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City of Shadows: Chapter 42
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Shadow of the Wind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Duality and Repetition
Possessive and Obsessive Love
Fathers, Sons, and Masculinity
Reality and the Written Word
Coincidence and Determinism
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Daniel goes to the cemetery to attend Nuria’s funeral. He finds her neighbors in attendance but not Isaac. The policeman who pulled him away from the bus is also there. When he’s about to leave, the officer pulls up in a car and offers him a ride, introducing himself as Enrique Palacios.
Isaac’s absence from his own daughter’s funeral is a marked contrast to Fortuny’s grief over the son he disowned. While Barceló views parental love as an enduring human trait, in this case it’s seemingly not enough to overcome their quarrels during Nuria’s life.
Themes
Palacios says he’s sorry about Nuria’s death and wants to help Daniel, but Daniel sees this as only a trick or an insult. Palacios tells Daniel that Nuria died in his arms, and that she told him to tell Daniel to let Penélope go. Palacios assumes that she was referring to Daniel’s girlfriend.
By mistaking Penélope for Daniel’s girlfriend, Palacios highlights the increasing similarities between Daniel and Carax.
Themes
Daniel walks home pondering these words. In a sudden epiphany, he realizes that Nuria wasn’t speaking to him but to Carax, whom she must have loved for years even though he only loved Penélope.
Daniel experiences this epiphany without much evidence or explanation, making it seem as if his deductive process is guided by something bigger than his own mind or talents as an investigator.
Themes
