Spanish Lit Paper

Hero or coward? The effects of individual decision making in

post-war Spain.

“Venceréis, pero no convenceréis. Venceréis porque

tenéis sobrada de fuerza bruta, pero no convenceréis porque

convencer significa persuadir”. That was the famous quote by

Miguel de Unamuno in a speech given at the University of

Salamanca on the 12th of October 1936 during a celebratory

Columbus Day meeting. This phrase by Unamuno is significant

not only because it required great courage to utter it but

because it personifies what would happen during the war and in

the subsequent years.

The end of the Civil War in Spain would start a

dictatorship spanning almost four decades and that would cause

Spanish society to essentially question its identity. Many

articles published on the subject of the Civil War have

focussed on the silence that resulted from it and how memory

is being recovered (Labanyi, 2009; Davis, 2005; Richards,

2006). Silence has been evidenced in the way in which those

who lost the war suffered physically and emotionally. Not

only did they suffer in silence but they were unable to talk

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about their experiences for fear of reprisals. It truly was a

time of fear. Only in recent years has there been emphasis on

documenting the horrific events of that time period and

attempting to retrieve the memories from those who were

directly involved in one way or another. A pertinent example

of this silence was noted in Labanyi’s (2009) article where

she details the experience of a forensic anthropologist who

found out about his mother and aunt’s involvement in the war

only after his mother’s death. She comments:

Neither his mother nor his aunt had ever talked about

having taken part in the war. When Exteberria telephoned

his aunt to find out more, she snapped back, ‘How did you

find out?’ When Exteberria asked why she and her sister

had never talked about this in the family, her immediate

reply was ‘To protect you’. (23-24)

This quotation highlights the difficulty faced by many

trying to understand and remember what it would have been like

for those who suffered during the war. Many people simply did

not talk about their experience. However, the focal point of

this paper is not to examine silence or recovering memory as

this area has been researched at length. This essay will

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explore the concept of a hero and scrutinise why certain

characters were classed as such. Moreover, the paper will

focus on the repercussions for these characters within post-

war Spanish society as a result of their hero or non-hero

status. The analysis of this task will principally cover the

following novels set during the post-war period in Spain:

Soldados de Salamina (Javier Cercas)Los Girasoles Ciegos (Alberto Méndez)La Voz Dormida (Dulce Chacón)Presas (Tomasa Cuevas)El Lector de Julio Verne (Almudena Grandes)

Before embarking upon this study, it is important to

understand the new identity that the Franco dictatorship tried

to impose upon the Spanish people, that is, Catholic,

conservative, and perhaps most importantly, obedient. In

other words, Franco’s aim was to eradicate individuality and

replace it with a new national identity. The question that

must be posed and, in turn, analysed is, how did Spanish

society respond to this new form of identity imposed upon

them? Did they conform? If so, did they do so willingly? If

not, how did they react and what were the consequences?

However, the ironic nature of this new identity is documented

in the movie adaptation of Mendez’s novel Los Girasoles Ciegos when

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the Catholic priest declares “no soy buen cristiano, pero soy

buen español”.

Many facets could be discussed in order to answer these

questions, however, this paper shall limit its scope to the

following concepts: the hero vs. the coward and how either

stance included or excluded them from society, solidarity and

unity, and finally, the results of a survey undertaken by the

author in order to gauge the feeling of Spaniards today about

the post-war period and compare it with the narrative of the

novels.

As previously stated, the portrayal of hero vs. coward is

an important common theme throughout the works being analysed

in this paper and, as such, shall be examined.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a hero as someone

“distinguished by the performance of courageous or noble

actions” and a coward as someone “who displays ignoble fear or

want of courage in the face of danger, pain, or difficulty”.

The conclusions are apparent: someone considered a hero

portrays altruistic qualities and is capable of putting his

own feelings to one side in order to do what is best for the

majority. A coward, on the other hand, does exactly the

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opposite. Their focus is on themselves and their own well-

being. On the subject of hero and coward, one of the

characters in Grande’s (2012) novel El Lector de Julio Verne, doña

Elena, provides the reader with a particularly thought

provoking definition of heroes and cowards:

“En las personas valientes, el miedo es sólo consciencia del

peligro – añadió –, pero en las cobardes, es mucho más que

ausencia de valor.” (196)

From that description, it is clear that a hero is someone

who is capable of reasoning, weighing up all the options, and

then deciding what their plan of action will be. However,

another important piece of information relating to a hero is

mentioned in Cercas’ (2001) work Soldados de Salamina. In Cercas’

interview with Roberto Bolaño, the latter highlights a

pertinent difference between a good person and a hero: there

are many good people but few heroes. Interestingly, while

that may be the case in today’s society, the post-war period

in Spain, especially from a Republican standpoint in the texts

under review, suggests that heroes are in abundance. The

texts outlined at the outset of this paper are littered with

potential heroes, people who were willing to sacrifice

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themselves for their beliefs or for the greater good of

society. I desire to analyse the texts and identify

characters displaying those qualities in order to see why they

chose to act the way they did and how that affected their

position within society.

Javier Cercas’ novel Soldados de Salamina, presents an

interesting dichotomy for the reader: Rafael Sánchez Mazas and

Antonio Miralles. The former, considered by Cercas to be one

of those responsible for the uprising of the Civil War, was

lucky enough to escape from a mass shooting and, following the

war, became a prominent writer and politician. In the novel,

the idea of Sánchez Mazas’ cowardly status is first put

forward by Andres Trapiello, a writer who had previously

edited some of his work. In Trapiello’s own words, Sánchez

Mazas “era tan cobarde (y todo el mundo sabía que era tan

cobarde) que debió de pensar que ese episodio le redimía de

algún modo de su cobardía” (37). Why was he considered a

coward? Perhaps because, as mentioned previously on the

characteristics of a coward, Sánchez Mazas was more concerned

with his own well-being than of those around him. After the

war was over, he was a prominent figure of the new Falangist

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government and lived a very comfortable life, whereas, those

who saved his life were more or less forgotten by him. In

addition, on talking about the role he played in the Civil

War, Cercas quotes a famous saying from one his books “ni me

arrepiento ni olvido” (133). This underlines his selfishness

especially after we learn that Sánchez Mazas became

disillusioned with the newly-formed government.

Miralles, on the other hand, became one of the many

‘forgotten’ people of the Civil War which seems to fit in to

his own definition of a hero. In spite of Cercas’ obsession

to get Miralles to confirm he was indeed the soldier that

spared Sánchez Mazas, Miralles was more concerned about his

fallen colleagues:

“Nadie se acuerda de ellos, ¿sabe? Nadie. Nadie se

acuerda siquiera de por qué murieron, de por qué no

tuvieron mujer e hijos y una habitación con sol; nadie,

y, menos que nadie, la gente por la que pelearon”. (198-

199).

Albeit lamenting the loss of his friends, in my opinion,

Miralles is, unintentionally, confirming his own hero status

as he is deflecting attention from himself and praising his

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comrades. This sentiment is backed up by Breen (2010), in her

work on resistance and remembrance in 21st century Spain, as

she depicts Miralles and his friends’ war struggles:

“Though Cercas travelled to meet Miralles with a pre-

established image of him as a hero, he finds a battle-

scarred veteran who rejects the idea. Sixty years

before, Miralles had fought in wars in Spain, Africa, and

France. He and his comrades were soldiers fighting their

own war, and then for other countries, in order to

prevent the spread of fascism in the world”. (169)

However, that hero status did come with a price. Just

like thousands of others, he had to flee the country at the

end of the Civil War and lived the rest of his life alone and

in France. Therefore, whilst being depicted as a hero by

Cercas, and not forgetting that he is indeed a hero, the

reader is left with a melancholic memory of Miralles. Sánchez

Mazas, however, in spite of being disillusioned with the

government, never really did anything to help others in spite

of his lofty position. This would probably have been the

result of not wanting to jeopardize his position. Again, the

act of a coward. One sign of a hero is doing the right thing

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irrespective of the circumstances. Soldados de Salamina portrays

various political groups, previously Falangist sympathisers

and whose members included two of Sánchez Mazas’ sons, trying

to undo their wrongs, that is, speak out against the new

regime. Of Sánchez Mazas, however, we are told that “en todo

caso, aparte de la secreta actitud desdeñosa con que

contemplaba el regimen, ni un solo dato de su biografía la

avala” (p.134). His lack of courage permitted him to enjoy

the millions that he inherited and retain his position within

society.

In the works under scrutiny in this paper, the hero never

seems to have the happy ending. That said, their tragic fate

effectively becomes the making of them. Hutman (1972)

provides a rather appropriate overview of the hero’s

situation:

“Theirs in an ironic vocation: called to destruction,

they are not, however, called to greatness. They are

scapegoats who suffer from and in society a

disproportionate doom”. (199, italics added).

This is evident in La Voz Dormida by Ducle Chacón. In

addition to the term scapegoat, the characters in this work

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could easily be referred to as sacrificial lambs as that

accurately reflects the series of events that unfolded in the

prisons during that time period. This novel takes place in

the Prisión de Ventas, a well-known prison during the Civil War.

Whilst reference could be made to various characters in the

work, the present study will analyse Hortensia and her role.

The concept of hero can be applied in a slightly

different manner in the case of Hortensia. Whereas she did

participate in the Civil War, her hero status can be related

to her resilience inside of the prison and being a rock for

the other women that were suffering there. What impacts me

most of all about the story of Hortensia is that her political

views seemed to be more important than anything else, although

this is not a trait unique to Hortensia but rather to most

Republican sympathizers such as another character in the

story, Paulino. On his political stance he tells Pepita,

“tienes que saber que soy un hombre político y que nadie podrá

cambiar mis ideas” (191). Regarding Hortensia, we find out

that she is pregnant in prison and that her life will be

spared until after she has given birth to her child. While it

can never be known if her death penalty would have been

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reduced, the question that springs to mind is this: is

standing up for something, your political belief in this

example, no matter the consequence, more important than trying

to do your all to be spared in order to be able to raise your

child? It is clear that Hortensia, and others like her, will

always be remembered as heroes, and rightfully so, however,

would she have been a coward for renouncing her political

beliefs in order to be with her new-born child? Was the

concept of hero when applied to a Republic only true if you

were prepared to suffer for the cause? Nino, in El Lector de Julio

Verne, plants an extremely interesting concept surrounding the

choices a hero faces:

“Cuando empecé a subir la cuesta, pensé que aquella tarde

sería fácil encontrar a Elena en el cortijo, porque a

ella también le habría afectado la resaca de los dos

entierros sucesivos, pero ni siquiera sentí la tentación

de cambiar de rumbo, porque había decidido servir a otro amor, y

en aquel momento comprendí que era más fuerte.” (334,

italics added).

There is no doubt that a hero ultimately has to sacrifice

something he/she loves in order for the greater good and the

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outcome, in the case of Hortensia, was that the greater good

here was to defend her political ideology irrespective of the

outcome. It is rather fitting, then, that her last words

before being shot were “Viva la República”.

If we compare that to the actions, or lack of, by some of

the funcionarios in the prison, it is possible to witness a stark

contrast. The narrative portrays starving inmates whilst they

are playing cards and when asked what they are doing their

response is simply “nada” (226). Again, the image is conveyed

that being a Nationalist meant you were self-centred and, to

some extent, a coward. It is unclear, however, if people

lacked compassion for fear of reprisals. This

negative/cowardly Republican notion of the Nationalist could

not be any clearer than in the following section of La Voz

Dormida. When describing the difference in Tomasa’s

countenance after recovering from a heavy beating we are told

that “ya no tiene en la cara la bandera nacional” (234).

Continuing along the lines of hero vs. coward, this is

never more evident in Grandes’ novel El Lector de Julio Verne. There

are heroes littered throughout this literary work, however,

for the present time, I would like to contrast the difference

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between the main character Nino and Michelín, one of the

leaders of the Guardia Civil. The latter decides to send Nino

to do a job that he could easily do but fears that his life

will be in jeopardy by going himself. Here, Michelín hides

behind his power as is evidenced when he declares to Nino’s

mother, “Yo también sé chillar y yo soy el que manda aquí”.

(359). When reading about these accounts, it is difficult to

imagine that people could treat others in this way and feel

okay with themselves. On the other hand, Nino displays, not

only in this moment but at various points of the novel, a

great deal of courage to go and do what is asked of him. For

all of the things that Nino does in the book, it is hard to

believe that he is only a child and others could certainly

learn from his example.

Thus far, we have discussed the different ways in which

heroes and cowards have been portrayed in the novels

mentioned. It would be reasonable to deduce from the analysis

that being a hero automatically meant that you were excluded

from society or had to sacrifice something important in your

life. Moreover, not only did being a hero exclude these

characters from society, it also had serious ramifications for

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their family: Hortensia left a newborn baby, Miguel Sanchís,

in El Lector de Julio Verne, although not explicitly mentioned in

this essay, committed suicide and left his wife Pastora

widowed and her life took a tragic turn for the worse as a

result. Even in the case of Antonio Miralles, all he had left

were his memories and no family. However, does that mean that

the only way to be a hero is to sacrifice yourself for the

greater good? Is it not possible for a hero to put his family

and others first but also conform to the unfortunate

circumstances in which they find themselves? Whilst

potentially not a hero in the traditional sense, Nino’s father

conforms to societal norms, he is a member of the Guardia

Civil in spite of his Republican background, to protect his

family and give his son the best possible chance of a good

life. Is he any less of a hero?

Having documented various heroes and cowards in the

works, I would like to discuss another way in which heroes

were portrayed, not only in the texts, but during that time

period in general. As referred to previously, one of the

issues surrounding the time period is the fact that it was not

as black and white as is sometimes portrayed in the novels and

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in research relating to the time period. The fact that some

people were Nationalists or Republicans did not mean that they

were completely at ease with the new political regime. One

such example can be found in the work of Mainer (2011) who

highlights that even some Francoist sympathisers were opposed

to some of the restrictions imposed after the introduction of

the Ley de Prensa in 1938, most notably Dionisio Ridreujo, a

prominent member of the Falange (74). The mere introduction

of the law shows the extremes that the Franco regime went to

in order control the people and even alienated some of their

fervent supporters in the autonomous communities such as

Barcelona. Mainer explains that such people “had to imagine

new ways of dissension within the system” (77). One of those

ways was to publish Robert Burns’ poetry which would have been

heavily censored due to what Burns represented politically.

Much care had to be taken in order to portray potentially

contentious subjects in a non-threatening way as doing so

could have placed the translators in danger. This information

is important as it shows that heroes existed on both sides;

although people agreed with Franco’s regime at the beginning,

they did not agree with everything that he did and, therefore,

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were prepared to push the limits in an attempt to have their

culture incorporated into the new Spanish identity imposed by

Franco. The following excerpt reinforces this sentiment:

“In a place where silence was imposed and disagreement

severely repressed, Burn’s poetry could thus be regarded

as the voice of plurality. The Scottish poet is

transculturalized and his words are assimilated to make

him significant to the target culture and Spain’s

political anxieties. Discontent with specific aspects of

the dictator’s actions brings about resistance from with

the system” (Mainer, 81-82).

In addition to underlining discontent among Francoist

sympathisers, this quote also highlights unity between

Republicans and Nationalists and helps to eradicate the binary

black and white division that had previously been conveyed.

Interestingly, we learn of an instance in which Félix Ros and

José Janés, two of the driving forces behind the publication

of Burns’ poetry and of differing political ideologies, showed

loyalty to one another rather than their political belief.

Ros helped to spare Janés’ life after he had received the

death penalty because, for them, at that point “personal

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friendship became more important than political affiliations

in a Spain which did not offer what the Catalan Falangists had

expected” (Mainer, 82).

Examples similar to this are in abundance and in the

texts we are given a glimpse. In Presas, a novel composed by

Tomasa Cuevas comprised of numerous women’s testimonies who

were imprisoned during the war, we learn of thirteen French

nuns who were shot dead by Francoist troops because “se

negaron a declarer que habían sido violadas por los rojos”

(46). While it cannot be sure if those nuns shared the same

political belief as the typical Spanish nun, it certainly did

require courage to do what they did in those circumstances.

Furthermore, in La Voz Dormida we learn of another heroic

act. While Reme explains to her imprisoned comrades what

happened to her daughters, she mentions that thankfully

nothing happened to them because of a “good Falangist” who “no

consintió que raparan a mis hijas, ni que les dieran a beber

guarrerías. No lo consintió.” (65). The simple act of

stopping her daughters having their heads shaved may not be

considered as heroic as other aforementioned examples,

however, it did require courage as the norm would have been

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not to show compassion to a “rojo”. It is fair to conclude

that a hero does not always have to sacrifice himself/herself

but they should possess courageous characteristics. In this

section, in addition to reinforcing the idea that the concept

of a hero is visualised through marginalisation in society,

the examples provided show the possibility of displaying

heroic qualities but still being able to function properly

within society.

For the final part of the current paper, I wanted to

ascertain the thoughts of Spaniards nowadays and compare their

opinions to those provided in the literature to see if they

align themselves more with a Republican or Nationalist

perspective. The novels under scrutiny, to one degree or

another, convey the perception that the Republicans were the

only ones marginalised from society in the post-war period.

Whilst this is not incorrect, the black/white division between

Nationalist and Republican can also be applied here. Even

factions supportive of Franco felt repressed to a certain

extent as has been documented previously. Given the image

portrayed by the hero in the works, the overarching impression

is that a hero, during this time period at least, is someone

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willing to compromise their own life/freedom to show their

disapproval of the current regime. The intention of the hero

vs coward idea is to promote that heroes existed on both sides

of the political divide.

Out of all the people who participated in the survey, 75%

did not live during the Franco dictatorship and 86% stated

that they consider the country divided as a result. In

addition, 86% thought that the events that transpired during

the Civil War should be remembered. That train of thought

goes hand in hand with the authors’ purpose for writing the

novels, that is, to remember those who suffered and died

during the war. Faber (2006) documents Dulce Chacón’s

thoughts on her decision to write La Voz Dormida:

“Yo quiero rendir homenaje a estas mujeres, que perdieron

la guerra y la posguerra. Recoger sus voces, que han

sido condenadas al silencio, y hablar de las

protagonistas que lucharon por un mundo mejor” (145).

The fascinating result of Franco’s death is that modern-

day Spain is the complete opposite from what he originally

envisioned. Responses from the survey detailing the way in

which the war divided the country included that it “caused

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rebellion, people went from one extreme to another due to the

lack of freedom” and that “people have become very atheist and

have gone to the other extreme, not liberal but libertine”.

In conclusion, referring to Unamuno again, the importance

of his quote “venceréis pero no convenceréis” is clearly shown to be

the case in Grande’s (2012) work El Lector de Julio Verne when

Catalina’s feelings are described after the war had ended:

“Porque no era que Catalina siguiera siendo roja, sino

que ahora era más roja que antes, más roja que nunca, roja de verdad,

tanto como Cuelloduro, o más”. (p.171, italics added).

As shown in the survey, Catalina was not alone in her

feeling post-war. By attempting to eradicate and marginalise

individuality, Franco inadvertently created the exact opposite

effect from what he intended. While they may have lost the

war, it may only have served to strengthen and unify

Republicans after the war was over. The survey showed that

the majority are of the opinion that the war divided the

country and, while this is evident even till this day, it

possibly strengthened certain political factions within the

country. It is clear that Spain still feels the effects of

the Civil War and that much work remains to be done in order

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to create a more unified country, however, the works analysed

in this essay have, at least, shown that the Civil War created

heroes on both sides and that the best way to learn from the

past is remember the sacrifices made by them and press

forward.

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