The Fountains of Silence: A Novel

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-27 

Reading Check

1. What does Rafa sell to the women standing in line at the slaughterhouse?

2. What is Rafa’s second job, besides working at the slaughterhouse?

3. What does Ben suggest that Daniel might be able to get if he builds a strong portfolio of photos of the suffering in Madrid?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does ignoring his father’s warning land Daniel in trouble when he is out taking photographs?

2. What does Puri’s encounter with the woman outside the orphanage in Chapter 10 imply is true about the babies she has seen being brought in through the back door?

3. How did Fuga get his name?

4. Besides a desire to earn money, what is Rafa’s motivation for choosing the two jobs that he works?

Paired Resource

“The ‘Stolen Babies’ Trial in Spain Finally Shines a Light on a Scandal That Cannot be Forgotten”

• This Conversation article by Federico López-Terra offers in-depth information about the Franco-era practice of stealing and adopting out babies.
• This resource relates to the themes of Fascism and Silence.
• What are the most surprising facts in this article? Do you think it is possible that most Spaniards during Franco’s time did not know what was happening to these babies? What are some of the motives people might have had for staying silent? Which characters in The Fountains of Silence stay silent about things that they know are wrong? How much does Puri seem to understand about what is happening at the orphanage?

Chapters 28-55 

Reading Check

1. Who publishes the magazine Medina where the article about “sensual” women appears?

2. Whom does Puri wish would adopt Clover?

3. Where do most of the main characters go in Chapters 46-50?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. After Carlitos gives Ana the magazine and mentions her possibly getting into trouble, what does Ana realize about Daniel and the hotel?

2. When Rafa finds Fuga at the cemetery, angrily pacing near a baby-sized coffin, what does he learn from Fuga?

3. What does Ana find in her purse after the fashion show at the embassy?

4. Why is Rafa so pleased when Daniel shows up at his family’s house?

Paired Resource

“La Sección Femenina”

• This article by Gianna Stanley, in the University of Manchester’s Manchester Historian, explains the strict control over women’s lives in Franco’s Spain and the role played by La Sección Femenina in creating that control.
• This resource relates to the theme of Fascism.
• Where is La Sección Femenina mentioned in The Fountains of Silence? Which characters in the novel are most impacted by Falange’s and La Sección Femenina’s beliefs about women? Are political organizations the only ones enforcing limitations on women? Do women themselves help enforce these limitations? What might motivate women to conspire in their own oppression?

Chapters 56-85 

Reading Check

1. What kind of labor does Ben tell Daniel is being used to complete the Valley of the Fallen monument?

2. What torero name does Fuga choose?

3. When Nick asks Ana about her new love interest, what name does she give him?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. After Daniel reads the telegram from his uncle Bud, what does he worry might be happening?

2. Why is Daniel so intent on getting a picture of the Guardia Civil?

3. What does Ana find in the trash in Daniel’s hotel room?

4. Why is Fuga so confident that he will win at the caping?

Paired Resource

“Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso”

• This article features the famous painting and explains its connection to the Spanish Civil War and Picasso’s resistance to fascism in Spain.
• This resource relates to the themes of Fascism and Resistance.
• What inspired Picasso to paint Guernica? What are some theories about what the bull in the painting represents? How is this related to the bullfighting subplot in The Fountains of Silence? How is Picasso’s act of resistance in painting Guernica like and unlike what Daniel is trying to do with his photographs?

Chapters 86-116

Reading Check

1. What caption does Ana write for the photo she took of Daniel at the candy shop?

2. With whom does Daniel see his father shaking hands in Chapter 90?

3. What is in the second coffin that Fuga opens for Daniel at the graveyard?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What analogy does Ben use to explain why the US is still doing business with Franco’s Spain?

2. What incident in her past makes Ana feel grateful toward Nick?

3. What draws Ana to the work of Sorollo, her favorite artist?

4. What is a “cardboard father”?

Paired Resource

“Dictators Kill Poets: On Federico García Lorca’s Last Days” and “Political Influence on the Works of Pablo Neruda”

• The first resource, an excerpt from The Age of Disenchantments by Aaron Shulman, recounts the death of García Lorca at the hands of Franco’s soldiers.
• The second resource, an article about the inspiration for Neruda’s poem “I Explain a Few Things,” explores the lasting impact of García Lorca’s death and the Spanish Civil War on Neruda and his work.
• These resources relate to the themes of Fascism and Resistance.
• Why was García Lorca killed? How did his death impact Neruda? How does the poem “I Explain a Few Things” reflect the changes Neruda underwent as a result of his exposure to Franco’s Spain? How does the story of García Lorca and Neruda highlight the importance of the work of the artists and writers mentioned in The Fountains of Silence? How does it highlight the danger they are placing themselves in?

Chapters 117-149

Reading Check

1. In what year does Franco die?

2. As Daniel prepares to leave for Spain, whose prediction about Ana does he recall?

3. Where did Sister Hortensia send Puri after Daniel left Spain?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Ana think that Daniel cannot really love her?

2. When Rafa is in jail, what does he realize about what he thought was Fuga’s moment of silent communion with the bulls?

3. After they are reunited, what secret does Ana share with Daniel that she is afraid might change his feelings for her?

4. How do Julia and Antonio feel after receiving the news about Cristina?

Recommended Next Reads 

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

• In another award-winning work of young adult historical fiction, Sepetys tells the story of 17-year-old Cristian Florescu’s attempts to resist the brutal Ceaușescu regime.
• Shared themes include Fascism, Resistance, and Silence.
• Shared topics include loyalty and betrayal, individual versus community needs, injustice, art as an escape and a means of resistance.
• I Must Betray You on SuperSummary

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

• Zusak’s award-winning work of young adult historical fiction follows Liesel Meminger as she learns how to use the written word as a way to cope with the complexities of coming of age in Nazi Germany.
• Shared themes include Fascism, Resistance, and Silence.
• Shared topics include loyalty and betrayal, orphaned children, injustice, art as an escape and a means of resistance, and the impacts of fascism on children.
• The Book Thief on SuperSummary

Paracuellos by Carlos Giménez

• This award-winning young adult graphic novel is an autobiographical account of the suffering of the stolen children during the Franco regime.
• Shared themes include Fascism, Resistance, and Silence.
• Shared topics include Francoism, Spain, stolen and orphaned children, injustice, and the impacts of fascism on children.