SOURCE: "The Child as Redeemer and Victim in Pardo Bazán's Short Fiction," in Revista de Estudios Hispanicos, Vol. 11, 1977, pp. 425-32.

In the following essay, Feeny explores the symbolic significance of children in Pardo Bazán's short fiction.

A study of the characters in Pardo Bazán's short fiction reveals the inordinate significance she attaches to the role of the child. Repeatedly she portrays him as redeemer of man or as victim, either of society or of destiny. In an attempt to shed light on the author's particular vision of the child, I shall consider several of her many works that cast him in the role of redeemer or victim.

Through his birth, his existence, and his death will the child prove to be man's savior. In the short novel La sirena negra Gaspar, a wealthy voluptuary disillusioned with an existence he finds inane, feeds on thoughts of...