The Fountains of Silence: A Novel

Chapters 1-27

Reading Check

1. Blood (Chapter 1)

2. Gravedigger (Chapter 6)

3. A scholarship to journalism school (Chapter 19)

Short Answer

1. Daniel takes a picture of two men wearing wing-shaped hats and capes, even though his father has warned him to stay away from these men. (Chapter 3)

2. The woman says that her baby was born two days before and asks Puri if she knows where the baby is. This implies that the babies brought in through the back door have been stolen from their mothers. (Chapter 10)

3. Fuga means escape, and he got this nickname because, no matter how he was punished for it, he tried to run away over and over. (Chapter 14)

4. Rafa has deliberately chosen jobs that will force him to face his fears and overcome them. (Chapter 26)

Chapters 28-55

Reading Check

1. The women’s section of the Spanish fascist movement/Sección Femenina (Chapter 32)

2. A matador (Chapter 36)

3. Confession (Chapters 46-50)

Short Answer

1. Ana realizes that Daniel and all of the other guests at the hotel live a life of relative freedom that she does not have access to. Being too casually friendly with Daniel could put Ana at risk because she has to live by the strict rules of Franco’s Spain, and Daniel cannot fully appreciate her circumstances. (Chapter 29)

2. The coffin is empty. Fuga claims that the maternity clinic has done this many times—they claim that babies have died but send empty coffins. (Chapter 33)

3. She finds a threatening note that says, “This will be the end of you.” (Chapter 40)

4. He thinks that Daniel can take pictures of Fuga to promote him as an up-and-coming matador. (Chapter 52)

Chapters 56-85

Reading Check

1. The labor of enslaved people (Chapter 56)

2. El Huérfano/ the orphan (Chapter 64)

3. Tom Collins (Chapter 82)

Short Answer

1. He worries that his parents are in the process of separating. (Chapter 61)

2. Daniel believes that seeing how menacing the Guardia are would demonstrate to those outside Spain how authoritarian the Spanish government has become. (Chapter 67)

3. She finds the telegram from Daniel’s ex-girlfriend, Laura Beth, which Daniel has torn up and thrown away. (Chapter 75)

4. Fuga thinks that it is impossible for a bull to kill him because he feels as if he is already dead. He has felt this way since childhood, due to the trauma he experienced at the boys’ home. (Chapter 79)

Chapters 86-116

Reading Check

1. “Hola, Daniel” (Chapter 86)

2. Francisco Franco (Chapter 90)

3. An amputated adult-sized hand (Chapter 109)

Short Answer

1. He likens the US doing business with Spain to a chisel gradually trying to split a rock. (Chapter 89)

2. When Ana worked for the Van Dorn family, Nick’s father, Shep, made a pass at her. Nick helped get her out of this bad situation and into the job at the Hilton. (Chapter 98)

3. Sorollo’s images of the wind and water inspire Ana, helping her imagine what it would be like to feel free. (Chapter 99)

4. This term is used to describe Republican fathers who were killed in the war and who are now nothing but cardboard photographs hanging on the wall. (Chapter 116)

Chapters 117-149

Reading Check

1. 1975 (Chapter 130)

2. Ben’s (Chapter 133)

3. A convent (Chapter 149)

Short Answer

1. Ana and Daniel come from very different worlds, and she does not think that Daniel can really love her because he cannot understand her and the world she lives in. (Chapter 118)

2. He realizes that Fuga was so still because he knew they had been caught. He was trying to keep Rafa and the bulls from being hurt. (Chapter 124)

3. Daniel’s sister, Cristina, is the stolen twin sister of Lali, and therefore Ana’s niece. (Chapter 140)

4. They are delighted to hear that she is alive, happy, and healthy, but they are also sad when they think of having missed eighteen years of their daughter’s life. (Chapter 146)