I love the description of his “spiritual hygine” as he wanders the more humble, working class sections of the city (and the churches, too). The one street with the 88 taverns with red-painted fronts, the rhythm of speech from washer women, collecting rents and seeing the poor.

“He discovered that language was the spice of life for the humble people – and he never forgot that discovery.”

His ability to be a good sport among his friends and some musical talent loosened up his crowd and allowed him to catch the flavor of cliche and peach around him as well as the mood about events. He could break the ice then pick up the cubes.

We only see Benito through his mother’s fears here as he skips University. He must be getting his knowledge from the cafés and then publishing all that in the newspapers that the government shuts down. He’s shy but involved (with his pen, no doubt).

We mostly only see Benito through his mother’s fears of him not studying law. He’s shy so how is he getting all his knowledge of the day? Probably spending all his time in the cafés and then writing it all down for the liberal newspapers (that the government shuts down).

How does Benito know so much about life in Spain to write in the papers? We sort of see him through his mother’s eyes at this part while he skips University to write for the newspaper (which gets shut down by the government). We can assume he’s living a lot at the cafés and though shy, is involved in the national conversations of the day

Beckwith writes that on his boat ride from Las Palmas to Cadiz “[Glados suspected] that the phenomena of equilibrium was a myth”. So was this from a journal of his? I’m curious how Berkowitz seems to know what’s going on in Glados’ mind