The House of the spirits is a book that contains a lot of supernatural events. Throughout this book

Esperanza is the protagonist of the story. She is very wealthy and gets everything she wants. She struggles through her father’s death and moving to California. Throughout the story she becomes very mature, determined, and a hard worker. She really shocked me because she was a very spoiled princess who became a very strong migrant worker. Ramona Ortega also known as Mama is Esperanza’s mother. They are always together and she helped Esperanza stay strong. Throughout the story she is very strong but becomes very ill and depressed. Miguel was Esperanza’s best friends when they were little kids. He is the child of two servants that work for the family. He wants to become a mechanic and is very determined to reach that goal. They still look after eachother, even though they aren’t very close due to their social status. In the end he is able to bring back Abuelita back from Mexico. Hortensia was a servant that took care of their family. She always looked after Esperanza and was almost like a second mother. She was a Zapotec Indian. She was Alfonso’s wife and the mother of Miguel. Alfonso was a field worker and a very close friend to Papa. He loved the land and took care of the rose garden. He is the main person who helped everyone get to California. Isabel is the daughter of Juan and Josefina. She is only 9 years old but can clean, do laundry, and change diapers. She was the one who taught Esperanza how to do housework. She becomes very close friends with Esperanza. Isabel is the only one who goes to school to learn to read, write, and speak

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

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

Esperanza is faced with several major events that forces her to mature at a young age. In these events readers can see how she grows as her emotions change. In the beginning of the book, Esperanza’s father passes away (p. 22) and their family home on the ranch, El Rancho de las Rosas, catches on fire (p.40). This is the beginning of Esperanza's quickly changed young life. As a young girl she realizes life will never be the same. She once was wealthy and lived life with the help of housekeepers. Papa also had field workers to help with his needs on the farm. Raised with a positive perspective on life, her hopes and dreams are soon challenged. Esperanza is forced to leave everything she has ever known to move to the United States. The fire is symbolic because the family is forced start all over, in life, along with her social

During this time Enrique meets a girl named Maria Isabel who much like Enrique has moved from home to home over the course of her life. As the two start spending more time together Enrique wants to start a family with Maria Isabel so that they may both have a more permanent family structure, but Enrique’s drug habits worsen. Because of Enrique’s misfortunes with drugs he put his family at risk with his drug dealer threating to kill his cousin who he believes to be Enrique’s sister. To prevent his drug dealer from murdering his cousin Enrique steals jewelry from his aunt. Enrique tries to get his life back on track but gets into fights with his family and is eventually kicked out of his grandmother’s home; around this time Enrique also find out Maria Isabel is pregnant with his child. Enrique felt that being left behind by his mother as the root of his problems in life and as such sets off on a journey to America believing that she is the key to fixing his

Beginning with the complexities of Ida’s family–including her nuclear family with the addition of her aunt Clara–and her social life and later relationships, the eldest-most narrator recalled her perspective of the significant events of the early-to-mid chapter of her lifetime and the outcomes of her relationships within. Almost directly after being introduced to Ida’s point of view, it is revealed that her aunt and best friend, Clara had, through the duration of her sister’s–Ida’s mother–illness, been impregnated with the child of her brother-in-law–Ida’s father. The impending child was to be Rayona’s mother, Christine. Subsequent to the news of

Clara possesses two different types of loves that are portrayed very strong within this novel for; Ferula Trueba, and Pedro Segundo. The relationships for these people were not acceptable within this society. Clara’s relationship with Ferula is very strong, it is more of a friendship relationship, then it

Although the book’s titular character is Oscar de Leon, he shares chapters with his sister, his mother, his college roommate, Yunior (revealed to be the book’s narrator), and his mother’s parents, the Cabrals. By representing a family with different personalities—Oscar is overweight, and nerdy while Lola is powerful and independent, for example—Díaz creates a microcosm for all Dominican immigrants. Each chapter (and character) in the past is melded into the story in the present, and in this way, the momentum and excitement is never lost until the very last

The book states, “ For two years, Enrique is entrusted to his father, Luis, from whom his mother had been separated for three years”(Nazario 7). This shows that Enriques attachment with his father wasn’t so great, but he still tried to make the best out of it. also, The book mentions that, “ when Enrique is seven, his father brings a women home”(Nazario 9). This lady really did not like Enrique and did not give up until Enrique was kicked out the house. Enrique did well for a while, but then his dad leaves him for the women and he stays with his grandma.

Even though Lourdes is gone Enrique receives constant reminders about his mom leaving with gifts and notes. Enrique’s world turns upside down again when his dad leaves him for another woman and family. Enrique begins to feel disheveled and upset because the only parent like figure that he has left is his

How and when three of the four Mirabal sisters died is established before the book is even opened as it was a true event and it is identified in any summary of the novel. Yet the story is partially told by these three sisters anyway, creating an unbearable sense of tension throughout the book as readers wonder when they will read of their deaths. They also continually interact with Trujillo, each scene making the family’s

In the text “The Fall of the House of Usher” there are supernatural events throughout the short story. From the rapidly decaying house that is quite literally connected to the main character Roderick Usher, to the ghost of Roderick's twin sister Madeline. “House of Usher” -- an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion. This line gives us a hint from the title toward the supernatural link between the physical house collapsing and the metaphorical “fall” of the Usher Family. I believe Edgar Poe did this to evoke an uncanny feeling in the reader and to add to the sublime of the short story. This link between living and inanimate gives the story an extra gothic element. “There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold -- then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.” The supernatural element of Madeline “coming back from the dead” or being a ghost creates conflict within the plot and therefore leads to the inevitable fall of the Usher Family. I believe this ghostly figure struck fear into the reader creating a suspenseful follow up, allowing the imagination to take off and picture this supernatural occurrence. This was never an explained supernatural event. It was left up to the reader's imagination and their assumption as to what is real and what is a figment of the characters imagination. “There was a long and

In many novels, relationships shape a character. Throughout Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits dissimilar individuals constantly come together to form relationships that change or develop their disposition. While Allende uses relationships to build upon a character, she also depicts a character's living environment in order to confirm their true soul and lifestyle. Due to the observation of both relationships and environments, a character's true qualities are expressed to a reader. The relationship between two individuals, Ferula and Clara, proves itself a positive product of the union of differing people. Through analysis of Ferula's home and close observation of her bond with Clara,

The House of the Spirits contains numerous themes each as significant as the last. Personally, my favorite theme was the fact that no matter the situation family will always stick by you and will come to your aid. Allende illustrates this when Jaime decided to help Nicolás with Amanda’s pregnancy no matter how much it pained him and reminded him that she wasn’t his, no matter how much he loved her.  Equally important is the struggle between classes. For instance, in the very begining when Esteban goes to the mine in order to be rich enought to marry Rosa because her family was of a higher class than Esteban’s. Moreover, the author higlights the significance of women’s power and equality. Throughout the novel we see the main characters, who

But with time, he comes to adore her. Esteban despairs Clara because she treats him like everyone else. He tries to make her jealous by going to brothels but it doesn’t work- Clara is as impassive as her. Esteban’s love for Clara is “the most powerful emotion of his life”. The underlying reason was loss of love; the emotional breakdown he had been through opened up new gaps in him, and Clara filled those gaps perfectly. His fondness and besottedness for Clara grew to such an extent that he banished his sister Ferula from the house out of suspicion: he thought of Ferula’s love for Clara to be too intimate for friendship. This in turn reflects his possessiveness for Clara.