45 pages 1 hour read

Carlos Fuentes

Aura

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1962

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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.