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Shadow of the Wind
Shadow of the Wind is a book based on mystery and gut wrenching twists. Carlos Ruiz Zafon masterfully strings together a series of events that hooks the reader in creating an addiction that does not allow one to put the book down. The book is a dark tragedy with a plot within a plot that weave together successfully creating a suspenseful thriller. Consisting of main characters Daniel Sempere, Fermin De Romero Torres, Mr. Sempere, Javier Fumero and Julian Carax. Daniel is on a quest that takes him out of his childhood into adulthood in which the readers sensory imagery is blasted with imagery and character development. Daniel as a child receives a book by the name of Shadow of the Wind becoming entranced by the text within Daniel becomes obsessed with discovering the identity of this mysterious author that no one seems to recognize. Daniels previous obsession how ever, the identity and life of his mother that he never knew, becomes lost to him as Shadow of the Wind dominates his thoughts. Sadly the image of his mother is forgotten and a deep inner complex comes to fruition. The ever insightful Fermin De Romero Torres is the catalyst in Daniels recognition that his quest in discovering Julian Carax is really to remember the image of his forgotten mother.

History
The dates in the book go back to 1919 and mainly consist in the time span of the 1940's. The book is based in Barcelona, a city recovering from post civil war trauma which took place from 1936-1939. The civil war is a driving force in the advancement of the plot, for it creates the most infamous character of the book, Javier Fumero. Fumero is a sadistic sociopath that went to school with Julian Carax, his one existing goal in life is to eliminate all those around him for one reason or another. Fumero's claim to fame began during the civil war as civil rights were tossed out the window, just as in the real Spanish civil war, people of little to know suspicion were taken off the streets never to return and politicians of high power were lined up for execution by the murderous blood lusting sociopath. The civil war consisted of the Democrats fighting the Fascists and it began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña.

Themes
Character Vs. Self- Julian Carax is a man locked in his past, from the early age of 8 his father, Antoni Fortuny, constantly reminded him that he would amount to nothing and all his aspirations would crash and burn. Locked in a prison of his own mind with walls consisting of his fathers torment Julian was never successful and did not amount to anything. His lack of success is clearly evident through the chain of events that destroy his body and soul. An example of this is the numerous amount of years he waited for his true love, Penelope Aldaya, without the knowledge that she was already dead along with the miscarriage of his son. Second to this, Julian's misfortune is displayed further as the reader discovers Penelope was a product of Sophie Carax's (Julian's Mother) adulterous relationship with none other than Don Ricardo Aldaya, making Julian and Penelope kin.

Character Vs. Character- There are several relationships and controversies that string together the novel. The most apparent and deadly relationship is that of Julian Carax and Javier Fumero. Fumero who appears to be a fanatic and obsessive compulsive marks his first attempt of murder upon Julian Carax, subsequently the only person he failed to kill was Carax. Fumero's hatred spawns from his obsession with Penelope Aldaya, Julians girl through and through. With the image of Julian engaging in sexual acts with Penelope eating away at his brain Fumero attempts to end Julian's life in the hope that the sight of the couple kissing will never be repeated again. Carax's journey through the book and identity is contingent on the hatred of Fumero, for Julians identity is erased when Miquel Moliner's dead body is signed off in Julian's name as a product of Fumero's schemes.

Character Vs. Environment- Julian Carax is engulfed in the grief that his past has caused him, needing to forget everything about his past he embarks on a quest to destroy every book he has ever written. It is ironic that Daniel Sempere begins a quest to find Carax's books at the same time that Carax strives to destroy them. Subsequently the Julian gets caught up in a warehouse fire that he started with the intentions of destroying the largest bulk of his books. Julian's entire body is burnt and mutilated to the point of a complete physical character change. Just as it is documented that Julian does not exist his appearance has now been destroyed. Carax lives out the rest of his days as a burnt marsh-mellow of his former self.

Main Characters
Daniel Sempere- Daniel is the narrator and main character of the story. The plot is wrapped around his character and his actions are the cause of many advancements in the plot. Daniel is the last person on the planet with a copy of The Shadow of the Wind. The book is what spawns the relationship between Daniel and Clara Barcelo, his meeting with Lain Coubert and in the broad sense of things, every other event in the book is spawned out of Daniel's original interest in the book.

Fermin De Romero Torres- Fermin is the classic sidekick to Daniel Sempere with a haunting past that comes back to literally smack him in the face, in the form of Javier Fumero. Fermin is the catalyst for many of Daniel's decisions and the creator of thorough plot development as he sets up numerous meetings with people that have information about Julian Carax, for example Father Fernando and Jacinta. Fermin's insight into relationships and Daniel's trust in him is the reason why Bea Aguilar becomes Daniels lover.

Julian Carax- The figure of interest in the book, Carax is Daniels obsession. It is quite simply mind boggling how well the two characters foil together, for just as Daniel is obsessed with the identity of Carax, Carax is obsessed with Daniel. Coming to regard him as the son he never knew. Julian is a dark and depressed character that only seems to find misfortune where ever he travels. Spawned through unlawful intentions Julian's life becomes that of an unlawful existence in which he is driven away from his family, by his own family.

Mr. Sempere- Mr. Sempere is the modest owner of an antique book shop, he is a solid hardworking man that is always their for Julian and only looks out for his best interests. Mr. Sempere is the character that always makes Daniel second guess his decisions, as opposed to Fermin who just provides insights and different methods of reaching the same end goal.

Insights
Daniels life foils that of Julian Carax's in the respect that Daniel is in a relationship destined for a shipwrecked ending, both of them got their lovers pregnant (without knowledge of it until after the fact), both siblings of the estranged lovers threaten the livelihood of Julian and Daniel, both respective fathers are low class shop owners and both lose their mother at a young age.

Had Don Ricardo Aldaya been a proud father of his legitimate son Jorge Aldaya he would never have sought out Julian thus eliminating the chance of inbreeding with Penelope and eliminating the entire plot of the book as several events transpired due to Julian's relationship with the Aldaya family.

If Javier Fumero had wholeheartedly refused to attend the Aldaya family party, he would have never witnessed the secret relationship of Penelope and Julian which in turn eliminates Fumero's need for vengeance on Carax.

The very same Victor Hugo pen that Daniel dreamed about in his childhood was the possession of Julian Carax as a gift from Nuria Monfort.

Symbolism
The complete physical transformation of Carax after he is engulfed in flames is symbolic in the respect that Julians identity and former self have been completely burnt away.

The relation between Daniel and Bea Aguilar is symbolic of his transformation from boy to man. Soon after this he displays his new maturity as he mans up, even though he knows it will only cause trouble, and tells his best friend about his relationship with Bea. The same best friend had previously beat him up for hurting Bea's feelings, one might speculate as to what might happen if Daniel gets her pregnant...