“Nada” has an apocalyptic, oppressive, and hungry atmosphere. Our narrator, Andrea describes her family members as “ghostly women” (pg 6), as “elongated and somber” (pg 7), as “perverse people” (pg9) and her uncle Juan’s face as a “skull” (pg 6). These characters all seem to be destroyed and hollow after the war. Even the house is described like it is a haunted house. The house is symbolic of the demolished city of Barcelona after the war and the family members living inside it represent the social and political ramifications. Within this house, Laforet does a great job at creating an atmosphere of hunger. In between narrative flow there were interjections from Andrea describing her hunger, for example when she holds Gloria who is crying after being abused by Juan, she describes wanting to eat her neck (pg 107). Andrea’s family are all starving and malnourished, reflective of Franco’s regime, which was described as ‘the hunger years’. As the story goes on, this hunger gets more desperately evident.

Given that this story finds its context in Spain, post-war, during Franco’s dictatorship, I was reading with the assumption that the author was writing under a period of censorship and inhumanity. Considering this, I was reading into how each character may serve to represent something politically significant. Andrea’s aunt Angustia’s is an authoritarian and oppressive character, perhaps she is supposed to symbolise the authoritative dictatorship that oppressed Spain. Andrea even describes feeling “oppressed, as if I were under a sky heavy with storms” (pg 16) when describing her Aunt’s strict and threatening care. Additionally, her name, Angustia, in Spanish translates to “anguish”, completely reflective of her character, and therefore also reflective of the authoritarian atmosphere of Franco Spain. Juan, Andrea’s uncle, seems to represent to me the patriarchal and violent nature of the dictatorship. Juan beats and abuses Gloria several times throughout the story and is described to be a hot-tempered and scary man. His purpose to me is to symbolise the fear of violence and brutality under Franco’s dictatorship, which is also reinforced by his name, Juan, a popular Spanish name, suggesting that his character may be representative of many Spanish men and/or Franco, during this violent and desperate time. Gloria is heavily demonized, specifically by Aunt Angustias, but also the other family members too, as an “evil serpent”(pg 81) and “the snake woman” (pg 81), for her sexual exploits. To me, her treatment from the family reflects the oppressive nature of the dictatorship that did not encourage sexual agency or liberty. Gloria is a progressive character that highlights the conservative society they find themselves in. Roman, I haven’t quite formulated an entire thought on yet, his character is more complex to me. This is my question to my classmates this week, what does Roman’s character and his suicide represent to you? Considering that I have analysed Andrea’s family and her house as representative of Spanish society, I found Roman and Juan’s feuds, within the family house, significant because they seemed to symbolise the civil war. But if anyone has any further ideas about Roman himself I would love to hear them! 

While Andrea’s family members each reflect different elements of Spanish society under Franco’s dictatorship, it is important to consider the characters outside of the family and their purpose. Another name that stood out to me as holding significance was ‘Pons’, one of Andrea’s friends from university who introduces her to a “bohemian” (pg 127) group of people. Pons in Latin means ‘bridge’, which seems reflective of his character as he bridges her way out of her oppressive and impoverished family to a world of wealth and artistic freedom. Ena is definitely also a significant and complex character who represents overall to me the contrasting lifestyle of the rich under the dictatorship, but also hope, as she provides a sense of escape from poverty for Andrea. How did you view the outside relationships?

Sorry this was a long one, this book has so much to analyze!