¶ … Wind

Carlos Ruiz Zafon's the Shadow of the Wind

This paper will briefly explore questions brought up by the reading of the Shadow of the Wind.

A realized he didn't smell of tabacco, but of burned paper" (54). This serves as a description of Daniel's arch nemesis or the villain of the story, the man who is trying to destroy all of the works by Jillian Carax. This description is fitting as it paints the picture of a man so ruthless and full of hate that it emphasizes Daniel's fear of the unknown. "A voice behind me. A deep voice that whispered and laughed" (60) is also that of man out to ruin Daniel but not on purpose. This man is the lover of his beloved Clara. It seems menacing to me that someone would relish in hurting someone because that someone realizes he cannot have the one he loves but this also emphasizes his naivety about love and sexual relationships. "It seemed to me that they parted a little, and that her fingers were reaching for my face" (172). Once again Daniel has been magnetized by the power of a woman's beauty. This quote fits well with the author's overall use of sexual tension as he interweaves not only Daniel's story set in the present but multiple layers of a love story and history of Spain after World War II. This magnetism also foreshadows Daniel's lack of a mother figure as the book starts out with him not remembering his mother's face. This may be why this theme continues to come up in the story. He is searching for a mother in every woman. "Don't you see? It feels like as if it's been waiting for me." In this line Daniel is talking about the book as his life has become so closely attached to it as the adventure of what happened Carax unfolds.

Conclusion

This paper briefly explored questions brought up by the reading of the Shadow of the Wind.

Works Cited

Zafon, Carlos Ruiz. The Shadow of the Wind. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.