Blog Two, Learning Outcome Three

          
The short story titled “Las Medias Rojas” written by Emilio Pardo Bazán brings to life the reality of hardships throughout northern Spain during its progressive era in the 19^th century.  The story is about a daughter named Ildara and her father.  The two of them have always lived a life of poverty.  Ildara is determined to move to the New World (America) in order to start a new and better life.  Her father, though, does not approve of her moving and beats her in order to keep her from leaving.  The story ends with Ildara realizing she will never be able to obtain her dream because of the facial disfigurement caused by her father.

The story “Las Medias Rojas” has cultural aspects that influence the language and meaning of the story.  The story takes place in Galicia, Spain, which is in the northernmost area of the country.  In Galicia, Spaniards speak the language Gallego, which is a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese.  In the late 1800’s, Gallego was the official poetic and short story language, and therefore Bazán used words and phrases in her story from this language.  Not only does the language follow the expectation of that time period, but it also provides a setting for the story.  Although the majority of the piece is written in Spanish, parts are written in Gallego.  This is demonstrated at the beginning of the story “Cuando la rapaza entró, el tío Clodio no levantó la cabeza.”  In this sentence, Bazán uses two Gallego words.  Instead of using the word “niña” which means girl, the author uses the Gallego word “rapaza.”  Also, the author uses the word “tío” to reference the father.  In Spanish, “tío” means uncle, but when this word is used in northern Spain, it means father.  These are two examples of how the author allows language to be influenced by the setting of the story.

            Another important aspect to understand while reading the story is the historical context of progressive Spain.  Throughout Spain in the 19^th century, and especially in northern Spain, the majority of the population was poor.  Only rich and powerful people owned land while the middle class and lower class people worked under them.  At several different instances, Bazán uses binary opposition to show contrast between the two classes.  By doing this, the author also educates the reader on the separate classes in society during this time period.  An example of Bazán comparison is seen when she writes “La rapaza, quien acababa de merodear en el monte del señor amo, entró y el tío Clodio no levantó la cabeza, entregado a la ocupación de picar un cigarro con uñas y córneas de color de ámbar oscuro.”  This quote describes the father’s physical state by describing the dirty color of his fingernails and his tired eyes from so much work.  Right before this description, we learn that the daughter had just returned from visiting the owners of their land, who live up on a hill in a large house.