Understanding Salvation Through Love in Unamuno’s Novel
Salvation Through Love in Unamuno’s Novel
In the third part, leading up to Don Manuel’s death, both characters coexist. The fourth part, a postscript after Don Manuel’s death, uses the character of Lazarus to declare the novel’s central idea: salvation through love.
The Central Theme
Two books by Unamuno are essential for understanding his philosophical thought: The Tragic Sense of Life and The Agony of Christianity. These works outline his ideas on existential and religious themes. Unamuno defines the disjunction between focusing one’s personality in a single direction, expanding upon it, or exploring all possibilities, attempting to be everything. This desire is countered by the possibility of nothing existing after death. This results in angustia for Unamuno. Immortality is the crucial question upon which the meaning of our existence depends. There is also the ongoing internal conflict: reason preventing belief and the heart leading one to hope.
Manuel does not believe in eternal life, comparing himself to Moses dying before entering the Promised Land. However, he possesses a true faith: faith in life, in others, and in love, where salvation lies. This thesis, the conflict between faith and reason, is the novel’s message: love saves us.
Time and Space
Valverde de Lucerna is a historical place, existing within history, as is the time in which the action unfolds.
Dialogue and Variety
Regarding Lazarus’s short speeches, the use of adjectives and phrases is notable.
Don Manuel’s language is different. We see it as a folksy language, and the few substantive are simple. Overall, the language is “dry, precise, fast,” demonstrating Unamuno’s absence of extra-rational links. This gives the prose a dry character.
Representative Stylistic Resources
The most representative resource is symbolism. The narrative space of the novel is symbolic. The village, mountain, and lake represent the three symbols of the novel. Valverde de Lucerna represents all of humanity throughout time. The symbol of the “lake” is used in combination with the “mountain.” With these two symbols, Unamuno creates the meaning of his work: the antithesis between faith and doubt. Finally, there is the symbol of the snow. When snow falls on the mountain, it remains, while if it lands on water, it disappears. Such are the effects of faith.
Perspective and Narrative Techniques
Type of Narrator
Unamuno wrote, “I feel I have put my whole tragic sense of life into it.” However, Unamuno seeks to distance himself by choosing Angela as the narrator. He employs the witness-narrator.
Narrative Technique
We speak of perspectivism because the protagonist is not presented in a “seek,” but through the point of view of the narrator. We also speak of perspectivism because the theme is presented from four different perspectives: Angelita (faith), Lazaro (reason preventing belief), and Manuel, who produces the synthesis of all positions. In the conflict between faith and reason, this is why he succeeds.