Los niños tontos
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 First edition | |
| Author | Ana María Matute |
|---|---|
| Language | Spanish |
| Genre | Short story collection |
| Publisher | Ediciones Arión |
Publication date | 1956 |
| Publication place | Spain |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 59 |
Los niños tontos (The Foolish Children)[1] is a collection of twenty-one stories written by Ana María Matute, first published in Madrid in 1956 by Ediciones Arión.
The protagonists of the stories are children, hence the title, however it is not children's literature: themes such as death and cruelty appear in all of the stories. The adjective tontos ("foolish") refers to the children's condition of being marginalized or excluded both from the adult world and from the world of children, for reasons including physical deformity, illness, and social class differences.[2]
- La niña fea ("The Ugly Girl")
- El niño que era amigo del demonio ("The Boy Who Was the Devil's Friend")
- Polvo de carbón ("Coal Dust")
- El negrito de los ojos azules ("The Black Boy with Blue Eyes")
- El año que no llegó ("The Year that Did Not Arrive")
- El incendio ("The Fire")
- El hijo de la lavandera ("The Washerwoman's Son")
- El árbol ("The Tree")
- El niño que encontró un violín en un granero ("The Boy Who Found a Violin in a Barn")
- El escaparate de la pastelería ("The Cake Shop Window")
- El otro niño ("The Other Boy")
- La niña que no estaba en ninguna parte ("The Girl Who Was Nowhere")
- El tiovivo ("The Carousel")
- El niño que no sabía jugar ("The Boy Who Didn't Know How to Play")
- El corderito pascual ("The Easter Lamb")
- El niño del cazador ("The Hunter's Boy")
- La sed y el niño ("The Thirst and The Boy")
- El niño al que se le murió el amigo ("The Boy Whose Friend Died")
- El jorobado ("The Hunchback")
- El niño de los hornos ("The Child of the Ovens")
- Mar ("Sea")
Themes and Characteristics
Although each story has a distinct plot, their common thread lies in the way they reflect the dark and cruel reality surrounding the child protagonists. The dominant theme is death, which appears in twelve of the stories. The other nine have equally tragic endings in which unhappiness prevails.
The following themes stand out in the stories:
- Childhood cruelty. Appears in "El hijo de la lavandera" ("The Washerwoman's Son") and "La niña fea" ("The Ugly Girl"), where the children are the targets of insults, violence and discrimination on part of their peers. In "El niño que no sabía jugar" ("The Boy Who Didn't Know How to Play") it is the protagonist who dispenses violence, tearing the heads off various animals.
- The loss of innocence. "El niño al que se le murió el amigo" ("The Boy Whose Friend Died") and "La niña que no estaba en ninguna parte" ("The Girl Who Was Nowhere") are the only stories in which the children attain adulthood. In the first, the toys that symbolize childhood end up being thrown into a well, and in the second they are piled in a closet. In these two stories, the children chart their own course into adulthood. In contrast, in "El corderito pascual" ("The Easter Lamb") it is the adult world which collides with childhood innocence when the father cooks his son's best friend, a lamb.
- Incomprehension. Present in "El escaparate de la pastelería" ("The Cake Shop Window") and "El jorobado" ("The Hunchback"). In the first, adults fail to understand that the necessities of the boy go beyond having food to eat, and he prefers to die rather than live without familial love and caring. In "El jorobado", the incomprehension is on the part of the father, who keeps his son hidden due to his physical deformity rather than allow him to socialize with other people.
- Imagination. Appears in "El árbol" ("The Tree"), "Polvo de carbón" ("Coal Dust"), and "Mar" ("Sea"), in which children's imagination comes into conflict with reality, even causing their death. In "Polvo de carbón" and "Mar", a girl and a boy try to pursue their fantasies (a coal-seller girl who tries to wash herself with the moon, and a boy who searches for the sound of the sea, respectively) which causes them both to end up drowning.
- Goodness. In "El niño que era amigo del demonio" ("The Boy Who Was the Devil's Friend"), the protagonist accepts the friendship of the devil because he feels pity for it, although the more selfish motive he expresses at the end is the possibility of ascending to Heaven rather than being trapped in Hell after death.