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City of Shadows: Chapter 43
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
Daniel returns to Nuria’s apartment, where he finds Isaac Monfort going through her belongings and crying. He talks about their estrangement and regrets all the time they allowed to pass without talking.
While Isaac couldn’t act publicly as Nuria’s father, even after her death, his evident grief here redeems him somewhat and shows he really did care about his daughter.
Themes
Isaac tells Daniel that Nuria came to see him the day before she died and gave him an envelope to give to Daniel in case of emergency. He’s already read the manuscript inside, even though he said he wouldn’t. After doing so, he says he doesn’t know his daughter anymore. Now he wants to be left alone among her possessions.
Isaac’s remark about not knowing Nuria mirrors Mr. Sempere’s earlier comment that he doesn’t know Daniel anymore. Connection to Carax’s mystery has reshaped both Nuria and Daniel, and drawn them together despite their differences.
Themes
Daniel is happy to see Mr. Sempere when he returns. He hugs his father and says he loves him. Still, he then barricades himself in his room to devour Nuria’s manuscript.
Nuria’s destroyed relationship with Isaac makes Daniel grateful for his own father, even if they’re experiencing a tense phase themselves.
Themes
