Last afternoons with Teresa

One of the essential literary works in contemporary literature is "Last Afternoons with Teresa", a piece that places us in the Barcelona of the 50s and where a faithful portrait is made of the social situation of the moment in which the classes were very good delimited. Our lesson today in a TEACHER takes us fully into the novel Last afternoons with Teresa. We are going to make a summary of the work that consolidated the Barcelona writer at an international level Juan Marsé. We started!

Before going fully into the summary, a brief introduction to the work of Marsé. Therefore, it is important to remember that it was published in 1966 and its argument is set in Barcelona in 1956, where the history of two basic social classes in the city passes, the wealthy bourgeoisie and the marginalized.

Thus, this novel narrates the relationship that is established between a bourgeois university student with rebellious overtones and a motorcycle thief with touches of a seducer and quite a liar. They are

Teresa and Manolo the "Pijoaparte", nickname with which the young charnego of Andalusian origin is known.

In this case, Manolo represents the classic marginalized classes of the time. A boy who aspires to be recognized, for which he is somewhat dreamy and false. Along with him, the wealthy bourgeois class comes hand in hand with Teresa, the daughter of upper-class parents. An impossible relationship will develop between them, highlighting the marked differences between the two.

In addition, it should be noted that, within the story, along with Manolo el "Pijoaparte" and Teresa, the protagonists, other characters also have a presence, such as:

• Maruja, Teresa's maid who has a relationship with Manolo before meeting Teresa.
• The cardinal, who is the boss of Manolo, an old man who was once upper class, but now he is dedicated to dealing.
• Hydrangea she is the Cardinal's niece, and she is known as the "Syringe." She is in love with Manolo.
• Bernard He is the friend of Pijoaparte.
• Oriol and Marta Serrat, Teresa's parents.

Also present are Manolo's sisters, Teresa's student friends and Maruja's family.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the main and minor characters of Last Afternoons with Teresa.

Marsé presents the external structure of the novel divided into three parts, within a total of 22 chapters. To introduce each of them, he adds small fragments of poems by well-known authors. Regarding the internal structure, it can be considered circular, although it performs small flashbacks or time jumps that help complete the understanding of the story.

Last afternoons with Teresa I know narrates in third person, although there are parts where the time changes to go to the first or second person.

In general, linear narration predominates, despite the flashbacks, and the action takes place in Barcelona, ​​both in poor and well-off neighborhoods of the city.

Let's get into the matter now and start with the summary of Last afternoons with Teresa. During 1956, Manolo and Teresa spend their summer afternoons keeping company with Maruja, the bourgeois girl's maid. and wealthy who has had an accident after a serious fall in which she hit her head and is in a coma at the Balmes Clinic.

Maruja and Teresa are much more than friends, since they have known each other since they were children, and she works for the family just like her parents did before. However, before the accident, Manolo and Teresa had a brief romance. He is a boy with a dark complexion, of Andalusian origin, who is dedicated to stealing vehicles to survive in the poorest streets of Barcelona.

At first, Manolo believes that Maruja is the daughter of wealthy people, but later he will learn that she is only Teresa's maid. However, the friction between Teresa and Manolo and the passion that she feels for her false rebellion, will make both go falling in love during the afternoons they spend together in the clinic with the girl in a coma.

Teresa accompanies Manolo every day to the El Carmelo neighborhood, one of the most humble in Barcelona. Thus, since the girl's parents are spending the summer in Blanes and she has decided to stay alone in the city, she takes advantage of Manolo's company to go on various outings.

In this guise, Teresa mistakes Manolo for a revolutionary worker and that secrecy will really be what attracts the girl known as Pijoaparte and also what that will push him to try to find an honest job that is at the height of the social class of her. However, he works for the Cardinal stealing motorcycles.

Thus, Maruja, after two months in a coma, ends up dying. Then, Teresa's parents find out about her relationship with Manolo, and they force her to return to Blanes. Manolo, in her deep love for Teresa, steals a motorcycle to go see her. But Hortensia, the Cardinal's niece, for whom Pijoaparte works, in love with him and jealous of her passion for the bourgeois girl, ends up denouncing him, which leads him to jail for two years.

Teresa, on her way back from Blanes, looks for Manolo in El Carmelo, and she learns the truth. So she finishes her studies with brilliant grades and finds a good job.