House of the Spirits, Major Motifs Essay

This is emphasized when even Pedro and Mama Elena, two of the more reserved characters

The Haunting by Joan Lowery Nixon is a mystery novel about how a teenage girl learns about the brave women in her family who did not even go near their famous haunted plantation, Graymoss. Fifteen year old Lia Starling just received the message that her great grandmother is giving her mother Anne, the property of Graymoss plantation. It has been kept in good care since Charlotte Blevin’s, (Lia’s great, great, great grandmother) grandfather died during the Civil War. Her parents dreamed of having a large family with a dozen unadopted children. But her parents refuse to listen to anyone about the evil spirits that haunts Graymoss. Lia gives her all to find out who or what the spirits wants even when she is scared to death. In the end, she solves

In Isabel Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits, there are two definitive classes of people that are present throughout the novel. The poor class, including the peasants of Tres Marias and the socialist party members, has continual resentment towards the other class, which is the wealthy aristocratic class. The wealthy division of the novel shows little humanity towards the poor, treats the poor as servants, and control all politics involved in the country. The wealthy’s treatment of the lower class shattered the peace experienced by Chile because the poor and the wealthy maintained a struggle to co-exist with such division between their

To begin, Cisneros uses metaphors of classism to express Espernaza’s views of classism and how it causes those of a lower class to be devalued. Throughout the novel, Esperanza dreams of moving into a new house, a house on the hill because “people who live on hills sleep so close to the stars that they forget about [those] who live on earth” (86). The house on the hill is a metaphor for those who are higher up in the social class. Those who live on the hills live their live their entire lives so easily and “[do not] look down at all except to be content to live on the hills” (86). Esperanza critiques that the higher class are happy with their own lives and ignorant to their privilege, therefore, they do not care about the less fortunate. This metaphor of

Not a daddy 's. A house all [her] own" (Cisneros 108). Esperanza wants her own house, and not her father 's or her husband 's which shows her growth into an independent person. She wants "a house all [her] own", which shows the importance of her finding her own identity. She emphasizes on "Not a man 's house... [or] a daddy 's" because she is not someone 's daughter or wife, but her own person. Before, Esperanza did not know that she needed to have her own identity, but by wanting her own house and not a house that belongs to someone else, it shows the transformation that Esperanza experiences since the beginning. Because in the beginning, she did not have her own identity, but by realizing and understanding the importance of her independence and her own individuality. Thus, through her self-growth, Cisneros demonstrates how Esperanza becomes a more independent person as well as her experiences with the world transforming her into a more mature woman.

Imagery is a portrait that is painted in your mind, a portrait that makes you feel you are there. The Holocaust is full of disturbing and horrible images of death. Pictures of inhumanity that just make you sick looking at them. In many images you see the pale, unemotional faces whose lives were changed for eternity, and yet with these images some believe that the Holocaust did not happen. In the Holocaust there was mass genocide of over six million Jews. Also many ethnic Poles, gypsies, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, disabled people, homosexual men, and political and religious opponents were targeted by the Nazis to be exterminated. Hitler’s ultimate goal during the Holocaust was to

Maria is a traditional Mexican wife, she feels that children should be well mannered and respect all adults. "-And when he returns, I want you children to show your manners. You must not shame your father or your mother (7)," she tells her children while preparing for the arrival of Ultima. "My mother beamed. Deborah's good manners surprised her, but they made her happy, because a family was judged by its manners (11)," Antonio tries to describe the feelings that his mother has when his sister demonstrated good manners toward Ultima. Maria wants her family to respectable, because those families that are not are talked about in the community. She wants to be the best mother possible, and tries to make them realize that without certain things a family will not survive. She stays home and cooks and cleans for her family, because that is what was customary for the traditional Mexican wife to do. "The first day she put on her apron and helped my mother with breakfast, later she swept the house and then helped my mother wash our clothes in the old washing machine (14), Anthony explaining what his mothers daily activities consisted of. Maria tended her garden and did things close to home, she never went out and did things with her friends,

Esperanza is a shy but a very bright girl. She dreams of the perfect home now, with beautiful flowers in their luscious garden and a room for everyone to live in comfortably all because of the unsatisfied face the nun made that one afternoon--when she moves to the house of Mango Street. She thinks it’s going to be a “grand house on a hill that will have a bedroom for everyone and at least three washrooms so when they took a bath they would not have to tell everybody.” (Cinceros 4) Reality is so different for her when her dream is shot down in a heartbeat when she

Clara’s only daughter, Blanca, was not born with the gifts of visions as her mother was but was down to earth, sensual, and passionate (Rossman 55). Living on an estate in Tres Marias, is where she meets the person that would ignite her strength of passion, Pedro Tercero. Pedro was a peasant’s son who lived on the Trueba’s estate. During this time in Latin America, people stayed with their own class. Pedro being a peasant, was classified as bad for Blanca. During The House of the Spirits,

Imagery In Elie Wiesel’s Novel Night In the novel Night written by Elie Wiesel there are many graphic descriptions that leave you horrified and utterly shocked. By using this descriptive imagery Wiesel helped form the purpose and tone throughout the troubled memoir. During WWII Hitler, the leader of Germany and conqueror of many other areas surrounding Germany, he and his army targeted the jewish community and took extreme measures to try and eradicate them.

One of the ways that Cisneros leverages the symbol of houses is with her recurring use of them in the vignette, Alicia and I talking on Edna's Steps. In fact, Esperanza emphasizes her morose mindset by saying, “No, this isn’t my house I say and shake my head as if shaking no could undo the year I’ve lived here” (Cisneros 106). This excerpt demonstrates that Esperanza dislikes her current home and wishes she could go back and tell her parents to move someplace else. However, as much as she would like to deny it, she is unable to ignore her home, because she lives there, and that is not something you can easily change. As Esperanza’s thought process moves on, she constantly mentions not belonging to her house. The aforementioned house’s recurrence further proves that one really can’t escape from their roots. Additionally, the text states, “...today she is listening to my sadness because I don’t have a house” (Cisneros 106). In this quote, Esperanza is reminded of her home by her friend Alicia, and she goes into a downward spiral of apathy. This example relates to the thesis by stating her need to go away from home. It also showcases the main symbol in this story: a home. Esperanza’s countless attempts to get away from home end up in her going in a circle. For example, in the vignette The Monkey Garden, Esperanza tries killing herself to escape her home, but, “not even the monkey garden would have me” (Cisneros 96). In addition to the other statements, Esperanza does not let herself believe that she is a part of Mango Street. The end of the vignette informs the readers of her stubbornness by telling the readers, “...but me, I never had a house, not even a photograph...only one I dream of” (Cisneros 107). This section

Throughout the text, Tormes openly criticizes the church. He discusses the faults within the Spanish nobles when it comes to the notion of honour they are expected to have. Tormes expresses his subversion towards Spain and the Church in the subtlest of ways. He is a man who pushed himself to become better than what he was thought to be in order to destroy the way of thinking of those higher than him. He pushes boundaries like no other. Further on, this text also includes recurring folk and mythical elements – this is another stereotypical type of subversive literature. The Life of Lazarillo De Tormes shows how, even though being in a time where he was seen as inferior due to his social status as well as being a time of oppression that was controlled by a religious hierarchy, it doesn’t conform. It shows how Tormes was not accepting of the “exempla” genre that held popularity and approval. This shows a way were Tormes is literally subversive towards the society he was placed in. Through the text, we experience, on multiple occasions, the thoughts and feeling Tormes holds on the society and land he lives in. Tormes utilizes euphemism in order to throw in subtle comments and hints on how he resents the noble system and the church control over Spain. This subtleness allows Tormes to convey his disdain emotions towards the system in way that wouldn’t be view as excessively unorthodox.

The villagers later decide they need to hold a magnificent funeral for Esteban and they hope that he will return to them one day, as he is a part of their community in their eyes. “They let him go without an anchor so that he could come back if he wished and whenever he wished, and they all held their breath for the fraction of centuries the body took to fall into the abyss. They did not need to look at one another to realize that they were no longer all present that they would never be” (Marquez, 1972, p. 4). They hold Esteban in such high esteem, yet he is only a dead corpse. This shows the characteristics of

Taking the location of the story into consideration we are able to understand that it is set in a small, isolated, confined community that is somewhat abandoned by the outside world. It is understandable that this isolation of the community has allowed it to maintain obsolete traditions which remain implanted in their society. Traditions such as the “honor killing” of Santiago Nasar or the “cult of death,” that the Vicario daughters practiced, as well as the custom of superstition and of course the essential concept of pride and honor.

High upon a lonely hill surrounded by a great dark forest, stood an ancient, crumbling manor, known as the Haunted House. The windows were all smashed and it looked like the house was used a long time ago and was never used again. The font gates were as old as the hills. It belonged to a greedy old man, he was as short as a stump, he was really grumpy and fat who everyone said he was a wizard. Even though he owned the immense haunted house he didn’t dare to go inside because he was frightened like a child in dark, so he lived in the small cottage in the grounds of the manor, with just his black cat for company. He was as lonely as the master who has go to war, but hews happy, because he had a true love. His true love was gold, and he had