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Nuria Monfort: Chapter 13
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
At dawn, Daniel finishes Nuria’s manuscript, which he calls “our story.” He identifies himself with Carax and says that in his “lost footsteps, I now recognized my own, irretrievable.” He gets dressed and hurries to the Aguilars’ apartment, determined to fight for Bea so he won’t lose her as Carax lost Penélope.
Daniel is now fully aware not just of the parallels between his own life and Carax’s, but of the dire necessity of extricating himself from Carax’s “footsteps” so as to avoid repeating his tragedy as well.
Themes
A hostile Tomás answers the door and tells Daniel that Bea has left home, and no one knows where she is. He says that Bea is pregnant but has refused to name Daniel as her lover, that Mr. Aguilar is determined to find and kill the man responsible, and that Tomás is too angry with Daniel to stop him. Tomás punches Daniel several times, and Daniel leaves the building bruised and anxious.
Tomás seems to mirror Jorge’s behavior when he turned on Carax. However, it’s clear that he’s acting out of love and worry for his sister, whereas Jorge was only motivated by fear and shame.
Themes
