Pío Baroja's The Tree of Knowledge: A Critical Analysis

The Tree of Knowledge: A Story of Frustration

The Tree of Knowledge is the story of a frustration. Andrés Hurtado, its protagonist, seeks an explanation for an absurd and unjust reality. It is not mere intellectual curiosity that drives him, but the need to obtain some "practical truths" with which to conduct himself in life.

Reason vs. Life: An Irreconcilable Struggle

The attempt fails because the approach is too radical; reason and life are seen as irreconcilable principles. In the struggle between the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, Andrés will give in to the latter, which shows itself to be strong and indomitable. Life, as a "blind force" that is opposed to reason, is a "turbulent flow" which carries the individual with its impetus, even if he wanted to avoid it through abstention. Thus, Andrés' noble efforts to understand reality will be a wasted effort, finally settled in tragedy.

Philosophical Influences: Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche

Baroja projects his own ideas, and we must not forget the highly autobiographical nature of the tale, based, in this case, on his favorite philosophers: Kant and Schopenhauer. The influence of Nietzsche is also observed at some points.

Symbolic Value of Andrés Hurtado's Journey

The vicissitudes of the protagonist have a symbolic value. In the last chapter of the novel - I Had Some Precursors - it is revealed that Andrés' death is symbolic of an idealistic attitude, beaten in its clash against reality. Andrés, however, gives hope for a future in which science and justice will rid man of his servitude. Again, we note the autobiographical component of the story, as Baroja, at a time of personal and creative growth, plays, in large part, what were his own disappointments of youth.

A Sociological, Political, and Cultural Document of Spain

In the background, the novel is a sociological, political, and cultural document of the end of the century in Spain. That reality crashing against Andrés Hurtado is given precisely by the wide range of defects, flaws, and gaps that characterize, according to Baroja, the national life around the key date of 1898. Andrés' relations with the urban environment - Madrid - and the rural world - Alcolea del Campo - allow the novelist to present an overview of the Spanish situation of the moment. The tone is extremely critical: the lack of social solidarity, corruption and inefficiency of the political system, the stagnation of science, and cultural provincialism. Baroja's complaint is relentless.

A Clear Indication of '98 Literature

Finally, it should be added that the novel is a clear indication of '98 literature. A novel like The Tree of Knowledge could only occur in the context of the crisis of the century: Baroja raises the pessimism and "disappointment" of '98 to the category of existential pessimism and disappointment. But the problem is not only existential or the so-called "theme of Spain"; in the pages of the novel, we find other issues common to the writers of the generation, such as apathy (boredom or weariness with things) or ataraxia (a state of contemplation and abstention from life).

A New Kind of Realism

With regard to the style and design of the novel, Baroja aims to create a new language, away from 19th-century realism. Thus, although his work will ultimately be likened to that of Galdós, it presents a new kind of realism. If Galdós is objective, calm, and realistic, Baroja is, however, subjective, passionate, and expressionist/impressionist. He does not try to copy reality, but it appears filtered through the writer's self.

The Tree of Knowledge and the Generation of '98

From the perspective of contemporary criticism, The Tree of Knowledge is characteristic of the work of '98 insofar as it manifests the same radical ideology and the same inability for political action as most of the writers of the generation.