Justina

Justina appears in the final bedside scene of Susana San Juan’s life, where a sob from among the women concealed in shadow interrupts the stillness. Susana responds by sitting up and telling Justina to go cry elsewhere. The brief exchange makes Justina’s grief audible and shows Susana, even as she is dying, sharply aware of the people around her.

Presence at Susana’s Bedside

The passage gives no physical description or account of Justina’s earlier life. It places her among the women hidden in the room’s shadows, identified when Susana addresses her by name. Justina’s presence is registered through mourning rather than through a narrated action or explanation.

Grief and Susana’s Response

A woman’s sob is heard; immediately afterward, Susana seems to come back to life, sits upright in bed, and tells Justina to go cry somewhere else. The sequence links Justina with the sorrow audible in the room, though the narration does not explicitly identify the sobbing woman before Susana speaks. Susana’s rebuke briefly interrupts the scene’s movement toward death: her attention turns outward, and she addresses Justina directly.

Narrative Role

Justina’s small but distinct appearance gives the deathbed scene a human presence beyond Susana’s inward experience. Her grief is heard from the shadows, while Susana’s response draws her momentarily into the open. The passage offers no further account of Justina’s fate; her role here is to make mourning present at the threshold of Susana’s death.