Tristeza y Avaricia

I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect when we started reading stories by Emilia Pardo Bazan because I, along with most people, read Las Medias Rojas while taking Spanish 450. However, I was quite surprised that not just that story, but most of her stories are very sad, or bring up the worst qualities in people, such as greediness. I now have a better understanding that writing about these topics was what was popular during the eras of Realism and Naturalism. I think it is very interesting that these writers can write about the phenomena inherent in man, like their psychology, personality, and instincts, and that people actually enjoy reading it! My first thought would be that most readers are used to these sorts of actions because they commit them every day, however, after reading more stories by Emilia Pardo Bazan, I realized that I actually like this kind of writing, because it was real and there was nothing fantasy about it. Although stories like Las Medias Rojas y El Pañuelo are very sad, it shows us that things like this really do happen, probably every day, and we shouldn't avoid writing about it because by writing about it, we bring awareness to it. And when it comes to stories like El Legajo and the greed that is discovered at the end, I think that is important too for the same reason that I like realist and naturalist writing, because it is real, and that is how most people are, deep down inside. I'm glad that we purchased a whole book full of stories by Emilia Pardo Bazan because I enjoy them and hope to find the time to read some more of them.