that happened under Franco did not happen. In Spain, silence became a habit that even Franco’s death could not break.

Puri, too, is conditioned by silence, though she tries to get answers and find ways to break the silence. She asks—without directly asking—for permission to break the silence about the infants who are being stolen from their parents, and she receives tacit, but silent, consent from people like Julia. Puri also discovers that she is adopted; when asked for confirmation, her mother remains silent. Puri ultimately gives up her entire life in return for Sister Hortensia’s silence, when Puri is caught reviewing the files of the lost infants; in so doing, Puri finally capitulates to silence.

The effects of silence are not just endured by the Spanish characters. Daniel and his parents share a pact of silence. His mother refuses to discuss things that upset her, and Daniel’s questions and dreams are often silenced by his father. After Daniel’s experiences in Spain in 1957, the heartbreak of losing Ana, and the injustices he could do nothing to change, Daniel becomes silent as well.

Indeed, the chapters after Daniel’s departure from Spain and before his return in 1975 are marked by silence. He seems to live and move in a silent fog of memory, and this silence is not broken until he and Ana are reunited. Indeed, his own sister did not know of Daniel’s love for Ana, and she too kept silent about her own fears, assuming that Daniel’s quiet resignation was related to sacrificing his career to help care for her after their mother’s death.