Esteban Trueba's Empowerment In The House Of The Spirits

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Throughout history, women and men alike, regard females as lesser, they get abused and taken advantage of time and time again. The strength of the women in the past have carried on and reached the women of today, who are able to feel empowered. Isabel Allende’s representation of women empowerment is beautifully woven into her novel The House of the Spirits, which display the viewpoints of many oppressed women who live in a patriarchal society. Despite this patriarchy, the women manage to gain control of their own roles in life. This control brings effects unto Esteban Trueba’s way of living , ultimately leading him down a path of self-despair and loneliness. Esteban’s first fiancée Rosa de Valle, his first wife Clara de Valle, and his only …show more content…

Due to his upcoming marriage, Esteban decides to improve his financial situation in a mine his mother obtains, vowing to “extract the last gram of precious metal even if it meant I had to crush the hills with my own hands and grind the rocks with my feet. For Rosa’s sake, I was prepared to do that and much more” (Allende 27). Rosa’s choice to choose him as her husband changes Esteban's opinions on love and transforms him into a hard-working man. He tries to become a man worthy to be with Rosa, wishing to provide her with more than a powerful last name. He spends huge amounts of effort in the mines, never wanting to rest and waste time. Despite Esteban’s hard work to marry her as soon as possible, he was still too late. As soon as the death of Rosa reaches Esteban’s ear, he begins to become depressed. He ends his work in the mines, now believing “He had no wish to become rich by such a sacrifice. He had his whole life ahead of him to make money if he could, time enough to be bored and to await death, without Rosa” (Allende 46-47). Still, Rosa’s memory haunts Esteban both night and day leading him to dislike the city in which he lives. This pushes him to return to the abandoned Tres Marias and restore what his father had ruined. Rosa’s lingering presence in Esteban’s life drives him to restore the land with no expense or effort spared, all in the

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