Fireflies by Ana María Matute: SUMMARY by chapters

Fireflies is a literary work by Ana María Matute, a Spanish novelist who was a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language and who was recognized with the Cervantes Prize in 2010. This book is defined as a "manifesto in favor of the survival of love and a denunciation of the barbarity of war."

In this lesson of a teacher we are going to show you the summary of Fireflies by chapters, separating the different parts of the book.

The book Firefliesby Ana María Matute has acquired great relevance since its launch, in fact, she is considered one of the novelists most relevant of the postwar period.

Currently, the work is required reading in Spanish literature in the modality of humanities and social sciences and also in the modality of art in the baccalaureate in Catalonia. It is a novel that, like Any by Carmen Laforet, also places us in the postwar period and in the great social gap that it caused.

We begin this summary by chapters of Fireflies keeping to the first part of the work: from chapter I to VI.

I

At the beginning of the book, he focuses on the sun's childhood. She entered a Saint-Paul college (1927) where she spent 9 years. When she turned 16, the war broke out and this coincides with the moment in which she finished her training. About her environment, it can be concluded that she was from a bourgeois environment, very conservative, and especially cold. In fact, the girl grew up with babysitters before she entered school. Her father owned some workshops and her mother is drawn as a well-educated and very religious lady.

The text is developed by an omniscient narrator, in the third person and distant from the story. From her It is printed that those years were tedious and little comforting for her. She was unable to learn to master her emotions with her solvency, although she was able to write well, recite French poetry and draw. She finds herself the victim of a too elitist education and traditional. For her, Ramón Bolox is a great novelty and a liberation from that rigid environment, since he discovers many of her by her side. However, the relationship ends up being broken by her grandmother, who incited her to a repressive education.

II

In this chapter war she has already started and this upsets the whole family, since her father loses her business and they are afraid to leave home. The protagonist experiences great changes, but the most important is the death of her father. For Sol, this death is very complicated and she is stunned by the news. On the other hand, Eduardo experiences the death of his father as a liberation and considers that he will be able to dedicate himself to what he really wants thanks to it.

III-IV

At this point the old nanny takes center stage, a character who has a great devotion to her lady. On the other hand, Cloti It arouses Sol's curiosity because he is a very different type of person from those around her. She is a young and hard-working woman who has not had access to education. She has had to prostitute herself to earn a living, so she understands war as a means of revenge and justice.

V-VI

Eduardo's most bitter face appears at this point in the story, since he portrays himself as selfish. Cloti tells Sol that she is pregnant and he conveys his desire to abort, but he fears what might happen in the intervention.

Then he reappears Ramon Boloix on stage. There have been changes in him, as he carries two crutches and wears a jacket with insignia and combat markings. Sol initially considers that he is the same as always, but finally concludes that, in reality, he is no longer the same person because he is somehow trying to take advantage of her.

We are now going to attend to the knot of Matute's story and, for this, we will see what happens in the second part of Fireflies: from chapter VI to XI.

VI-VII

In this chapter Chano tells him that Eduardo could be dead, in this situation Sol does not react. This character (Chano) is very faithful to Daniel and is shown as a unwitty character that life must be sought. Pablo dies and tries to repair his mistakes with his last words.

VIII-X

This chapter places Sol on November 15, 1938, the date is shown as something relevant for Cristian because he expects a big change to take place. are discovered paul's jewelry, something that causes uneven impressions on the protagonists. Chano seems happy and Cristian and Sol remember their different origins with them.

eleventh

Cristián had to fight in the war, but he decided to hide, so the officer openly reprimands him. Cloti begins to emphasize the differences between the two classes that separate them in her speeches during this chapter and Cristián and Sol are forced to leave Paul's house because the military are after them and they want to take charge of Sol.

We finish this summary by chapters of Luciérnagas attending to the end of Matute's work.

The troops commanded by General Yague entered the January 26, 1939. Cloti had to move from Barcelona because of his republican ideas. She is pregnant with Cristián and will be her mother, which causes different mixed feelings in her. At the same time, she is reunited with her mother, Elena. A devastated and rarely silent city is presented, showing how it has changed after the passage of the war.

Fireflies concludes with an evocation of the moments lived between Cristian and Sol, who remain together in the face of the adversity of this controversial time.

In the last paragraphs the moment in which the national troops enter Barcelona is recounted. They shoot Sol's great love, Cristián, thus ending her exciting plans for the future and making her feel that he is all lost without her presence.

Fireflies, 2010, Ana Maria Matute.