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Spanish Rural Life & Modernity

This short story by Leopoldo Alas centers around a poor rural Spanish family whose livelihood and way of life are disrupted by the rise of industrialization and modernity. The family owns a cow named Cordera that represents their deteriorating economic situation. As a telegraph pole and railway are built through their fields, the tranquility of the countryside is interrupted. Eventually, the father is forced to sell the cow, which is taken away on the train to be slaughtered. Years later, the son Pinín departs on the same train to fight in the war, implying his death, showing how modernization led to the destruction of rural life and slaughter of innocents.

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Jamille Ann Isla Villa
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215 views5 pages

Spanish Rural Life & Modernity

This short story by Leopoldo Alas centers around a poor rural Spanish family whose livelihood and way of life are disrupted by the rise of industrialization and modernity. The family owns a cow named Cordera that represents their deteriorating economic situation. As a telegraph pole and railway are built through their fields, the tranquility of the countryside is interrupted. Eventually, the father is forced to sell the cow, which is taken away on the train to be slaughtered. Years later, the son Pinín departs on the same train to fight in the war, implying his death, showing how modernization led to the destruction of rural life and slaughter of innocents.

Uploaded by

Jamille Ann Isla Villa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ADIÓS,

CORDERA!
ADIÓS = GOOD BYE
CORDERA= LAMB
ADIÓS, CORDERA! 
• Adiós, Cordera! (1892) is a Spanish short story written
by Leopoldo Alas (also known as Clarín). Although the
author's works are considered examples of realism or 
naturalism, many consider him a harbinger of 
modernism. The story is a dystopian work that deals
with the rise of industrialization and modernity in Spain.
ADIÓS, CORDERA! 
• The tale centers upon a poor family in rural Spain and the
gradual mechanization of their environment. Widower Antón
de Chinta and his two young children (Pinín and Rosa) own a
cow. The animal, which serves as a representation of the
family's deteriorating economic situation, is affectionately
called Cordera or lamb, and has become a family pet.
ADIÓS, CORDERA! 
• The story begins in a pastoral setting interrupted by a telegraph pole.
Soon after, a railway is put through the field, which further ruptures the
tranquility of the bucolic countryside and foreshadows the ending of the
tale. Eventually the family's economic situation forces the father to sell
the cow, which is taken away on the train for slaughter and gives the
work its name.
• Years later, Pinín is drafted to fight in the war and departs on the same
train as the cow, an act that implies his future death. At the same time, it
implies that the slaughter of innocents is a result of modernity and the
city's expansion into rural areas.

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