Indian Culture In Esteban's The House Of The Spirits

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In The House of the Spirits, Esteban experiences this due to his lack of inhibitions combined with his temper, which leads him to release his rage onto those who least deserve it, his family, and he becomes emotionally conflicted because his anger causes him to feel justified. Although he later regrets his behavior and wants to connect with his family, he fails to exhibit these emotions and his family avoids him at all costs. With the arrival of Alba, he receives another opportunity to make his true intentions known and mend his relationship with his family. However, he reserves his grandfather mask and the kindness attached to it for his granddaughter and his family continues to hate him. He begins to hide his patriarchal mask and begins to change after Alba’s kidnapping teaches him how it feels to lose everything, therefore, he finally allows Blanca to spend her life with Pedro Tercero and provides them with a way out of Chile, away from the political turmoil due to the military coup. …show more content…

When Sophie arrives, the entire family wears masks to suppress some of their cultural customs in order to prove their knowledge on Sophie’s English world through their references to Shakespeare, sudden shift to Western clothing, and singing of songs in English, which causes frustration in Rahel and Estha who want to return to their normal lives. They hide the full extent of Indian culture in order to relate to her so that she feels comfortable with

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