44 pages • 1 hour read
Benito Perez GaldosMarianela
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1878A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Vow”
Teodoro operates on Pablo’s eyes with immense care. After the surgery, he bandages the eyes and urges several days of rest before confirming that the surgery is a success. As Pablo is resting, Florentina spends time with Nela. Florentina asks the young girl to show her where she lives in the Centeno house. She is horrified by the humble and cramped house where Nela lives, especially the baskets where she sleeps. She states once again her promise to help Nela. In a promise to the Virgin Mary, she vows to take Nela under her care and treat her as a sister if Pablo gains his sight. Throughout each of these pronouncements, Florentina never asks Nela about her thoughts and feelings. Nela harbors resentment at first but finds it hard to be bitter towards Florentina, whose kindness is so insistent. Florentina’s goodness and beauty appears so much like the Virgin Mary that Nela’s resentment subsides and all she is left with is a feeling of melancholy.
One week after the operation, Sofía announces excitedly to Nela that they have removed Pablo’s bandages and have confirmed that he can see. Nela praises the Virgin Mary, believing that Florentina’s vow has made this miracle possible. Sofía does not see Nela’s more complicated grief, informing her that given the good news with Pablo’s operation, Pablo and Florentina will likely marry soon.
Chapter 17 Summary: “A Fugitive”
As news of Pablo’s surgery success spreads through Socrates, Nela’s despair grows. She believes that now there is certainly no more use for her. She asks Celipin when they can leave Socrates. Celipin promises her that they will depart the next day.
The next day, Celipin and Nela proceed with their routines as usual. After completing her errand, Nela returns to the Centeno house to find Florentina waiting for her. Florentina asks Nela why she has not visited Pablo. Pablo has been demanding to see Nela. Florentina takes Nela’s hand and starts guiding her to Aldeacorba. Along the way, Nela grows increasingly pale and frightened. Florentina inquires after Nela’s ailing state. The young girl collapses in tears, crying out that she does not hate Florentina. Nela’s tears confuse Florentina, who begs the young girl to get up and explain why she is so upset. However, Nela cannot muster the words to explain her grief. She gets up and runs away from Florentina.
Florentina is taken aback by what she perceives to be Nela’s ingratitude. When Teodoro walks by and wonders why Florentina is so upset, she gestures to the direction Nela has run. Thinking that Florentina is talking about the ingratitude of butterflies in that direction, he laughs and offers some light consoling words. Florentina says that butterflies are not the cause of her frustration and offers to tell him more on their walk back to Aldeacorba.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Nela Decides that She Must Go”
Nela watches the lights of Aldeacorba as night falls. As she hides, she hears Celipin approaching on the path. She greets him and sees that he has packed a bag for travel. He tells her that he is leaving Socrates as he promised and implores her to go with him before they are both caught. Nela tells him that she is not going. Celipin inquires as to where she will go instead but she does not answer. After a while, Celipin leaves her, tearfully vowing to never forget his family, especially Nela’s kindness.
Choto arrives just as Celipin departs and runs excitedly around Nela. Hearing the dog’s excited noises, Teodoro detects that Nela is nearby and calls after her. Nela runs away in fear as Teodoro chases after her. She lowers herself into the outer steps of La Trascava and hides herself from plain view. Teodoro thinks of going after her but calls after her instead. Eventually, Nela responds tepidly. Teodoro implores her to come up from the abyss since he has something important to tell her. Reluctantly, Nela crawls up from the abyss and takes Teodoro’s hand.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
Upon news of Pablo’s successful surgery, Nela avoids Aldeacorba for fear of Pablo seeing her. In light of her absence, Florentina and Teodoro both embark on separate pursuits of the young orphan. The two represent varied attempts to civilize Nela. Through the power of the Virgin Mary, the former presses upon Nela the compulsory love of sisterhood, vowing to take the orphan under her care. The force of Florentina’s care is oppressive to Nela, who wrestles with resentment towards the woman who is set to marry her beloved but finds it difficult to sustain her hostility when Florentina’s kindness is so insistent. As a result of Nela’s flawed worship of the Virgin Mary, the young orphan’s feelings develop into “the very demon of melancholy” (140). Nela rejects Florentina’s benevolence as a native of the New World rejects the colonial enterprises that encroach upon their land. In this case, Nela’s rejection of Florentina is a refusal of religious conversion and the benevolent values that accompany it.
Nela’s choice to enter the La Trascava in her escape from Teodoro suggests that she opts for a different form of spirituality. The areas around La Trascava represent to her the spirituality found in worship of nature. Nela notes that “The clouds in the sky and the flowers of the field affected her mind as others are affected by the pomp of altars” (142). While these beliefs are benign, the novel suggests that such innocent views outside the civilizing forces of religion and science prevent Nela from having the faculties to describe her heartache accurately. Nela’s pain is derived from an inability to articulate her loss of a “punctilious sense of dignity” (143). It is suggested that her views of the world have shut her away from receiving the charity that both Florentina and Teodoro are offering so readily.
