Male characters in Nada (1945) and Entre Visillos (1958)

Abstract

This study demonstrates how male characters in Nada (1945) and Entre visillos (1958), two twentieth-century novels written under Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, play a pivotal role in the development of two impressionable adolescent protagonists. While these protagonists have received the majority of scholarly attention, the male characters that function in a variety of roles such as mentor, close friend, father or other relative merit closer scrutiny. These men are more than subordinate characters. They function as foils for the protagonists by either helping or hindering in her efforts to mature by either limiting her agency through treating her from a patriarchal stance or encouraging her development through a more liberal, progressive treatment.