In Nada by Carmen Laforet, the orphan Andrea arrives in Barcelona full of optimism about her new life in the city. Many critics argue that the novel is a 'bildungsroman', a coming-of-age story in which the protagonist, a teenager, matures into adulthood and finds her identity. However, surrounded by a family characterized by fragmentation in the decadence of post-war Spain, it is arguable that Andrea fails to find a stable and secure identity and leaves the city with the same childlike naivety with which she arrived. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There is a sense of repression of true identity throughout the novel, which changes shape as the plot develops. The book is divided into three distinct parts, the first of which ends with Angustias' departure for the convent. In this first part, it seemed that Andrea's aunt was the main barrier that separated her from the possibility of independence and maturity and also the force that inflicted feelings of anxiety and guilt on her. Although Andrea arrived in Barcelona hoping to lead the free life of a university student, as soon as she arrived on Calle Aribau she found herself in a prison of sorts, full of fragmented characters whose repressed desires and drives had led them to darkness, violence and depravity. However, even after Angustias's departure, Andrea discovers that as long as she remains in Calle de Aribau she will never be able to find her independence: she is allowed to have her aunt's old room, but she discovers that not only Romen often enters without warning of rummage through the mess that fills the room, but the bedroom itself is located at the center of the house and from it Andrea cannot escape everything that happens around her, in particular the disputes between Gloria and Juan. The expressionist and gothic descriptions of Aribau are often linked to a sort of suffocation, suggesting that the true identities of the characters have been suffocated and deformed: 'in the floor a suffocating heat como si el aire estuviera estancado y podrido'[1]. This is in stark contrast to impressionist descriptions of the beach, whose time spent is associated with light and nature: "Toda la semana parecia alboreada por ellos... me hizo ella ver un Nuevo sentido de la Naturaleza en el que ni siquiera habia" thought'[2]. The traditional link between light and dark, between natural and gothic could be seen as stifling any identity that Andrea might have hoped to find during his time in Aribau, and that the possibility of developing a mature identity is only possible during time spent without his family and, above all, with Ena. Furthermore, it is paradoxical that Andrea was really excited by the idea of ​​coming to Barcelona, ​​​​a lively and lively city, yet it is above all when she leaves the city to go to the seaside or to the countryside that she feels happiest and liberated. . Therefore it is clear, both from the language of oppression and suffocation of calle Aribau and from the semantic fields of light and darkness, that if Andrea has any hope of transforming into a young woman and taking on the identity she so desperately desires, this cannot happen in the dirt, the ghostliness of Aribau. The fragmentation of the self is closely related to the notion of identity in Nada. Throughout the novel, until the final pages, Andrea shows a clear and crucial rift between inside and outside, a rift that fundamentally prevents her from realizing her desire to be an attractive, desired and mature woman. From the first meeting with Ena, he desperately tries to keep his two worlds separate; indeed, he is ashamed of his family in Aribau, especially after seeing lifeupper class led by Ena in V?a Layetana. Andrea's house represents a family in crisis after the upheavals and destruction of the Spanish Civil War, missing a male breadwinner. The family and its members barely manage to scrape together enough money to survive, Juan as a poorly paid night watchman and Gloria secretly gambling . On the other hand, Andrea's family represents the model family of the new Francoist order living a comfortable and liberal life as part of the new Spanish business elite[3]. Perhaps it is here, in the profound social fragmentation of post-war Spain, that Andrea's inability to put his dreams and desires into action finds its origins. In her mind, Andrea wants to be the sophisticated woman that Ena embodies and Romín wants as a companion. For a while she continues to pretend to be a refined young lady, 'I daba realize that I created a distinguished person; mucho mes formada, y tal vez me inteligente'[4], but her feelings of inferiority and inadequacy shine through and Romen soon labels her a child. Although these feelings resurface numerous times in the novel, they are never as strong as at Pon's ball, where Andrea leaves because of her cheap, dirty shoes and the sense of estrangement she feels at being surrounded by a bourgeois social class. For Andrea, part of the identity she wants to acquire involves crossing the class boundary between herself and people like Pons and Ena. So it is probably social fragmentation that hinders the path between childhood and femininity. However, Andrea's notable childhood passivity is also prominent and this is likely to mean that he is unable to assume the identity he desires. He very rarely takes an active role in things that might concern his development, such as at Pon's dance where he actually makes no effort to socialize with the other guests or dance with Pons. Even the mature Andrea who tells the story displays the childish trait of constantly trying to avoid taking responsibility for the role of 'espectadora' she has found herself in. She seems to blame the social and family fragmentation that surrounds her as well as seeing her position as predetermined and immutable: 'unos seres nacen para vivir, otros para trabajar, otros para mirar la vida. I have a little thing and I ruin the paper of the spectator. Impossible to get out of it. It's impossible to free myself.' However, as readers, we get a sense of her childlike passivity and even when she is given the opportunity to come out of her shell and become an active agent in influencing events, she does not have the courage to do so. She is given two mediating roles in the novel, one by her grandmother to mediate between Gloria and Juan in one of their disputes, and another by Margarita to protect Ena from Romen. In both of these roles she fails to embrace the mature identity she desires and her childish side overwhelms her. Furthermore, we get the sense that any progress made in the novel towards a stable and secure identity is not the result of his actions but of Ena, who acts as a sort of fairy godmother[5] to save Andrea from situations he cannot face . and offer her a better future. When Andrea escapes from Romen's room, it is Ena's phone call that saves her from fear and insomnia, and then again at the end of the book it is Ena's letter that allows her to escape from the 'chillidos histericos'[6] of the house. on Airbau. So, although by the end of the novel, Andrea's fortunes seem to have changed and she seems to have overcome the rigid social boundary in which she felt trapped at the beginning of the novel, it is not her fault and, as still a child, she has been helped to get out of her miserable situation by someone who is able to assume the identity of a mature young woman. The idea of ​​fragmentation of the self is reinforcedobserving the way Andrea takes on the characteristics of others, especially Ena but also Romen, to a higher level. degree, and sees in them characteristics that she herself would like to have. Ena is a projection of the identity that Andrea lacks, she embodies the courage, attractiveness and sensuality that the protagonist would like to be capable of having. Similarly, Romen, although imperfect, represents the cultured and sophisticated personality that Andrea desires for itself. The narrator, by elevating these other characters to demi-gods and openly presenting them as his dream self, emphasizes his own lack of identity and reveals yet another layer of fragmentation. More than simply the division between his thoughts and actions, Andrea actually shows a desire to live through others and embody other identities. His personality recedes into “nada,” as his notion of self is fragmented, projected onto others, and devoid of presence and stability. She is so consumed by her deep sense of inferiority that she is unable to form a coherent and confident self. There is, however, evidence that Andrea found some sort of identity in the year he lived in Aribau. In many ways she is a maternal figure for the inhabitants of Aribau. Even at the first meeting with his grandmother he mentions how 'He feels palpitar on corazon como un animalillo contra mi pecho'[7]. It provides psychological integrity to the fragmented family, which lacks a male breadwinner and whose current maternal figure has been reduced to a 'mancha blanquinegra de una viejicita decr?pita'[8]. She sees through Angustias's attempts to assume the role of domineering mother and provides refuge and comfort to Gloria after her arguments with her husband. Furthermore, when he chases Juan in the Getico neighborhood, he says 'he runs in his persecucion as in my life' [9]. She helps him escape from the police and then takes care of him: "He knows a panuelo del bolsillo to clear the blood that leaked into his eye." If you love it, you'll be happy with me [10]. She may not have saved anyone in Aribau, but she provides some strength for stability in their fragmented lives, and although Andrea does not find an adult identity in sexual terms, she displays these maternal traits that show steps towards taking responsibility for herself and for others and leaving childhood behind. It is also arguable that Andrea actually actively distances herself from attempting predatory male sexuality, as we see from her encounter with Gerado, still finds sexual contact repellent and embraces pre-adolescent innocence. Furthermore, it finds its unique place in the fragmented post-war society by turning to female friendship instead of one of the 'dos ​​​​caminos honrosos'[11], marriage or the convent, as prescribed by Angustias. Thus, Andrea probably finds an identity to some extent during her stay in Aribau, even if it is not the one she had in mind, and in this sense Nada is legitimized as a Roman by training. Although Andrea somehow finds a place for herself within the social fragmentation that surrounds her, she in no way finds a stable, secure identity or sense of self. This is due in part to the repression of desires and natural identity found in Aribau's house, but also to the complete split between the disjointed and violent life led by a family fractured by the effects of the Civil War and the liberal stability of the new high family -bourgeois idealized by Franco. However, it is also largely the result of the passivity and total fragmentation of Andrea's self, of her mistake of fantasizing identities and projecting them onto the people around her, leading to a total lack of a coherent self and leaving her identity dispersed and unattainable. She leaves Barcelona, ​​as childishly full of illusions about the future as when she arrived, and says 'marchaba.. 1 (1992)