Miguel Delibes (1920–2010) never hid his predilection for losers and his desire for esthetics to go hand-in-hand with ethics. This article analyzes the relationship that exists between the characters and the vital position of its author, who through his literature denounces a misunderstood progress that prioritizes material progress to the detriment of humanism. Delibes uses his characters to question the future of a society that corners those who resist civilizing according to the norms imposed by modernity.