Violence is an act that can affect everyone around them, mentally, verbally, and physically. In House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende, she explores the concept of violence being destructive in Esteban’s actions, politics, and relationships, illustrating the need for healing. In the house of Tres Marias, one of the prominent forms of violence can be seen as domestic violence, shown in a specific character, Esteban Trueba, being depicted as physically and emotionally abusive towards his wife, Clara, his daughter, Blanca, and Pancha. His violent outbursts create fear and tension in the household. For instance, in the book, there is a scene in chapter 6, page 223, where he gets a rush of adrenaline and loses his self-control,”...but a wave of blood immediately rushes to his …show more content…
Esteban uses violence to have control and power over everyone around him, like his family, causing psychological harm and fear. This makes him become trapped in a cycle of control, leading him to loneliness, unhappiness, and consequences. To emphasize more on how violence affects different characters, Esteban affects his daughter, Blanca. Throughout the novel, Blanca struggles to adapt her love for her father with the pain he has inflicted upon her, reflecting the complex dynamics of familial relationships through violence and control. With the discovery of Blanca’s and Pedro Tercero Garcia’s relationship, Esteban chooses to send her away as a form of punishment and control. This implies that he will do anything in his power to control his family and influence dominance. In another instance, Esteban shows violence toward her as he brutally beats Blanca. He repeats “I’m going to kill them both” but then sees Blanca returning to the house with a happy look, “Esteban Trueba was unable to restrain his evil character and he charged her with his horse, whip in the air, beating her mercilessly, lash upon lash, until the girl fell flat and rigid to the ground.
Cleofilas, must endure the hard labor of her husband’s temper and if she doesn’t take on both gender roles for example: housework, caring for her children, and the outside duties of the home, she suffers the consequences of her husband and the beatings. Juan Pedro, Cleofilas husband is just like society in this situation, he doesn’t think twice about laying a hand on his wife. Whereas, in Cleofilas situation, society doesn’t want to get involved and will place the incident “under the rug” they don’t want to be asked questions, by the husband or the
Living in poverty brings high tensions and people tend to lose it. The use of alcohol is a contributor of the excess violence in the favelas. Many men and women begin to fight about the littlest thing, but it expands to a large issue as a result of the alcohol. Carolina recounts whenever a fight breaks out, “I was giving lunch when Vera came to tell me there was a fight in the favela” (de Jesus 63). These incredibly common vicious fights are entertainments to people living in the favelas. It is so familiar that whenever a fight breaks out people just enjoy it as if it were a show. As Carolina being the great hero she is, she regularly breaks up the
Believers of the Old and New Testaments claim that violence is a sin and can only lead to more brutality and death; poet Tony Barnstone firmly agrees. In his poem “Parable in Praise of Violence” Barnstone lambastes the American obsession with violence-- that it is often triggered by inevitable events which could be handled in different manners. The speaker in “Parable in Praise of Violence” reflects on all parts of his “sinful” culture and comes to the realization that people often use violence as a way to deal with emotions of grief and anger caused by events and concepts they cannot explain.
In Allende’s The House of the Spirits, Esteban Trueba is the principal male character. During the course of the novel, Trueba increases his power in the world as he progresses in status from a conservative landowner to a powerful senator. He is tyrannical, treating his family members and the tenants on his family hacienda, Tres Marías, like subjects rather than intimate community. The basis for most of Trueba's actions is the desire for power, control, and wealth, and he pursues these things at any cost, disregarding his emotional decline and the effects of his actions upon the people in his life.
Woman gets married to a man with a great hope and expectations about their good relationship with their husband. Their expectation was a loving and caring relationship. When the same husband start abusing physically and mentally she becomes depressed. Cleofilas a lady with a great hope before marriage expresses her feeling as, “The first time she had been so surprised she didn’t cry out or try to defend herself. She had always said she would strike back if a man, any man, were to strike her. But when a . . . until the lip split and bled an orchid of blood, she didn’t fight back, she didn’t break into tears she didn’t run away . . . .”(Cisneros 346) The writer tells about relationship between Juan and Cleofilas as, “If they are lucky, there are tears at the end of the long night. At any given moment, the fists try to speak.”(Cisneros 347) The journal from library resource center says, “She is beaten so often and so severely that by the time she decide to leave him, the lady at the health clinic notes in astonishment that, ‘The poor lady’s got black and blue marks all over.’”(Rouster 10) Men and women both have equally important hand to run a house. To run a house there must be peace and love in their lives. Woman wants her to be treated equally as a part without whom the chariot of the family cannot run smoothly. She finds herself so unlucky and unhappy if her
Throughout the novel “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende the reader sees many instances that exemplify the antagonistic nature of man verses woman. Through Esteban Trueba’s raping of many of the women at Tres Marias, his marriage with Clara, his relationship with his daughter Blanca and her with her lover Pedro Tercero Garcia and with Alba Trueba’s relationship with her lover Miguel and her Grandfather Esteban, much of what Allende wants the reader to know about the nature of man verses woman is exposed. Nature pits man against woman, in marriage, love, sex, work, and war. Women can choose their battles and fight them subtly, without really seeming to, because all women know that the men like to think they are in charge when they really aren’t, and that men will fight every battle just to prove that they are men. Triumph over a weaker opponent does not make men stronger. It only makes them feel powerful. Allende writes about women who are able to quietly persevere, always managing to get their own way, without seeming too, because they know the only way to keep men happy is to let them feel powerful and in charge.
In her famous The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende documents the life of several characters during the Chilean reality in the 1930s. Her notorious feminist ideology is, at times, extremely obvious. Elements such as the clash of social classes and the social, political and economical conditions of Chile during this period of high turmoil are also well portrayed. Isabel Allende achieves to give us a good image of what life in Chile was like during those years. Some particular characters specially exemplify all of these elements very clearly.
After detective Blanca Bravo discovers a trend in the mutilation of female bodies, she concludes these killings are the act of an isolated murderer. Carrera deliberately establishes the depravity of El Sultan in the scene where he is captured at gunpoint by Bravo. This scene is filled with footsteps, heavy breathing, and intense downbeats, foreshadowing a confrontation. When Detective Bravo enters El Sultan's house, he is partially clothed, sexually assaulting a young woman, and slurring vulgarities in broken Spanish. The mise-en-scène of this scene justifies El Sultan's pedophilic accusations and hints at the foreign root of sexual violence. This scene is cross-cut edited to further emphasize El Sultan's sexist remarks on Bravo's attractiveness and to signify the confrontation between criminal and detective. Through this exchange, it becomes clear that El Sultan is proud of his sexual misconduct and doubts Bravo's authority due to her gender. In this scene, Carrera portrays an indisputably corrupt predator in order to provide a gateway to understanding the modes of greater villainization throughout the film. By presenting the audience with an archetypal criminal, Carrera can use the audience's perception of the rapist to introduce and further justify more unlikely contributors to sexual
him. He tries to go back to raping peasants, but he can’t lift them up
Allende portrays Esteban as having a strong and harsh character in the novel, The House of the Spirits. Yet, after leaving, his mother and sister, and starting a new and independent life, Esteban changes much. For the first time he is successful and wealthy. He feels as if he has no problems, mainly because he does not have a family to weigh him down.
The House of the Spirits written by Isabel Allende is an extraordinary novel that weaves together, history, politics, and current events to create a unique piece of literature. Throughout the novel on several occasions it is clear that there is inequality between the aristocrats and the peasants and this leads to struggle between the classes. The issue of class struggle takes the form of growing conflict by causing a division between the Conservatives and Socialists. At the head of the Conservatives is Esteban Trueba, a violent and materialistic figure. He believes people need to work their way up to the top and there is no reason that peasants share the upper classes wealth. On the other hand, Pedro Tercero Garcia represents the Socialistic view and he is willing to make the change through revolutionary principles. As the novel progresses class differences begin to build up and result in a political struggle between the Conservatives and Socialists thereby impacting the society in a negative way and causing it to rip to shreds.
Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits was strongly influenced by the three waves of Feminism. Allende’s focus throughout the novel was to diminish the gender inequality between men and women. Through her female characters Clara, Blanca, and Alba, Allende showcases the gradual rise of women in Latin American society. She incorporates political and societal aspects to emphasize women’s empowerment throughout the novel. Clara, Blanca, and Alba each individually represent the three waves of Feminism that gradually gave women the power to lessen the gender hierarchy present in their society.
In the story, Marquez shows many events where he talks about how the women and men fall in love with Esteban in their own ways. This is situational irony because you would expect the islanders to bury or cremate Esteban. Instead they kept him and worshipped him. This is very strange and unusual because Esteban was not living. The islanders made him what they wanted him to be. He could have been a murderer for all they knew. Marquez showed irony by telling how the islanders worshipped Esteban, the dead man! Marquez gets his point across by showing that even though the man was dead and none of the islanders knew him, they still treated him with respect and showed that they cared. Therefore, Marquez has shown that you can be affected by someone else even if you don’t know them
Feminists confront the problems of their society in hopes of altering society to be equal. The novel, The House of the Spirits by Allende, directly correlates the struggles of feminism with the Clarettes. Though the story follows the events of Esteban Trueba; he is overshadowed by the power exhibited by the females of del Valle. Men are portrayed showing violence and discrimination in hopes of reaching what they want. Clara and the Clarettes utilize their power to subtly protest. The women of The House of the Spirits enrich the story by keeping the book interesting while showing a feminist side to the story: Allende utilizes women as the dynamic characters in society by pacing the story, controlling their supernatural powers, and representing the strength of women; portrayed by
The nature of brutality is not something to be toyed with, the carnage it causes to individuals, families and institutions cannot be overestimated and Gabriel Garcia Marquez shows us that willfully ignoring it’s entry into our community is tantamount to destruction and when faced with the desecration of anything we place in high regard, we should always question the role of brutality and consider the alternative that emphasizes the importance of human life and due process.