The prevalence of violence in The House of the Spirits is immediately palpable. Many wide-ranging acts of brutality transpire over the extensive amount of time covered. The addition of the large scale violent acts draws most of the attention of the reader, but it’s the small incidents that shed light on the wide spread epidemic of violence that seeps into every pore of The House Of The Spirits. The relentless addition of small happenings to all pages proves to be grueling.
Reference in the book plays a large role. Whether it is foreshadowing or conversation of characters that is not presented as dialoge, but rather hinted at in different points of the story, referenced moments enhance understanding. Many instances of referenced conversation show hidden
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instances of violent content. An out standing example of this comes from Miguel, alluding to his opinion on revolution, “You can not make a revolution at the ballot box but only with peoples blood.” Pg 372. This moment does not occur in the mainstream text yet comments on Miguel’s violent tendencies. Other instances of conversation not presented as dialogue hold hidden violence not seen directly by the reader but add to the deep presence of violent acts. Pedro Tercero Garcia talks “About the distant war that had sent half of humanity into a hail of shrapnel, and an agony of concentration camps, and produced a flood of widows and orphans.” in a conversation with Blanca not in the book. Small moments like this put the time in prospective and add an even steadier line of violence to the entire story. A similar facet in the novel is fast paced coverage of time. In these fast moving paragraphs it is easy to skip over hints of horrid acts preformed by characters. Alba’s childhood is not drawn out and is a very fast paced description. The reader is taken through her early years briskly only settling to get a closer look every once and a while. One moment which is skimmed over quickly describes “Alba would squeeze a finger in the door and learn to withstand the burning pain without compliant.” Pg 304. The moment is quickly covered then the story proceeds to move on to less heavy actions such as high speed motor bike rides; a step down from self mutilation with the use of doors. In the same span of Alba’s childhood other accounts of violent acts are made. Some do include one the biggest violent offenders, Esteban Trueba. “She would open the windows to let in streams of air and light, but the flowers never lasted until nightfall because Esteban Trueba’s thundering voice and slashing cane were even powerful enough to frighten nature.” Pg 298. Other instances of small outbursts of violence from Esteban Trueba add to the magnitude of his violent nature. “ The day Jaime came home with the news that he wanted to change his last name because ever since his father had been a senator in the conservative party his fellow students at the university had been harassing him and the poor people in the Misericordia district no longer trusted him, Esteban Trueba lost his temper and was about to slap him…” pg 254 Compared to other things done by Esteban Trueba this seems docile, yet little moments like this create layers to his violent character that cannot be ignored by the reader. This occurs many times through out the novel. In the two-page description of the catastrophic earthquake’s affect on the rest of the country, before returning to the central characters of the story, many extremely violent acts happen quickly without much explanation.“ They shot anyone they caught stealing” this is followed a few lines down by “Thieves were running through the ruins slicing off ears with earrings and fingers with rings, not stopping to ascertain whether the victims were dead or only trapped in the cave-in.” pg 180. Both these happen in a bigger account of the horrific state of the country. Though the general feeling of the pages are violent in them selves the human manifestation of violence is added shortly. The two very different diversions of the reader’s attention create the same affect. Both reference to violent acts in conversation description and swift coverage of time directs the reader’s attention away from the content and skips over crucial points in the story. Even characters not associated with the large-scale violence in The House of the Spirits have low points where even they exhibit violent qualities. Jaime who is made into a gentle friendly man and his twin brother Nicholas, who is made out to be meditative man in his adulthood were both the instigators of violence in there youth. “They chased lizards to slice off their tails, mice to make them race, and butterflies to wipe the powder from their wings;” pg 142. Though these events happened in the brothers youth forgetting that even the gentlest of men in the novel all share a violent side is important. As the boys slowly make there way to adolescence there brutal temper remains. “ When they were older, they punched and kicked each other.” Pg 143. As they have grown out of this childish aggression Jaime and Nicolas start to be regarded as soft gentlemen. Severo, the grandfather to Jaime and Nicolas, is a mellow spirited man as well but holds a violent side within him.
“ He grabbed his wife by the arm and Clara by the neck and walked out dragging them behind him with enormous strides,” pg 8. This being one of the few aggressive moments at the hands of Severo it is clear he is not a violent person at heart but the addition of even a minuscule violent act shows The House of the Spirits focus on violence at its core.
The focus on violence in The House of the Spirits extends into all essences of the story, not limiting its self to the characters. Instances of this include Miguel’ s tellings of the horrors of war which is not oppressed upon the characters in the story through is mentioned, and the crimes that occur due to the devastating earthquake. Another instance of this comes from the prospective of Jaime in his days as a doctor.
“He tried not to think of all the women he had seen in the emergency room, those he had helped to save in this very examining room, and those who had died in these very beds, white as sheets, with rivers of blood flowing between their legs and his science powerless to stop their life from running out of that open faucet.” Pg
265 His experiences witnessing horrendous pain such as this, build on the deep-rooted presence of violence in all aspects of the story. Representing the world in and outside the story to exist in a cruel environment constantly. The little moments add up. The constant bombardment of harsh moments is relentless. The larger moments stand out against the seemingly boring back round, but when examined closely it becomes clear the underlying core to the entire story sit on a base of violence. The prevalence of brutal actions show that the large scale violent actions should not be the only thing to draw the reader’s attention.
The author illustrates the “dim, rundown apartment complex,” she walks in, hand and hand with her girlfriend. Using the terms “dim,” and “rundown” portrays the apartment complex as an unsafe, unclean environment; such an environment augments the violence the author anticipates. Continuing to develop a perilous backdrop for the narrative, the author describes the night sky “as the perfect glow that surrounded [them] moments before faded into dark blues and blacks, silently watching.” Descriptions of the dark, watching sky expand upon the eerie setting of the apartment complex by using personification to give the sky a looming, ominous quality. Such a foreboding sky, as well as the dingy apartment complex portrayed by the author, amplify the narrator’s fear of violence due to her sexuality and drive her terror throughout the climax of the
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.
Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man.
The analysis showed that Shirley’s and Thomas’s work matched in a way that both the stories reflect identity crises and the psyche of a killer. The notable use of typical fictional horror elements such as tragic backstories, harbingers, unseen forces causing chaos and dreadfulness, terror and above all unrealistically portrayed personality disorders makes the stories a baroque blend of supernatural fantasy and moral reality.
My presentation will be about the depiction and meaning of violence and human nature, in C.M.’s novels.
Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of murder and revenge, “The Cask of Amontillado”, offers a unique perspective into the mind of a deranged murderer. The effectiveness of the story is largely due to its first person point of view, which allows the reader a deeper involvement into the thoughts and motivations of the protagonist, Montresor. The first person narration results in an unbalanced viewpoint on the central conflict of the story, man versus man, because the reader knows very little about the thoughts of the antagonist, Fortunato. The setting of “The Cask of Amontillado”, in the dark catacombs of Montresor’s wine cellar, contributes to the story’s theme that some people will go to great lengths to fanatically defend their honor.
...ely with one another and lived in peace as partners, the ease of human transgression permits no romanticized view of this Agolden age.@ Finally B and this is a much more fragmentary conceptualization B the story refuses its hearers the luxury of demonizing, suppressing or repressing violence. Violence is not something that others do to us, but something we inflict upon others. The story consequently demands that we confront and internalize deeply the consequences of violence, and in this alone offers a profoundly important model of response.
As Edgar Allan Poe wrote, "The Fall of the House of Usher", he uses characterization, and imagery to depict fear, terror, and darkness on the human mind.
their actions down to bare human nature, as the author has shown them to be carrying no
The one of the main themes in the epilogue, and in the entire novel is
One of the realistically based themes found present in the novel is violence. This theme is shown to be abundant throughout the story starting from the opening scene. In the opening scene of the story, Jimmie is described as beaten and ragged due to the constant fighting between the two rival gangs of the neighborhoods Rum Alley and Devil’s Row. The next
Over the course of history, violence amongst men has shaped the world in which we live through wars, political protests, or social conflicts. Sadly, enough, this is a factor of human nature which resides in all individuals and cannot be controlled or avoided. Not only have these events of man’s inhumanity been documented, but they have also become the underlying theme for many well known works of literature. Both Golding and Wiesel shed light on the immorality of mankind’s actions by putting it under close scrutiny, leaving the reader left to wonder how human beings are capable of so callously hurting and killing one another.
Dialogue gives the audience a clear view of what is happening in the story, but the
The chapters based on the further meaning of violence and Christ like figures are the ones that can be applied to “Chronicles of a Death
a dull grey colour as if it had lost the will to live and stopped