[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/los-ninos-tontos-wikipedia\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/los-ninos-tontos-wikipedia\/","headline":"Los ni\u00f1os tontos – Wikipedia","name":"Los ni\u00f1os tontos – Wikipedia","description":"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Los ni\u00f1os tontos First edition Author Ana Mar\u00eda Matute Country Spain Language Spanish Genre Short","datePublished":"2020-12-09","dateModified":"2020-12-09","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/author\/lordneo\/#Person","name":"lordneo","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/author\/lordneo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/6\/69\/Los_ni%C3%B1os_tontos.jpg\/220px-Los_ni%C3%B1os_tontos.jpg","url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/6\/69\/Los_ni%C3%B1os_tontos.jpg\/220px-Los_ni%C3%B1os_tontos.jpg","height":"324","width":"220"},"url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/los-ninos-tontos-wikipedia\/","wordCount":1838,"articleBody":"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaLos ni\u00f1os tontos First editionAuthorAna Mar\u00eda MatuteCountrySpainLanguageSpanishGenreShort story collectionPublisherEdiciones Ari\u00f3nPublication date1956Media\u00a0typePrintPages59Los ni\u00f1os tontos (The Foolish Children)[1] is a collection of twenty-one stories written by Ana Mar\u00eda Matute, first published in Madrid in 1956 by Ediciones Ari\u00f3n.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]Table of ContentsStories[edit]Themes and Characteristics[edit]Symbols[edit]References[edit]Stories[edit]La ni\u00f1a fea (“The Ugly Girl”)El ni\u00f1o que era amigo del demonio (“The Boy Who Was the Devil’s Friend”)Polvo de carb\u00f3n (“Coal Dust”)El negrito de los ojos azules (“The Black Boy with Blue Eyes”)El a\u00f1o que no lleg\u00f3 (“The Year that Did Not Arrive”)El incendio  (“The Fire”)El hijo de la lavandera (“The Washerwoman’s Son”)El \u00e1rbol (“The Tree”)El ni\u00f1o que encontr\u00f3 un viol\u00edn en un granero (“The Boy Who Found a Violin in a Barn”)El escaparate de la pasteler\u00eda (“The Cake Shop Window”)El otro ni\u00f1o (“The Other Boy”)La ni\u00f1a que no estaba en ninguna parte (“The Girl Who Was Nowhere”)El tiovivo (“The Carousel”)El ni\u00f1o que no sab\u00eda jugar (“The Boy Who Didn’t Know How to Play”)El corderito pascual (“The Easter Lamb”)El ni\u00f1o del cazador (“The Hunter’s Boy”)La sed y el ni\u00f1o (“The Thirst and The Boy”)El ni\u00f1o al que se le muri\u00f3 el amigo (“The Boy Whose Friend Died”)El jorobado (“The Hunchback”)El ni\u00f1o de los hornos (“The Child of the Ovens”)Mar (“Sea”)Themes and Characteristics[edit]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 ni\u00f1a fea” (“The Ugly Girl”), where the children are the targets of insults, violence and discrimination on part of their peers. In “El ni\u00f1o que no sab\u00eda 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 ni\u00f1o al que se le muri\u00f3 el amigo” (“The Boy Whose Friend Died”) and “La ni\u00f1a 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 pasteler\u00eda” (“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 \u00e1rbol” (“The Tree”), “Polvo de carb\u00f3n” (“Coal Dust”), and “Mar” (“Sea”), in which children’s imagination comes into conflict with reality, even causing their death. In “Polvo de carb\u00f3n” 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 ni\u00f1o 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.Symbols[edit]In this collection, the presence of symbols is very pronounced. It is a symbolism that revolves around death. Night and darkness mark the tragic moment in the majority of the stories. In “Polvo de carb\u00f3n” (“Coal Dust”) and “El ni\u00f1o del cazador” (“The Hunter’s Boy”), the moon plays an important role in the death of the protagonists: in the first, it functions as a magnet for disaster, while in the second it is part of the cold night sky. Water symbolizes purification and cleanness of the soul, although in “Polvo de carb\u00f3n” and “Mar” (“Sea”) it is the reason for the death of the children. In “El hijo de la lavandera” (“The Washerwoman’s Son”), the purifying nature of water appears, despite being cut short by the reception that it receives. Contrasting this is the fire that represents sacrifice in “El ni\u00f1o de los hornos” (“The Child of the Ovens”) where jealousy drives the boy to burn his older brother. In “El incendio” (“The Fire”), the boy starts a fire that ends up taking his life.The plant and animal worlds are present in all of the stories, with different meanings. Flora has a positive significance in “La ni\u00f1a fea” (“The Ugly Girl”), “El \u00e1rbol” (“The Tree”) and “El negrito de los ojos azules” (“The Black Boy with Blue Eyes”), where nature shelters the children from the world that surrounds them. Some animals, such as birds, insects, reptiles, and cats, have a negative connotation, whereas others, such as a dog and a lamb, are the children’s friends.The parents in the stories have contrasting aspects. On the one hand, there are maternal figures who take care of their children but are incapable of helping or protecting them, as in “El \u00e1rbol” (“The Tree”) or in “Mar” (“Sea”), where the mother cannot prevent the death of her child. On the other hand, there are absent or disinterested parental figures who fail to understand their children, as in “El corderito pascual” (“The Easter Lamb”).Finally, colors such as yellow, red, green, blue, and black represent suffering, solitude, exclusion, and death.Ana Mar\u00eda Matute makes use of a lyric prose style with a magical quality, in order to achieve greater depth in the representation of life. Through a heterodiegetic and omniscient narrator, the author is able to describe the events in an objective manner. Endings that are open or ambiguous, and the use of ellipsis, allow readers to form their own interpretations of the stories.There are no concrete indications of the historical period in which the stories are set, however Petra B\u00e1der considers the absence of parental figures in the stories to be a consequence of the Spanish Civil War.[3]References[edit]"},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki43\/los-ninos-tontos-wikipedia\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Los ni\u00f1os tontos – Wikipedia"}}]}]