Essay On Esteban Trueba As A Hero In House Of Spirits

As a hardworking young man with a difficult childhood, Esteban Trueba strives for greatness, devoting his life to his career, however, he fails to realize the negative outcomes he endures on his way to greatness until it's too late. He is so determined to become rich and powerful that he forgets how much of an impact his actions have on others. He is stuck in this state of mind of being successful that it pushes away loved ones. Throughout the story in House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, Esteban moves up to a social status that everyone is against. He is seen as a hero at first bringing life back to Tres Marias and helping the peasants have a sustainable life. However, his actions, later on, changed him for the worse. Esteban uses various coping

strategies to help maintain his social status and his self-such as committing violence towards peasants and family members, restoring Tres Marias, and talking to Transito Soto. However, some of these coping strategies lead to adverse outcomes making them ineffective. Only then Esteban sees how much an impact it has until it’s too late. Social status is being determined by the mere restraints set by society that hinder’s one's ability to become resilient and happy. People want to be society’s perfect image, but it comes at a substantial cost. Being pressured by society to live up to a certain standard can, in turn, lead to harmful outcomes. Society's restraints shouldn't determine social status. They will see an image of themselves that is valued highly by society, but in reality, they are setting themselves up for failure.
The restraints of society are controlling social status since society's standard fixates people into not following their own paths.

A common misconception is that everyone should go to college to be successful. In today’s society, this is a standard that should be followed. Not everyone becomes successful after college though. People fail to realize the dangers of following societies standard. After Rosas death, Esteban was distraught and left with grief. To take his mind off Rosa, Esteban headed towards his old family farm, Tres Marias. From there he became a patron and rebuilt up Tres Marias from its ruins. He achieves a high status, but at a heavy cost. Tres Marias has brought plenty of problems to Esteban that he didn’t come to expect. Peasants would revolt against him due to the wages and his treatment towards them. Nothing good lasts forever. I believe his efforts to maintain his self-was useful until a certain point. Bringing back up Tres Marias to glory was a significant achievement by Esteban leading to his social status being high. Although he treated the peasants unfair, he still saw himself as a hero. However, he failed to realize that peasants wouldn’t put up with this type of behavior. In the end, peasants betrayed and captured Esteban. Esteban should’ve seen this coming once he started rebuilding Tres Marias. As compared with today’s society where people are fixated on being successful, going to college is a way of living under society’s constraints is

similar to Esteban's way of rebuilding Tres Marias. Going to college can go wrong as it can lead to financial problems and risk of not being successful. They are both set to pursue a high status in society. They are too fixated on the being of high status that they forget the negative outcomes. These strategies are high risks with high rewards. Social status shouldn’t be determined by society’s standards because it can lead to failure.
Esteban using violence towards peasants and family members was one of his ways of maintaining his social status and himself.

His violence and sexual appetite began to show when he started to rape several women working at Tres Marias. Esteban once seen as a hero by the reader was now seen as a villain. Although he kept his social status of a high order, it led to people looking at him differently. His ill manner pushed away family members that once respected him. Esteban was too late to realize his mistakes. I believe Esteban’s coping strategy of using violence is the most ineffective way he has handled. He gained nothing but hatred for it. Not even his wife, Clara would speak to him anymore after Esteban beat her constantly. He drove away all his family members having no one close to him any no more. This led to deep tensions inside the family. Also, his treatment and thinking of women were unfair, his bias towards them only brought more hate. This can relate to the society standard of the rich remaining rich and looking down upon the poor. The rich would hog everything and leave the crumbs for everybody else. In the same way, both methods look down upon society and mistreating them. They think of them as nothing and incapable of achieving success. Likewise, they will result in retaliation by the society. It will lead to the development of family members beginning to move away slowly. They do differentiate though in the fact that looking down upon the poor is not as

harmful as committing violence. Regardless, these methods of maintaining social status and one's self are ineffective as it can lead to a negative outcome.
Speaking to one’s own family members or close ones is an effective strategy used by Esteban to maintain his social status and to maintain his coherent self. Esteban only begins to see happiness while maintaining his social status and self by talking to Transito Soto. Talking to Transito took away the anger he endured during his time rebuilding Tres Marias. Esteban also lent Transito fifty pesos to help her become successful. You can also see Esteban’s desire to speak with Transito again when he asks will I ever see you again. Having someone there to talk gave Esteban happiness that he had yet to find. As a result, after developing a strong relationship with Transito, Esteban was able to persuade her to save his granddaughter, Alba. Seeing Esteban enjoying talking to Transito shows him slowly progressing towards more of a less aggressive person. Furthermore, this can relate to society communicating and working with another towards a positive outcome. Society is power hungry nowadays and are forgetting about whats most important, love. Love can bring people together. It’s what creates these strong bonds that goes a long way. Without love, society would be chaos. Breaking free from these restraints set by society can allow for one to be truly happy.
After Clara’s death only then Esteban begins to realize just how lonely he truly was. He looks back and sees how much of an impact his actions had towards others and the negative outcomes that came along with his actions in the past. It left him with a feeling of regretfulness. Achieving high status came with terrible consequences along the way. Esteban begins to give in after seeing the aftermath regretting his actions that took place. However, it’s too late. His actions have already been set and left him lonely; no one wants to even be near him. Only then he begins to turn things around. Esteban develops a strategy by making peace with his family after seeing what he has done. He starts to undo his past actions and became calmer and less violent. He became very close with his granddaughter Alba developing a healthy relationship with her. Esteban moved away from society’s social constraints that were holding him back from achieving happiness. Moreover, society as a whole can learn from Esteban’s mistakes. People shouldn’t live up to the expectations set by society, instead, they should do what they believe is right.
Esteban Trueba’s story is a great illustration showing that social status is being determined by the restraints of society that hinders one's ability to achieve resilience and happiness. Esteban used various coping strategies throughout the novel that were ineffective in helping him maintaining his social status and his coherent self. Following society’s constraints led to Esteban having negative impacts on others including himself. In the end, he develops a more effective strategy that helps him find happiness but, he only begins to realize his mistakes when it's too late. Society as a whole can learn from this and prevent it from happening. Following societies constraints leads to failure.