Between Sheers by Martín Gaite

Between Sheers, novel written by Carmen Martin Gaite and published in 1957, it is considered one of the most relevant works of 20th century Spanish literature. And it is that, getting to win a Nadal award The year of its publication, the work covers the problem, in a critical way, of women at the time in which it was written. However, and being aware of the importance of the novel, in a Professor we will briefly address the summary of Entre Visillos and the characters most important of this novel.

We begin the summary of Between Sheers indicating that it is a novel that tells the story of two main characters in parallel: Natalia and Pablo.

The first is a wealthy family teenager that she can afford to attend institute. Both she and her friend Elvira de ella, a classmate, are girls who are aware of the problems that the stigmas of social norms on women in the mid-twentieth century bring in their lives, in full postwar period.

Far from wanting to be like the others, they they seek a more independent and free life,

and they reflect their ideals throughout the conversations they have with each other. Natalia, above all, does not feel any interest in romantic relationships like other girls, but she prefers to grow personally and continue studying. In fact, this girl feels totally misunderstood in the family environment, a situation that changes with the arrival of Pablo and his relationship with Elvira.

The monotony in the lives of these girls is altered after the appearance of a new teacher from Germany called Pablo Klein, invited by the director of the institute himself, Elvira's father. After his arrival, Pablo discovers that the man has passed away, which leads him to get closer to Elvira and her family. However, the relationship with Elvira is gradually leading to something more than mere friendship. In addition, Pablo being a new person in the city, he makes friends with certain people, including Rosa, his friend at the boarding house, and Natalia, his student and Elvira's partner.

Over time, Pablo's students discover how comfortable they feel talking to their teacher about their concerns, since he totally matches his ideals ahead of its time. And it is that, holding banal and daily conversations with Natalia and Elvira, Pablo gradually realizes the concerns of the girls, wanting to aspire to more than the rest of those of his age. Therefore, the social ties that weigh on women, and by which they feel oppressed, are something that both girls want to get rid of.

After a series of inconveniences, and after a chain of events that are at first glance everyday and unimportant, Pablo must go to Madrid. Right at the station, the teacher coincides with Natalia, who has come to say goodbye to her sister, Julia, who is also leaving for Madrid with her boyfriend. There, Popen it, pray to Natalia that he never stop following his own path and that when he goes to study high school, he will do so in Madrid.

On Between Sheers we can find a large number of characters with important elements in the plot and their interpretation and development. However, in unProfesor we wanted to highlight the three main characters as protagonists and conductors of the work through their daily conversations. The characters of Between Sheers more protagonists They are:

• Pablo Klein: Pablo is a visiting professor at an institute in Salamanca, which comes from Germany. He is a man with liberal ideas, with mysterious overtones, sincere and a little strange. The appearance of this character in the institute of his native land makes the lives of both Natalia and Elvira take an important turn towards his personal fulfillment. Among all, the complex romantic relationship that exists between Pablo and her student Elvira clashes with her ideals and her relationship with Emilio.
• Elvira Domínguez: Elvira is Natalia's high school classmate, with whom she shares her concerns and wishes outside the norm. Her dream is to break into the world of art, she being an excellent painter and creating very well-crafted works. She maintains a relationship with a boy named Emilio, which is somewhat truncated with the arrival of Pablo Klein, just after the death of his father, director of the institute. And it is that the inner battle is fought when having to decide whether to follow a model life with his partner, or to leave with his teacher and seek a destination more in line with his dreams.
• Natalia Ruiz: Natalia is a teenager out of the ordinary in the Spain of her time. She has never been attracted to love relationships or other concerns of other girls. That is why she prefers to seek a more independent life aimed at education and personal growth. As we said, the feeling that prevails in Natalia is that of oppression, which is caused by the social norms and prejudices that weigh on postwar women.

Along with this we find her misunderstanding with the rest of her family, especially with her sisters Mercedes and Julia. Likewise, Mercedes is concerned about the treatment her sister Julia receives from her by her boyfriend from Madrid, Miguel, with whom she will finally move in. However, Natalia is a shy person in front of her older sisters who, after Pablo's arrival in her life, evolves and ends up being more open to comment and express her thoughts.