Saied Méndez's Furia Quotes

Yamile Saied Méndez’s Furia opens with “But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more.” The quote means that when there are no more emotions to be let out into the open, we are forced to bury our feelings inside. This quote perfectly describes the novel’s main character, Camila. Camila wants to follow her dream of playing professional women’s soccer internationally but is forced to conceal her passions. She is expected to attend medical school and become a successful doctor, while her parents Isabel and Andres support her brother Pablo’s passion, which is also to play professional soccer. Camila’s concealment of her true identity as a soccer player in fear of her parents’ backlash leads her to hide her internal sadness and suffering. Andres had disapproved of Camila’s love of soccer since she

Camila’s team had just qualified for the Sudoamericano tournament, but Camila was injured at the last game. Afraid of her injury worsening and missing the tournament, Camila decides to come clean to her mother. After a back-and-forth between the two, Camila’s mother comes clean that she has known of Camila’s passion for soccer since she was nine, saying “I found you and Nico playing with the doll’s head in the laundry, remember? You kicked, and he guarded the goal. I got mad at you and left you in the corner. After that, I went to my room and cried” (Méndez 178). It turns out that Camila’s mother, like her daughter, also wanted to pursue her passion for soccer, because, as she states “He didn’t want me to become a lesbian” (Méndez 178). Like Andres, Isabel’s father is misogynistic, and as a result, Isabel seems to be stuck in a cycle of having to hide her feelings, similar to Camila. Isabel breaks this cycle by confiding in her daughter. Camila begins to find her support system but is still stuck with having to bury her emotions out of fear of