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Unexpectedly Important Characters in House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

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Isabel Allende in House of the Spirits portrayed many seemingly minor characters that ended up having a greater role than expected. One of the unexpected characters was Alba. Despite the fact that Alba was not born until chapter nine, she played a significant role in the plot of the story and character dynamics of the Trueba family and other strong men and women. This then lead to the fact that Allende built up powerful and outspoken personalities to ultimately create one strong character, Alba, who finished the novel with a shocking and hopeful ending. Alba was brought into the world as a beautiful baby, with good astrological fortune. In her first hours, she already had traits that resembled her to two strong-minded characters, Rosa …show more content…

So as eccentric as Alba’s living conditions already were, things get even more unusual when she began to undergo Nicholas’s weekly teachings of pain induration. “Her uncle helped her think of all these things without crying, and taught her to relax and not resist the pain so that it would pass through her without stopping” (Page 274). Little Alba, who worked hard for her uncle’s appreciation participated and cooperated through all his activities. “If she managed to get through … all the tests Nicholas imposed, she won a prize” (Page 274). While held captive by Esteban Garcia and the Security Police this ability helped her withstand the suffering. Alba “inherited” Nicholas’s quality of endurance and self-dignity that helped her survive “The Terror”. Jaime provided Alba with a vast knowledge of medicine and the human anatomy through his revealing books. This knowledge of the human body surprised Esteban Garcia when “[he] took her hand and placed it on his stiffened sex [and she replied] [y]our penis” (Page 286). Jaime also taught Alba to do as she pleased, and not what pleased others. This then helped her remain loyal to what she thought was right during all that she overcame. A strong-minded character that made a significant appearance in the novel was Amanda. Amanda was introduced as Nicholas’s girlfriend, who believed in the freedom of pleasure (Page 216 and 222). “They encouraged his [Nicholas] love for her” (Page 220). Jaime fell in love with her at first

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