Furia

“I’d leave this house the first chance I got, but not by chasing after a boy, including my brother. I’d do it on my own terms, following my own dreams, not someone else’s. And most importantly, no one would leech off my sacrifices. No one.”

From her parents’ marriage and other people in her community, Camila sees the way romance gets in the way of fulfilling one’s dreams. She learns from her observations and resolves to break the cycle present in her family line. She also sees the way her father hopes to profit from Pablo’s career. She longs for independence, knowing that being tied to another’s dreams will only keep her from realizing her own.

“Her gaze, so full of longing, flitted to my father every few seconds. She was still hoping, waiting, for…I didn’t know what. They’d been together since they were sixteen. If he hadn’t changed by now…” 

Despite emotional abuse from her husband, Camila’s mother continues to hope and wait for him to love her. Méndez highlights her insecurity and the way Camila’s father preys on her weakness to keep his wife under his thumb. Her plight is echoed by other characters in the novel such as Marisa, who is also in an abusive relationship and feels trapped. Méndez shows the cycle of abuse and the multilayered complexity of this issue.

“As if he felt my eyes on him, Diego turned around and looked straight into the hallway where I stood. He looked at me. He saw me. Not the Stallion’s sister. Not Andrés and the seamstress’s daughter. Me, Camila Beatriz Hassan.” 

Méndez contrasts the way Diego sees Camila with the way others see her, showing that he genuinely cares for her. In Diego’s eyes, Camila has worth in her own right. Now Camila faces a decision: Is Diego’s recognition enough to satisfy her? Or should she continue to seek recognition through a soccer career? Camila’s struggle between Diego and her career dreams continues for the duration of the novel.

“No boy I cared for had ever called me Mama before. Mama is such a complicated word. It’s what we call our mothers. What we call a friend, a cute little girl that plays in the park. What a man calls his woman.” 

Through Camila’s thoughts, Méndez explains the complex meaning behind a seemingly simple Spanish word. The many layers of meaning show the richness of the language, as well as establish the romantic feelings Diego has for Camila. Although at this point Camila does not know the depth of Diego’s feelings for her, Méndez creates sensual tension between them through the complicated meaning of just one word.

“When boys and men became angry, they tried to fix the world by breaking it down with their fists.” 

Even at 10 years old, Camila knows the anger and violence that characterize the male influences in her life. However, when she shares her troubles with 12-year-old Diego, he responds with a message of empowerment rather than rage. Camila’s thoughts reveal the typical male persona that dominates the Argentinian way of life and allow Méndez to contrast Diego’s kind and sensitive personality with the other men in Camila’s life, a contrast that continues throughout the novel.

“I thought of the girls imprisoned here for fighting for the right to vote, or demanding not to be beaten by their fathers or husbands, or for wanting to earn a decent salary. Las Incorregibles. These walls had witnessed so much pain and despair, and I wondered if the ghosts of those girls still haunted them. Eighteen ninety-six was so long ago, but so many things remained the same.” 

Camila’s explanation of El Buen Pastor’s history emphasizes the adversity and inequality women historically faced in Argentina. Furthermore, it creates a parallel between history and the current culture. Although the building is no longer used as a prison for women, Camila notes that women are still fighting for equality. Elsewhere in the novel, Méndez notes the abuse that still plagues the community and the obstacles Camila faces in her quest to play women’s professional soccer.

“Like in Parque Urquiza, the green spaces along Avenida Belgrano were teeming with people trying to squeeze every bit of pleasure out of the three-day weekend. La Costanera—the pedestrian way that went from the Flag Memorial through Parque España all the way to Rosario Central Stadium and beyond—was lined with food vendors, artisans, and entertainers.”

Méndez names specific streets and landmarks to create a detailed sense of place for the novel’s setting. She showcases the culture and communal atmosphere of Rosario in her descriptions of locations, making the reader feel like he or she is walking beside Diego and Camila.

“I wanted what he had. I needed to play on a team like that, to feel the love of the fans. I needed the chance to do something impossible and amazing. To be great. I wanted Diego’s life. But I wanted to live it, not watch it from the sidelines.” 

When Camila listens to Diego talk about his life as a soccer star, she is reminded of her own dreams rather than brought under the spell of his glamorous life. The distinction she makes about wanting to live this life herself rather than watch it shows the determination and independence that characterize her. Méndez develops Camila’s inner battle between her feelings for Diego and her dreams for her future.

“My dog did a happy dance while I filled a vase and put my flowers in it, hoping they would live forever, but a shower of petals dropped when I took the cellophane off.” 

The bouquet of flowers from Diego symbolizes their romance. Although they make Camila feel special, their beauty soon fades. In the same way, Diego’s love makes Camila feel valued, but she knows it’s impractical to believe it could last. Working toward her goal of playing professional soccer is her priority right now, and she won’t give that up for love. The wilting flowers foreshadow the breakup between Diego and Camila later in the novel.

“I gazed at the estampita on my nightstand. La Difunta Correa had died trying to save her husband, and although her sacrifice had cost her own life, she’d become immortal. But her journey didn’t speak to me. If I followed Diego, where would I end up? What doors were closing with each decision that I made?” 

Méndez highlights the religion motif as Camila notices the estampita in her room. For La Difunta Correa, sacrificing her own life in pursuit of a husband was a noble choice, but Camila knows this isn’t the path for her. Through Camila’s musings, Méndez acknowledges that everyone’s path is different. She shows that sacrificing for love can be a beautiful and honorable decision, but it need not be everyone’s choice. For Camila, the right choice is to sacrifice love for the chance to pursue her goals.

“Our family was stuck in a cosmic hamster wheel of toxic love, making the same mistakes, saying the same words, being hurt in the same ways generation after generation. I didn’t want to keep playing a role in this tragedy of errors.” 

Camila recognizes the cycle of mistakes present in her family and resolves to end it. Her feelings for Diego do not blind her to reality; she learned from her family history. Méndez highlights Camila’s wisdom as well as the notion that patterns of behavior and choices are often perpetuated from one generation to the next.

“I smiled and ran to the field to sing the wordless song of the captive women who roared in my blood. My ancestresses had been waiting to sing for generations. I was their medium.” 

On the soccer field, Camila acts as a voice for all of the women in her family line who came before her. They never had a chance to chase their dreams or be heard, so Camila takes up their anthem. Soccer is her way of changing the narrative for women in Argentina and breaking the cycle of inequality that every other woman in her family faced.

“He prepared the mate and took a sip. The first sip is always the strongest; it leaves a bitter green aftertaste. He didn’t even flinch. All the leftover tension that knotted my muscles drained away as I watched him do this ordinary thing.” 

Méndez highlights the tradition of mate as a common social drink in Argentinian culture. Simultaneously, she draws attention to the quiet strength Diego possesses and the attraction Camila feels for him. Even though Diego somewhat disrupts Camila’s trajectory towards a soccer career, Méndez shows that the romance between them is genuine. He truly cares for Camila, which perhaps makes her decision to pursue soccer all the more difficult.

“‘I have nothing against the workshops, negra. Some of the guys are violent because they don’t know any better, and they can learn. But, I mean, a lifetime of hard work can go down the drain because of one moment of anger, and like Papá says, some women like the rough, bad boys…’ It was one thing for my father to say that and quite another to hear it from Pablo.” 

Pablo’s somewhat casual mindset towards violence and abuse shocks Camila. Although he didn’t used to think this way, the influence of his father and the culture affected Pablo’s moral judgment. This passage shows the way an unethical mentality can easily be perpetuated from one generation to the next, and it highlights the problem of tolerance for abuse that permeates Camila’s world.

“None of the girls and women whose faces plastered the walls of our city had ever intended to become statistics, either, but they were blamed for the crimes committed against them.” 

Méndez emphasizes the ever-present danger for women in Camila’s community at various points in the novel. She shows that Rosario is not a safe place for young girls and women through her mentions of the missing persons posters and Eda’s murder. This quote adds another layer to the dangers women face: The blame falls on the victims rather than the perpetrators. The cultural mentality towards these crimes is skewed; people fail to hold the criminals responsible for their actions.

“Karen and I were on different paths headed in the same destination: freedom, a place as mythical as heaven. She looked like a younger version of me, poring over Alma’s book, making sense of the secret code the author had woven into the pages for furious girls like us. If part of our souls stayed in the books we read and loved, I hoped Karen was getting some courage from the little Camila I’d once been.” 

Méndez creates a parallel between Camila and young Karen, showing the similarities between the girls’ fiery spirits and big dreams. She also highlights the way one woman’s actions can pave the way for another, showing the way women can break the cycle of gender inequality by mentoring and encouraging the next generation. Camila recognizes the chance to be a role model for Karen and encourages her at every opportunity.

“That girl whose dreams had died when she’d chosen to follow someone else’s was buried under layers of expectations, responsibilities, and lies, just like I kept la Furia hidden. That girl had suffocated under all the rubble. My anger collapsed in on itself. Twenty years from now, would that be me? Would I be resigned to my fate, pushing my daughter toward the light so she could be free? Or pulling her down so I wouldn’t be alone in the dark?” 

Camila recognizes the similarities between herself and her mother and sees the circumstances and choices that led her mother down a path that prevented her from following her dreams. Through Camila’s mother, Méndez shows an example of how the cycle of gender discrimination can easily continue from one generation to the next, even from a mother to a daughter. Because of the sadness she faces in her own life, Camila’s mother is quick to silence her daughter’s dreams and slow to believe in her ability to reach them.

“Her fingers gently touched my shoulder, urging me inside. Electricity zipped along my spine, stopping at the base of my back. I didn’t remember this woman, but something inside me did.”

Méndez shows the unexpected combination of religious beliefs and magic as Camila and her mother visit a curandera. The practice of seeking medical attention from a healer is shown to be an accepted part of the culture in Argentina, and even the doctor at the clinic recognizes that Camila has been to see a curandera.

“‘But he’s your true love.’ Karen sounded like any little girl hoping for a happily ever after. When she saw me, she saw her teacher, a role model to follow. I didn’t want her to think that to be free and happy, a woman had to turn her back on love, but I didn’t know how to do both.” 

In a significant conversation between Karen and Camila, Méndez highlights the tension between pursuing love and pursuing one’s dreams. In doing so, she raises the question: Can a woman reach her career goals and find true love? Although Méndez does not directly answer this question, the end of the novel suggests that Camila can have both. Even though her journey was filled with challenges, she reaches her goals and has an opportunity to renew her relationship with Diego. Méndez shows that love and personal ambition need not be mutually exclusive, although they do not come easily.

“Coach Alicia took a big breath and said, ‘Daring to play in this tournament is a rebellion, chicas. Not too long ago, playing fútbol was forbidden to women by law. But we’ve always found a way around it. Those who came before us played in circuses, in summer fairs, dressed as men. How many of you had to quit when you were around twelve, the same age as Eda, just because you dared to grow up?’” 

Emphasizing the theme that soccer is a means of fighting gender discrimination, Coach Alicia’s words reveal the significance of simply playing in the soccer tournament. Even though Camila’s team doesn’t win, they push against the status quo by participating. They show that women do belong in soccer and take a stand for women’s rights with soccer as their vehicle for change.

“It’s all or nothing for you, Diego—that’s why you’re el Titán. For you, it’s only black or white. But in my life, things aren’t so simple. I have to compromise. I can’t separate the parts that make me who I am: a daughter, a sister, a captain, your girlfriend. La Furia. You can’t ask me to choose between you and my dreams. Don’t. Please don’t.” 

Camila’s internal battle between love and her ambitions comes to a head when Diego gives her an ultimatum. Even before this moment, Camila contemplated this decision; as much as she loves Diego, she cannot sacrifice her opportunities for him. She learned from the women in her family line that giving up one’s dreams for a man only leads to regret later. Her strength, independence, and determination propel her to choose the harder but more rewarding road.

“And then I heard her. My mom. ‘¡Vamos, Camila!’ Her voice jolted my whole body like an electrical current.” 

Knowing that her mom is on the sidelines supporting her at the tournament gives Camila the spark she needs to give her all in the game. Méndez emphasizes the transformation that this mother-daughter relationship has undergone over the course of the novel. Both women have a better understanding of one another and can see their similarities with a new clarity. Furthermore, Méndez shows the impact of one woman supporting another. Camila’s mother now stands beside her, rather than in her way, and that makes all the difference.

“With a deep breath, I summon the spirits of my loved ones. Abuela Elena, the Andalusian with all the regrets and the broken heart. My Russian great-grandmother Isabel and her pillows embroidered with sayings. Matilde and her stubbornness. My mom and her newborn freedom […] I have their warrior fire inside me. I summon their speed, their resourcefulness, their hunger for life.” 

Méndez underscores the ancestry motif by showing Camila’s strong connection to her heritage. She knows that the women who came before her did not have many opportunities because of their gender, and she views soccer as a means to speak for them, fight for them, and pave the way for the next generation. Knowing her family history gives her the passion to play soccer with her heart and soul.