House of the Spirits Essay Example for Free

House of the Spirits Essay The world is engulfed by positive and negative forces. Violence, the negative force, is always there around us. We silently experience its impact, without responding. When one responds to the violence vocally, it may or may not produce the desired effect. There are two parties to the violence-the perpetrators of the violence and the victims of the violence. When the victims of the violence suffer silently, that doesn’t mean everything is fine. The nature of violence is fire and its suddenness. It may instantly erupt like the fiery waves of Tsunami, and produce colossal damage; or arrive like the uncontrollable avalanche. Human efforts may not be able to contain the onward march of destruction. It may end of its own and retain its gains for ever. The boom of Latin American literature began in the 1960s, and Isabel Allende’s House of the Spirits is one such product of the boom era. Her big leap in the world of literature happened in the year 1985, when the translation of La casa de los espiritus saw the light of the day. She became an international figure, and she found her place in the same pedestal as that of Columbian Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Her work was compared to his One Hundred Years of Solitude. The highlight of the book is that it is written by a woman writer and a Chilean national. The plot of the novel is the saga of three generations of Trueba women—Clara, Blanca, and Alba. It is the story of the struggle of these women with Esteban Trueba, the domineering family patriarch. Allende takes on the story of the family and its political backdrop, which finally ends in a military coup and the eventual dictatorship. It is the conflict between the forces of Left and Right. In the book, the name of the country is not specifically mentioned as Chile, but the obvious is experienced by the reader. The content of the story is the deep reflection of her homeland, Chile. The legally elected administration, led by President Salvador Allende (Isabel’s uncle) was deposed by the military forces in the year 1973. The political current is flowing through the entire novel subtly and sometimes directly. It is very explicit, and don’t get carried away by the title of the book and conclude that it is the book on magic and spirits. It is a story of the family intermingled with the story of the Nation, Chile. The family of Esteban gets entangled with the political upheaval during the latter part of life. Extended family life is the highlight and is given lots of importance in the Chilean society. Couples live in their own houses, but the concept of larger families is popular, the small families look forward to their larger families for more than one objective. The holidays and weekends are spent in the company of relatives. Nuclear families look up for support from the extended-family ties in times of emergencies. Friendship among the adults is an encouraging feature of this system. Technological advance, industrial and internet revolutions have affected the social structure and made deep impact in all the aspects of life of humanity all over the world, and Chile is no exception. Gender rules and traditional areas have suffered the dent. Women in Chile seek employment in large numbers and they don’t wish to remain unschooled, as was the case a few decades ago. In 1990, about 50% of the student population in primary and secondary schools were female. In higher education the percentage was marginally lower; the female enrollment was 44%. There was steady increase of the female students in traditionally female profession of teachers, and also law, medicine, dentistry etc. The traditional pattern as for the roles of men and women and society has undergone noticeable change in Chile. Strong support, more than 80 percent, was seen for the view that women benefit as individuals if they work like men, outside home. Women wished to exercise their rights that paved way for development of their individual personality, which is linked to their economic prosperity. As for the attitude towards marriage, the sentence included in the family law, â€Å"women should obey their husbands,† found favor with only 40% of women, whereas 55% men still held the traditional views. Another important aspect of a similar survey was, men should participate more actively in household work. 70% of men and 92% of women concurred with this view. Isabbel Allende’s novel covers three generations of women in Chile and the notion that women reach full self-realization primarily through motherhood has also seen much modification during this era. Fewer children are now preferred and day care facility for their small children is extensively used by the working mothers. The extended family tradition even now prevailing also puts the working mothers in an advantageous position. The system of employing female domestic servants is in vogue amongst the middle-class and upper class households. The Chilean women face a three-pronged drive against them. The Nation is known for its authoritarianism and Catholicism. The people have experienced dictatorship as well as democracy which have affected the life in one way or the other. The transition from dictatorship to democracy and the reconstruction of the democratic institutions have also resulted in inherent changes as for the position and status of women in the Chilean society. NGO’s re playing the active role to improve the standard of living as well as the standard of life of women. The most provocative issue of women in Chile is abortion. Abortion is illegal in Chile. However, the ground realities are, one in four pregnancies ends in abortion. Poor women are mostly affected as they lack proper education and do not have access to safe, private clinics. Even in this modern era, there are women’s rights opponents in Chile, both at the governmental and NGO levels. But Allende opines that it is difficult to resist social change, and the traditionalists don’t seem to have a happy future. Jane Futcher, of San Francisco Chronicle gives the ‘synopsis’ of the book in two sentences: Nothing short of astonishing In The House of the Spirits Isabelle Allende has shown us the relationships between past and present, family and nation, city and country, spiritual and political values. She has done so with enormous imagination, sensitivity, and compassion. But such organizations face strong opposition from the Church as Allende puts it, â€Å"†¦ and putting women on an equal footing with menthis in open defiance of the law of God, which was most explicit on the issue. † Whenever the Nation is in turmoil, for whatever reasons, women and children are the intense sufferers. They face loss of anxiety and uncertainties. The problems in an extended Chilean family were comparable to the problems of the Nation. Allende is at great pains to understand and explain why the 1973 coup happened at all. A democratically elected socialist president was removed from power and killed by Pinochet. The book holds the inherent clashes that were part of the society for such an unfortunate development to occur. The pairs of opposites, like landlords and tenants, conservatives and communists began to attack each other. No one thought about the after effects of the harsh churning of the society. Dictatorship emerged, actually no one wanted it. By the time the people realized the futility of their approach and action, much harm had already been done to the Chilean national psyche. Normalcy was restored after the nation went through convulsions. Conclusion: The pages of human history daubed in bloodshed of World Wars I II, Nanking Massacre (China) and the violence without intermission in Chile, ask the crying question. How to make this violence-prone Planet Earth heaven like? The answer is simple and direct. Eyes, full of understanding, heart full of love and the life that refuses conflicts-these alone are enough. If a question is posed whether the happenings in Trueba family is the ‘micro’ example of the ‘macro’ happenings in Chile, the answer would be both yes and no! The patriarch of the family is, ipso facto, a dictator—he possesses a volatile, harsh unreasonable temper and also the obsessive ability to love through possession. The day to day developments and realities seemed to have no effect on the Treuba family as such. They came out unfazed through the dark days of the dictatorship. Yet to be sure, most of them were psychologically affected, even though they did not discuss their grievances and opinions openly. But no one was happy about the unfortunate developments that engulfed the country. Allende describes how, over the time people soften and lose their angry identity, and are amenable to reason. How the country overcame its demons, and the determination of the people not to let the old days return. They would like to forget the shudder of disgust related to all sorts of violence. Allende’s depiction of the controversial events in Chilean history is even, intelligent and highly illuminating. Yet, the novel written by a woman author has got to address the pressing issues related to the welfare of women. House of the Spirits is a truly poignant story covering all the aspects of human life, is trials, tribulations, its duty and beauty. It is the story of love and hate; betrayal and acceptance; pride and prejudice. The importance of family bonds has been rightly highlighted. A joint family means actually a ‘group insurance cover’ for all the members of the family and a great psychological security. The possibilities of a life of love are infinite. There lies a unique joy in giving, that one will never find in accepting. References Cited: Allende, Isabel: Book: The House of the Spirits. 448 pages Publisher: Bantam (July 1, 1986), 448 pages. Language: English ISBN-10: 0553273914 ISBN-13: 978-0553273915