45 pages • 1 hour read
Aura
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Felipe Montero
Felipe is a 27-year-old man who teaches part time at a high school to make ends meet. He is a historian by education and studied at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris. His research is focused on the Spanish Golden Age, or the period of Spanish conquest of Central and South America. His current research project aims to synthesize primary documents of that time—letters, memoirs, notes—to create a coherent universal narrative of the period.
There is very little biographical information provided about Felipe, but it is easy to assume that he is from an impoverished family that cannot support him financially or that he is orphaned. He must also be an intelligent and diligent person, as receiving a scholarship to study at the Sorbonne is considered very prestigious. However, Felipe seems unhappy with his life, dreaming about losing himself in his research in the history of Spain’s colonization of South America. His idealism is also apparent in his desire to save Aura from the dark, mysterious mansion.
Rather than achieve his dreams, Felipe loses himself to Consuelo’s machinations. He does not save Aura; instead, he is trapped by her, as she’s merely a puppet, a manifestation of Consuelo’s youth. Felipe becomes a puppet as well, a host for the General’s younger self.
Consuelo Llorente
Consuelo is the widow of a prominent Mexican general who died 60 years earlier. She married him when she was a beautiful 16-year-old girl and seems to have loved him very much. Felipe sees her kissing and dancing with a military jacket, which presumably belonged to her husband. Her desire to publish the General’s memoirs can be read as an attempt to preserve his memory.
When it becomes clear the married couple cannot have children, Consuelo becomes obsessed with preserving her youth. According to her husband, she begins experimenting with herbs and narcotics. She is also known to torture cats, believing the sacrifice will sustain the love she shares with the General.
Despite Consuelo’s dabbing in witchcraft, she seems to also be religious, evidenced by the numerous votive candles and religious images in her bedroom.
Aura
Aura is introduced as the niece and companion of the widow, Consuelo Llorente. However, it becomes clear that she is the widow’s double. Aura embodies Consuelo’s lost beauty and youth, and helps perpetuate the widow’s obsession with her husband through a sexual relationship with Felipe.
The detail that reveals Aura’s true nature is her lack of willpower. She is animated by the widow’s words and desires. Unless the old woman makes a conscious effort, Aura breathes and moves in perfect synchrony with her. The one real conversation she has with Felipe on the last day might indicate that she is self-aware to an extent, but it is unclear if she is speaking as herself or simply voicing the widow’s thoughts.
From the General’s memoirs, it’s clear that Aura was the result of Consuelo’s attempt to both procreate and preserve her youth. The text suggests that Aura was created from poisonous plants, which might explain why she drains Felipe’s energy when they have sex.
General Llorente
The General is a Mexican aristocrat who supported Emperor Maximilian I, the younger brother of the Austrian ruler who, with support from French monarch Napoleon III, invaded the Mexican Republic in 1861. Maximilian’s goal was to establish a pro-French monarchy in opposition to the Liberal government of Benito Juarez. There was intermittent fighting between the republican and royalist forces until 1866, when France withdrew its armies, leading to the collapse of Maximilian’s regime. After the emperor’s defeat and execution, the General was forced into exile in Paris, where he met his wife, Consuelo.
The General is a product of Spanish colonialism and an emblem of European expansionism. Though he was born in Mexico, he lived most of his life in France. The fact that he supports a foreign force over a local Mexican one marks him as someone out of touch with his nation’s needs and demands.
Unlock all 45 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Carlos Fuentes
