The Shadow of the Wind-Week 3, Post A

In our society here in the United States, a close friendship between a grown man and a young boy would be considered suspicious. In The Shadow of the Wind Tomas and Fermin develop a very close relationship and they spend quite a lot of time together. Fermin is an older man in possibly his 50s while Tomas is probably 16 years old. I would consider this to be a cultural difference because in the United States close friendships between adults and children usually cause a raised eyebrow if the adult is not related to the child. There seems to be a lot more distrust of adults here in the United States than there was in Barcelona around 1945. I realized this to be a cultural difference because as I was reading of their newfound friendship I felt as though this was rather abnormal when in reality, this was a normal practice in Barcelona. I noticed this unsual close friendship between Daniel and Clara as well. Clara is twice Daniel's age and yet they created a bond that proved itself to be strong enough to break Daniel's heart in the end. I felt uncomfortable with the relationship as it was growing and I knew it was because I am not used to adults and children having relationships this close. It will be interesting to see if any more of these adult/child friendships spark throughout the novel.