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Nuria Monfort: Chapter 8
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 police abandon Miquel’s body in a seedy neighborhood, and when it eventually arrives at the morgue, he’s identified as Julian Carax based on the papers he carries. Fortuny is devastated to hear that his son is dead, but when he arrives at the morgue and sees Miquel’s body, he screams in relief, which the police interpret as grief. Fumero sees the body and knows it’s Miquel, but allows it to be buried as Carax. That way, Fumero can never be accused of killing Carax—because technically he would already be dead.
Fumero is incredibly adept at manipulating government mechanisms like the paperwork at the morgue for his own gain, even while he continues to act outside the law. This is an indictment not only of his own character but of bureaucracies which have no moral structure but are easily twisted to facilitate wrongdoing.
Themes
Meanwhile, Nuria hasn’t heard from either Carax or Miquel and is sick with worry. When Don Fonseca calls from the morgue to say that Carax’s body has been buried, she returns home in tears to find Carax hiding in the apartment. She understands immediately that Miquel has died in his place, and feels guilty for her relief. Carax and Nuria become lovers again.
Even though she’s spent little time with him, Nuria’s passion for Carax is overwhelming. It’s notable that romantic passions are often the most rewarding aspects of characters’ lives, even while they expose their flaws or lead them into moral dilemmas and tragedy.
Themes
