Marta Brunet´s story, ¨Piedra Callada¨, is a rather bleak view of life. From the first page there is conflict between Esperanza and Eufrasia about Esperanza´s desire to marry Bernabé, a large, ugly beast of a man. When Esperanza marries Bernabé she is disowned by her mother, "Te podís casar cuando se te antoje: pero desde ese día no tenís más madre", and years pass when mother and daughter are estranged until she hears the terrible news that her daughter is ill. Another conflict ensues when Eufrasia arrives at her daughter´s home to care for the little ones and shortly after, Esperanza dies. There seems to be no actual reconciliation between the two and it seems, though Eufrasia has left her residence to care for Esperanza´s children, there is no verbal renege of the disownership and Esperanza dies, motherless, leaving her children in a similar state. Perhaps Esperanza´s death symbolizes the loss of hope.
The conflict becomes even bleaker when Bernabé beats both his children and their grandmother. Nature symbolizes the state of the family and the torment they suffer. Winter sets in, the grey clouds close in on the valley and it rains relentlessly, leaving the family isolated and trapped indoors. The sky clears when an argument is won by Eufrasia, and Bernabé leaves the house; but this is only temporary. He returns and the beatings continue. The sad story ends with a fishing excursion where Bernabé is hit in the head with a stone (the "silent stone" perhaps?) and the children return home without him. It is clearly stated what really happens to Bernabé after and there is a false sense of happiness; though it is false because there is no clear resolution and the grandmother leaves the door open for when Bernabé comes home, "abierta, porque para los otros el hombre todavía podía volver", which could be read as the foretelling of his return; though as Jon suggests, may tell us that the grandmother knows that he is not returning as she is the one who kills him, which then would make the story a little less than I had originally presumed and gives it a little bit of a happy(ish) ending.
7 comments:
Yes, just a little clarification... Bernabé falls (we take it to his death) upon being hit by a stone. And we have been told earlier about the grandmother's skill and aim in killing birds with some kind of slingshot.
So when the final line tells us that "the others" think that Bernabé may return home, it's also telling us that the grandmother is well awae that he won't.
ah yes, I missed the part of the grandmother´s skill with a slingshot. Oh well, I tried.
Ha! Though I find it somewhat funny that you think that makes for a "happy(ish)" ending! Though I see what you mean, still the kids are going to be looked after by a murderer...
I loved the twist on the ending of the story. The grandmother cleverly says she is leaving the door open in case Bernabe returns. It is so easy to play the benevolent person when you know that the person you hate is not coming back. How many people get away with murder by appearing to be 'perfect and kind' while all the while knowing they have just gone rid of someone. It's a theme that has been used many times in movies. But perhaps the author used a 'red herring' to confuse us and in fact Bernabe accidently fell? Who really knows for sure but it sure provides an interesting end to the story.
Despite the fact that the children will remain with a "murderer" I still think they are better off with Eufrasia than Bernabe. Although, I do find it interesting that in the opening lines, Eufrasia beats Esperanza, yet she seems to have only the best interest in mind for her grandchildren and to my knowledge never beats them (assuming I read it correctly).
Kerry
I do agree in some sense that this story does have a happy(ish) ending; however, it could have ended without a violent crime committed in the end. Eufrasia could have easily ran away with the children and not had to resort to murdering Bernabre. The fact that Eufrasia chose to kill Bernabe over just leaving with the children proves that along with the concern for the children’s well being, she also is capable of committing crime with the purpose of ending up the victor in the ongoing battle with Bernabe. In addition, I also somewhat fear for the future of these children because what is to say that Eufrasia won’t emotionally and physically abuse them like she did to her own child.
Does this fall under necessary evil? We often use this to justify acts of violence against others but let us not forget that it is still violence. I am playing the Devils advocate here but who is to say that the mother won’t take her frustrations out on the children later on. The beauty of an ending such as this is that it is open to so many different interpretations and it questions our moral reasoning because killing is wrong, right?
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