The Meanion Of Blood In House Of Houses By Pat Moora

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As individuals we learn the most about ourselves through the collective compassion of family. Ironically the people who share the most in common with us through blood create the most unique experiences in our lives. Our strengths, weaknesses, and the dizzying nature of life are all stabilized by our bloodlines. In Pat Mora 's House of Houses the chaotic rhythmic motions of life are expressed through the detailed organization of nature and time inside of a whimsical Adobe house as the novel unfolds the stories of her ancestors. Never is an event or memory differentiated to one part of time in Mora’s adobe house. The house overall represents a physical metaphor for the collection of a family’s history. Everyone who has existed exists once again inside of the walls of the Adobe House. Dead and alive, they interact together seamlessly regardless of physical forms. This connection between the family spirits and humans elicits Mora’s inner belief that a family bond reaches above all else. Running like blood through
This all is traced back to the very beginning of the book with the statement on the first page “As the rose is the flower of flowers so this is the house of houses” (p. 1). The house such as flowers provide a channel for the spirits to have a daily life in the memories of their loved ones. The house is their rock, and the flowers are the spirits themselves. The Garden is even referred to as the “portal” (p.126) which gives it the connotation as a meeting ground between the lives of family members from the past and present. Together the House and Flowers combine in an effort to prove Mora’s overarching thematic idea that death is not the end of existence. As shown with Lobos sweeping as she continues to tend the house in the after life “sw sw sw” (p.232), people continue to live on through the memories and stories of people they have

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