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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
working against their own interests. The mob just described displays extreme ignorance of the facts
of political life 18 . Its energy is expended in self-defeating enterprises. As Le Bon would observe: «
Les impulsions diverses auxquelles obéissent les foules... seront toujours tellement impérieuses que
l'intérêt de la conservation lui-même s'effacera devant elles ». 19
The raging mob exerts a powerful attraction on those listening to Alcalá Galiano's speech,
incorporating them within itself. The «canned laughter» effect mentioned above is a mild form of
the same phenomenon exemplified by the attraction of the mob on individuals within sight and
sound of its presence. The proximity of an active and violent mob irresistibly draws the previously
calm individuals into the rabble's uncontrolled rampage, completely subjugating individual will to
that of the entire organism. The psychological implications suggested by Galdós in this case are,
incidentally, remarkably similar to the laws of physics in which the mass and proximity of a physical
body determines the amount of attraction it exerts on smaller bodies.
Thus far we have witnessed the birth of three distinct group-organisms: that created in the Fontana
de Oro after rejecting Lázaro-idea but accepting the « orador favorito » as their guiding principle;
the irresponsible Calleja group formed in the streets outside the café for the purpose of creating a
disturbance at Morillo's residence; and the mob surging through the streets which attracted to itself
Alcalá Galiano's listeners. A fourth organism might have developed from Alcalá Galiano's audience
had the individuals forming the potential organism not been attracted to and absorbed by the more
active and larger street mob. Each of the three groups actually integrated may be thought of as
constituting a unique personage in La Fontana de Oro possessing its own personality and its particular
function with respect to the novel.
The group which rejected Lázaro but was moved to action by the « orador favorito » disbanded
the evening of the speeches (the organism «went to sleep») determined to act on the following day.
This group-organism, which we shall now call the Riego group, has decided to parade about bearing
a large portrait of general Riego, the officer in charge of Aragón who was relieved of his post by the
Government. The procession has been prohibited by the authorities, but the group, as we have seen,
18 Cf. «The theme of the patriots' ignorance is carried all through the work [ La Fontana de Oro ].»
Carroll B. Johnson, «The Café in Galdós' La Fontana de Oro », Bulletin of Hispanic Studies , 44
(1965), 114.
19 Le Bon, p. 17.
17