Does the novel say if Cordelia was supporting the "left wing" Republicans or the Catholic Church supported Nationalist's led by the dictator Francisco Franco? She was such a pious Catholic I assume she would be supporting the side her church was backing, big-time.
shareTERENCE64 says:
She was such a pious Catholic I assume she would be supporting the side her church was backing, big-time.
However, Cordelia does say she received a medal from the "authorities" - and the authorities at that time (she continued to do nursing work after the war had ended) were appointed by Francisco Franco. And Franco didn't give medals to anyone who was aiding the Republicans. Cordelia may have had a rebellious streak, but there's no question she was a devout Catholic. And Catholics during that period felt their church was under siege in Spain - and they fully supported it. And that meant supporting Franco.
We also have to take Evelyn Waugh's attitudes into consideration. He not only wrote "Brideshead Revisted" but had also converted to Catholicism and had become quite devout. And at the time of the Spanish civil war he famously stated, "If I were a Spaniard, I should be fighting for General Franco."
Cordelia does say she received a medal from the "authorities" ... We also have to take Evelyn Waugh's attitudes into consideration.murph: Somehow I forgot that a nurse/aide/whatever Cordelia did would even choose a side. I was thinking she'd pick up whoever was closest. But of course you're right. I'd forgotten my Hemingway. share
Undoubtedly Cordelia would have been on Franco's side. The idea of her fighting with the communists and socialists - the republicans - is unthinkable.
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