Pablo Neruda’s “I’m Explaining a Few Things” in Connection with Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits

Stones that the dry thistle would bite on and spit out.” Esteban Trueba’s eventual shift in character due to the violence seen by the military force of his beloved Conservative party in House of Spirits models after the shift in political alignment Neruda suffers after witnessing the blood shed of the innocent by the Faschists against the democratic Republicans. Both Neruda and Esteban realize that their current party is wrong in their doings, Neruda noting to “come and see the blood in the streets. Come and see the blood in the streets!” Colloquial statements and questions such as “You are going to ask”, “I’ll tell you the news”, and even the title of the poem “I’m explaining a few things” represent Nerudas very personal and emotional stance on the blood-filled civil war. Such personal statements as “Eh, Rafel? Fredrico, do you remember from under the ground…” and “come and see the blood in the streets” reiterate Neruda’s personal involvement and feelings revolving the civil war. It is clear he wrote this poem from a personal standpoint, writing of his own personal afflictions caused by the Franco revolt, and not from a observant and unbiased standpoint. The obvious personal disgust for the “Treacherous