Themes in Delibes’ Rural Tragedy: A Literary Analysis
Themes and Secondary Conflicts
This rural drama tragedy resolves a conflict between unequal samples, a conflict concerning the submission and innocence of the disinherited, a conflict between servants and masters, gentlemen. Delibes presents two ways of understanding the world and two conceptions of the relationship between man and nature.
- The servants, whose lives have always been in direct contact with the earth, in a spontaneous communion with the environment, have been allowed to understand what the masters may never do. Azariah is the purest symbol of this attitude, as is clearly shown in his passion for kites.
- These gentlemen: their bond with nature is its ownership and possession, a link that violates the virtually aggressive natural balance. Living far away in the city, and coming to the field from time to time, they maintain an unbridgeable distance, an inhuman class that does not respect the dignity of those at the bottom. Discord, disrespectful to nature and its creatures, is an archetype in the character of Ivan, the master hunter.
Delibes presents two conflicting worlds: the natural order, associated with rural life, and the chaos and uncomprehending stupidity associated with urban culture, which the higher characters carry.
Major Thematic Areas
From a thematic standpoint, the novel presents four major areas:
- Evolution of Spain in the decade of the 60s.
- Exploiters and exploited, rich and poor, victor and vanquished.
- Manichaeism and the relationship between good and evil.
- Rural injustice.
Key Themes in the Work
Wealth and Poverty: Two Distinct Worlds
The leaders and servants, family and friends of the gentleman, versus Ivan’s family and Régula Paco el Bajo, whose boundaries are well marked in rural areas, as few, with few exceptions, dare interfere in the world of others voluntarily.
Manichaeism: The Dichotomy Between Good and Evil
The dichotomy between good and evil is almost always without any middle ground, leaving a permanent place to warm some characters in the two dominant social classes in the novel, called “hinge characters,” as is the case of Miss Miriam, the daughter of the Marquise, or Neville, daughter of Paco and regulators, as an analogy that allows the two daughters away from the behavior established by their families.
The Legacy of the Spanish Civil War
Winners and losers are forced to live in wild lands, the symbology of the Franco regime that is becoming even more evident in the attitude of the young master Ivan and despotic in the episode of the visit of the Marchioness who gives a paltry alms to every one of the farmers, who can not do anything but show gratitude and submission.
Helplessness of the Social Middle Class
Doomed to be despised by the rich and almost hated by peasant bondage, the existence of Don Pedro, the expert, and the adultery of his wife continued with Master Ivan are a good example of the uncomfortable role they are forced to play.
Ignorance and Illiteracy
As a main weapon of the powerful to retain its status, in that sense, it is shocking the scene in which Master Ivan makes Régula write their name before the French ambassador, for his criticism and tackle the Franco regime. Again, the contrast between the two worlds is brutal, and only the youngest, Quirce and Nevis, struggle to learn to read and write as a means to enable them to leave the preserve of the farmhouse.
The Relationship of Man with Nature
As an extension of their role in society, the rich exploit it for their convenience, and farm workers must live with it to survive, some bordering on brilliance, like the smell of Paco el Bajo priceless.
The First Symptoms of the New Attitude of Young People
A prelude of what was to come in the seventies, flight and emigration that performs the Quirce, resigning to continue the family tradition as they had bonded their parents.
The Final Triumph of the Most Disadvantaged
Even if the hand of vengeance, the most defenseless beings and upset, but at the time the most spiritually pure, Nina Chica and Azariah, are responsible for shaking the foundations of this social structure ossified. The screams of her and the love he shows towards the prey back to the reader to hope for some justice, even poetic, not to mention the ending of the novel.