Elements Of The Past In Isabel Allende's The Stories Of Eva Luna

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

“If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? And if a girl was to seek her freedom, how could she do such a fool-headed thing, Especially a girl trapped in New York? (Isabel). In the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author uses the protagonist’s traits, actions, and dialogue to help the reader understand how the main character, Isabel, changes throughout the story. Isabel’s actions and speech reveal that she goes from feeling scared and hopeless from being sold as a slave to becoming determined to obtain her freedom, finally she becomes brave and gains enough courage to run away from her abusive owners.

After Esperanza reads Aunt Lupe one of her poems, her aunt tells her that she might be able to use her writing to be set free and find her real identity; however, Esperanza didn’t figure out the real meaning of her aunt’s words until her aunt passed away. After her aunt dies, Esperanza is confronted by shame and guilt, which also happen to be the feelings that Aunt Lupe felt in the years that took her to pass away (she was embarrassed to be a burden on her family for so many

Tom Walker is parsimony known as stingy. Tom Walker left a great part of unfinished and unfurnished of parsimony (237). Tom was a stern supervisor and censurer and believe every credit belongs to himself. “Let us get hold of the property’’, said he consolingly to himself, ‘’ and we will endeavor to do without the woman’’ (234). Tom was the universal friend of the needy and acted like a ‘’ friend in need’’, that is to say, he always exacted good pay and good security (236). Tom Walker trick people with their belongings by getting other people riches.

In Voltaire’s novella Candide, the main character’s newly found wealth from an idealized Eldorado is exploited by the world’s fixation of greed that ultimately effects himself and others as he learns that money cannot buy happiness.

In the short story “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the author shows greed by the main character selling his soul for a large treasure, being a cheap and greedy moneylender, and the lack of the main character and his wife sharing the wealth between each other in order to show that people will do anything for money and become rich.

A poignant figure in Esperanza’s life is her own grandmother. In fact, Esperanza was given her birth name after her grandmother. A touching gesture that came from good faith. A name may have some value, but for Esperanza there was a high intrinsic quality to such a simple component. Despite, never encountering her own grandmother in person, Esperanza was grateful to have fond memories by carrying her legacy through her name. Life’s motto concerns dealing with adversity and carrying the legacy of one’s family eternally. Being confident and smart was the only way to live by. No man was needed to help raise and nurture herself. Her grandmother instilled in Esperanza a sense of fortitude and independence. It is sad that a regret of Esperanza is linked to her grandmother, further illustrating the physical and mental hardships one can endure in

The novel touches on different themes and emotions including despair, loss, racial conflicts, and most importantly; greed, which the root of all evil in the story. It was greed that led Pánfilo de Narváez to cross the ocean in search of gold he convinced himself it existed in Florida. It was greed that made Estebanico forsake the profession of a notary that his father wanted for him and instead he ventured into trading, selling several human beings and eventually, selling himself into bondage.The theme of greed being dangerous is shown repeatedly throughout the course of the book. At the very start of the book, the governor wants to find the village of Apalache because he believes it to be filled with gold and other valuable treasure. As they start to get closer to the village, they don’t

It is anticipated that a Spanish scholar such as Tomàs de Mercado, would try to illustrate the downsides of silver because it had a devastating impact on the economy of Spain. Spain’s economy may have improved originally due to the expansion of silver trade but after a certain point the high prices began to hurt more than they helped(document 2). He points out that although Spain had silver, the high price of the necessary Asian commodities began to lead the the downfall of the country. Not only was the trade economy of Spain impacted but as shown in document 6 the people also had to pay greater taxes. This especially impacted the lower class. In document 6 it is expected that a priest would point out the the shortcomings of the government and take care of the lower class people. He mentions that a huge number of silver coins have been taken from mines that are uncovered by many low class peasants. Furthermore, the mining of silver was very dangerous and provided very cruel and unfair working conditions for the

Tom’s parents always flaunted their wealth; as did Tom’s grandparents. Their family was old money at its finest. It was the summer of 1903 in Chicago, a blinding day, the sun was beating down on the faces of the Buchanan family, who were sat in their 7-Sedan Rolls-Royce. For the Buchanan family this was less than a splurge, $12,900 was nothing to the Buchanan’s as they were old money. Tom sat in the back with his mother, breathing in the hot, muggy air. The chauffeur was sitting in the front on the brown leather seats driving. The chauffeur never talked in fear of being reprimanded by Mrs Buchanan.

2. Flashback: “His father said no more. The next day, he gave his son a pouch that held three ancient Spanish gold coins.” (Coelho, 11) In this quote, a flashback is shown because this event happened before the present time in the story. Santiago was thinking back on the time when his father gave him money to buy his flock.

In understanding the complex nature of the American Dream, Tom is the most egotistical of them all. His family has enormous wealth. Tom represents “old money” and the intergeneration transfer of wealth; which he offensively exploits. He lives in East Egg where the old aristocrats live. Tom is also a hypocrite, and his constant use of racist comments towards other ethnic groups and those less fortunate than himself indicate to me the reader that he feels he is superior.

Although prostitution may be one of the world’s oldest professions to this day it is seen as a degrading and disrespectful career especially when regarding female prostitutes. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the town is very critical and strict about chastity and premarital sex. Maria Alejandrina Cervantes is the town madam which by society’s standards makes her to most marginalized, but ironically she is not brought down by her society’s rules. Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses characterization and irony to demonstrate Maria Alejandrina Cervantes’s contradictory role and to develop the theme of going against society in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

Throughout history, many people struggle with greed. Greed is defined as a selfish desire for something. Throughout the story each character faces there own form of greed, whether they know it or not each action impacts each other and leads to the death of the mother’s son. In the short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner”, the author D.H lawrence uses a rocking horse, wealth, and lack of family intimacy to illustrate to the reader the disastrous problems with greed.

In the novella Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, uses the element point of view supported by certain motifs to portray society and how its gender roles affect the narration. The author’s choice in doing so is important simply because the novella is based on a real life story which occurred in Sucre, Colombia, in 1951, where he had lived. The incident happened while Gabriel Garcia Marquez was in college studying journalism, just like the narrator of the novel. Marquez happened to know some of the people involved, which gave the novella more significance. In the mid twentieth century, Colombian culture had various aspects due to its diversity and how society had evolved while still containing traditional