The house of the spirits of Isabel Allende: summary, analysis and characters of the book

The book The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende is a novel published in 1982. It tells the story of four family generations in a Latin American country in the 20th century. Allende threads aspects such as social injustice, the change in the role of women in society and the popular struggle against tyranny, in the midst of an environment of modernization and effervescence ideological.

This work marks Allende's literary debut as a storyteller, and it quickly became a controversial best-seller. This is due to several aspects. In the literary sense, Allende crosses a realistic account of contemporary Chilean history with magical and wonderful elements. In her non-literary aspects, Allende arouses controversy both because of her own political convictions and because of her family ties with Salvador Allende.

We present below the summary of the novel The House of Spirits, followed by a brief analysis and a descriptive list of all the characters.

Summary of The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

In the first decades of the 20th century, Severo and Nívea del Valle founded a large and well-off family. Both Severo and Nívea are liberals. He has political aspirations and she is a pioneer of feminism. Among the many children of this marriage, Rosa la Bella and Clara the clairvoyant stand out.

Clara is the youngest of her siblings. He possesses a special sensitivity for telekinesis, communication with spirits, and divination. He keeps a journal that he calls a "life logbook." During his childhood, he predicts an accidental death in the family.

Rosa, of singular beauty, maintains a long-distance engagement with Esteban Trueba, a young man from a family in ruins. The young man had gone into the mines in search of a vein of gold that would pay him resources to marry Rosa and to support her mother, Esther, and her sister, Férula.

A family tragedy

During the wait, Rosa dies of poisoning, the victim of an attack aimed at eliminating Severo. The event removes Severo from politics. Clara feels guilty for having sensed the fact and not being able to avoid it, so she decides to stop talking.

Regretful of having wasted his time in the mine, Esteban Trueba goes into the fields to recover the family farm Las Tres Marías.

The Three Marys and the birth of a fortune

Trueba conquers prosperity in a few years with the help of the peasants and the administrator, Pedro García. Known for his despotic treatment, Esteban Trueba rapes every peasant girl that he encounters in his path. The first is the fifteen-year-old daughter of her administrator, Pancha García, whom she impregnates without taking responsibility.

He also frequents brothels, where he meets Tránsito Soto, a prostitute to whom he lends 50 pesos in exchange for a favor. The boss returns to the city when he receives a letter from Férula warning him that his mother is dying.

Meanwhile, Clara, who is now of marriageable age, breaks the silence and predicts her marriage to Trueba.

The birth of the Trueba del Valle family

Tired of the lonely and wild life, Esteban decides to start a family with Clara, Rosa's younger sister. The couple left for Las Tres Marías. Clara invites Férula to live with them, who takes care of the housework and dedicates all kinds of pampering and care to her sister-in-law.

Esteban abandons his old habits with women and has an intense married life with Clara. From her marriage three children are born: Blanca and the twins, Jaime and Nicolás. But Férula falls in love with Clara without her noticing. When Esteban notices her, she kicks her out of the house. Ferula curses him, announcing that he will shrink and that he will die alone. Ferula dies alone a few years later.

The changing of the times

Since Férula's departure, Clara governs domestic life and is committed to educating and assisting workers. Meanwhile, the twins are educated in a school far from the countryside and their parents while Blanca remains on the farm.

Trueba expels Pedro Tercero García from the ranch, who was the son of the current administrator, Pedro Segundo. He kicks him out for spreading socialist ideas through music, not knowing that he had a loving relationship with Blanca since childhood. The lovers are betrayed by Count Jean de Satigny, a French nobleman had made himself stay at Trueba's house to involve him in his business. Trueba beats Blanca and beats his wife. They both march to the city.

Esteban Trueba fixes a reward to whoever informs him of the whereabouts of Pedro Tercero. Pancha García's grandson, Esteban García, gives him away. Ignorant of his identity, Trueba denies him the reward for informing. Esteban García is filled with a desire for revenge.

Trueba cuts three of Pedro Tercero's fingers with an ax. But, over time, thanks to the guidance of the Jesuit José Dulce María, he continues his career as a musician and becomes a renowned protest singer.

An inconvenient marriage

Soon after, the twins discovered that their sister Blanca was pregnant and notified Esteban Trueba. This forced Jean de Satigny to marry her and assume her paternity.

The count released Blanca from the obligation to consummate the marriage. Over time, the eccentricities of her husband caught Blanca's attention until she discovered that she was using her photo lab to rehearse sexual scenes with her domestic staff. Blanca decides to go back to her mother's house.

The return to the house of the spirits

The town house was frequented by all kinds of esoteric and bohemian people, as well as spirits. Jaime devoted himself to the study of medicine and served the poor in the hospital. Nicolás wandered from one invention to the other without responsibility, next to his lover Amanda, who had a little brother named Miguel.

Nicolás makes Amanda pregnant, and she decides to have an abortion. Jaime, who is secretly in love with Amanda, assists her. They are living a season in the house, while Blanca returns and gives birth to Alba.

Esteban Trueba's political career

Esteban Trueba returns home to the city to pursue a political career. He becomes a senator for the Conservative Party. Trueba receives a visit from Esteban García grandson, who returns to collect his reward. Thinking that he will be able to profit, he grants him a letter of recommendation to enter the police force.

Fearful that his eccentricities of his son Nicolás, who is now a Hindu, the patriarch embarks him to the United States, where, without having proposed it, Nicolás achieves economic success as a leader spiritual.

Clara dies when Alba reaches seven years of age, but her spirit does not leave the house. She is buried with the head of her mother, Nívea, who died years ago with her father in a traffic accident. His head had been lost and, with her gift of divination, Clara had recovered and preserved it.

The rise of the left

The atmosphere is permeated with the ideals of the left. Alba, now a university student, falls in love with Miguel, a revolutionary student. She participates with him in a demonstration, where she was identified by the police officer Esteban García.

Against all odds, the left comes to power. The agrarian reform takes her land away from Esteban Trueba. In an attempt to recover them, the boss ends up as hostage to his peasant farmers in Las Tres Marías. Pedro Tercero, now a minister, rescues him on behalf of Blanca and Alba, who only then finds out that this was his father.

The opposition is dedicated to destabilizing the economy and haranguing the spirits of the military to provoke a coup and return to power. But the military had other plans: to implant an iron and violent dictatorship.

The military dictatorship

The military is dedicated to annihilating anyone who had a relationship with the ousted President. Thus, they assassinate Jaime, who was in the presidential office.

When Esteban finally recognizes her political error, Blanca confesses that Pedro Tercero is hiding in the house. Freed from hatred, Trueba helps him escape and sends him with Blanca to Canada.

Miguel joins the guerrilla. Alba is dedicated to giving temporary refuge to the politically persecuted in the house until she is arrested, without Senator Trueba being able to prevent it. Due to her, Esteban García subjects her to all kinds of torture and rape.

Outcome

Esteban Trueba goes to Tránsito Soto in search of the favor owed. Now a businesswoman in a successful brothel, his contacts with the military allow him to achieve Alba's release.

Miguel and Esteban Trueba make peace and agree to take Alba out of the country, but she decides to stay and wait for Miguel. Together with his grandfather, he retrieves Clara's notebooks to write family history between them.

Esteban Trueba dies in the arms of her granddaughter, knowing that he is loved by her. Freed of all resentment, his spirit was reunited with Clara's.

Analysis of The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

The novel The House of Spirits it is structured in fourteen chapters and an epilogue. It has something particular: at no time does Isabel Allende identify the name of the country, the city or the prominent political or social actors. She refers to the latter as El Candidato (or El Presidente) and El Poeta.

Certainly, we can recognize the history of Isabel Allende's native Chile (the allusion to Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet or the poet Pablo Neruda). However, this omission seems deliberate. As the researcher Idelber Avelar argues in an essay entitled The House of Spirits: The Story of the Myth and the Myth of History, the work is outlined as a map where the Latin American and universal struggle against authoritarianism can be recognized.

Narrative voice

The House of Spirits it is a novel is narrated by two characters. The main thread is carried by Alba, who reconstructs the family history through the "notebooks to write down life" written by her grandmother Clara of her. Most of the time, Alba assumes the voice of an omniscient narrator, except for the epilogue and other fragments, where she narrates with her own voice.

Alba's narratives are intercepted and supplemented from time to time by the testimony of Esteban Trueba, who writes in the first person. Through Trueba's testimony, we can learn about those aspects that Clara could not have written down in her notebooks.

Between the wonderful and the realistic

Following the investigative researcher Idelber Avelar, the novel stands out for intertwining magical and wonderful aspects with realism, without one aspect affecting or questioning the other. The wonderful and the real seem to coexist like two worlds that communicate with each other, without interference.

Therefore, although divinations make us think of an inescapable idea of ​​destiny, they only confirm the law of cause and effect. The actions of the characters provoke the events, and the enlightened beings can hardly anticipate it.

The characters accept the wonderful events as a true fact. Therefore, Esteban Trueba does not doubt that the curse of his sister Férula will be fulfilled. But it was not like that at all. His temperament changes changed his final destiny.

The political question

Politics introduces tragedy and death into the story or, indeed, the injustices of the social structure. These are the true factors that modify the lives of the characters and twist the thread of the story. It is clear that spirits cannot against it.

The death of rose, heralds the panorama to come: from the conservatism of the beginning of the century to the extreme right of the 60s and 70s, the factors of power show their tyrannical vocation. It is a struggle between the left and the right that runs through Latin American history.

The class struggle

The naturalization of social injustice and poverty dominate the political imagination of the ruling elite, of which Esteban Trueba is a representation. Trueba represents the economic power that justifies authoritarianism in the name of the "civilization" of the people.

For their part, Severo, Nívea, Blanca and Clara symbolize bourgeois thought in its different expressions. Blanca and Clara help those in need. Jaime represents the democratic commitment through the medical profession at the service of the people. Nicolás represents a sector that evades reality through an unclassifiable spirituality.

The concerns and struggles of the popular sector are represented in many different ways. We can identify at least three:

1. A sector that accepts the social order and submission. This is the case of Pedro García and his son, Pedro Segundo.
2. A sector aware that their rights have been taken away from them, perceive themselves as victims, but they cannot articulate better alternatives. For example, Pancha and Esteban García, and the peasants who take the boss hostage.
3. A sector that proposes the change of the order established by one based on justice. This is divided into two: those who fight through civilian means (like Pedro Tercero), and those who take the armed route, like Miguel.

The role of the Catholic Church

Allende shows different representations of the leaders of the Catholic Church through three types of priests: Father Restrepo, Father Antonio, and Father José Dulce María.

Father Restrepo embodies the ecclesiastical conception prior to the Second Vatican Council, where frequently the preaching of hell received more attention than the preaching of grace. The fanatic Father Restrepo finds sin in everything he observes and his position is conservative.

Father Antonio represents the most traditional mid-century priests, who accompany the faithful most devoted to him. He is about an apolitical priest, who wanders between moralism and curiosity about the little perversions that he hears in his confessional. However, he is a good friend of Ferula.

Father José Dulce María is a Jesuit priest who gives the gospel a social interpretation. This priest represents the ecclesiastical sectors that assume the people's struggle as their own and are committed to the search for justice, equity and freedom.

The role of women

From the beginning of the novel, the character of Nívea announces a new role for women in society. When her husband retires from politics, she becomes a prominent feminist activist.

In Clara and Blanca, we still see the consequences of a patriarchal society that imposes certain roles on women. Even so, they are not submissive women, but women who are conquering their own authority from their positions that challenges the patriarchal order.

Alba will be the consummation of this, as she becomes a university student and she fights as she can to defend her ideals. Alba completely conquers her autonomy and earns the respect of her conservative grandfather.

This is why for Michael Handelsman, in an article titled The house of spirits and the evolution of modern women, female characters are not simple themeRather, they move the threads of the story, confront power and provoke significant transformations in the story.

Alba as a scapegoat

Alba, Trueba's only granddaughter, awakens her hidden tenderness in him. The great patriarch, irate and vengeful, finds a crack in his granddaughter through which her hardness melts away. The dramatically interrupted transformation that Clara had brought about in him in the early years of her youth was continued through Alba.

It is Alba who atones in her own flesh for the mistakes of her grandfather, when Esteban García turns against her the years of accumulated resentment against the Trueba. As a scapegoat, Alba introduces her grandfather's redemption and justifies family history as part of a collective imagination that embodies the values ​​of freedom, justice, and fairness.

Although the novel does not resolve which sector will triumph, the link between Esteban Trueba and Alba can be read as an expression of a just and necessary reconciliation between the sectors of civil society, a reconciliation capable of confronting the true enemy: the chain of resentments, founded and unfounded, that lead to tyranny military.

Characters

Severo del Valle. Cousin and husband of Nívea. Member of the Liberal Party.

Nívea del Valle. Cousin and wife of Severo. Feminism activist.

Rose of the Valley (Rosa la Bella). Daughter of Severo and Nívea. Fiancée of Esteban Trueba. She dies poisoned.

Clara del Valle. Younger daughter of Severo and Nívea. Matriarch and clairvoyant. Esteban Trueba's wife and mother of Blanca, Jaime and Nicolás. She writes her memoirs in her life notebooks. She guesses the fate of the family.

Uncle Marcos. Clara's favorite uncle, eccentric, adventurous and dreamer. He loses his life in one of his bizarre adventures.

Esteban Trueba. Son of Esteban and Esther, of wild temperament. In love with Rosa until her death. He marries Clara, Rosa's sister. Patriarch. Leader of the conservative party.

Trueba splint. Sister of Esteban Trueba. Single and virgin, dedicated to the care of her mother and then to the care of her sister-in-law Clara de ella, with whom she falls in love with her.

Ester Trueba. Sick and dying mother of Esteban and Férula Trueba.

Blanca Trueba del Valle. Oldest daughter of Clara and Esteban Trueba. She falls in love with Pedro Tercero García.

Jaime Trueba del Valle. Twin of Nicolás, son of Clara and Esteban Trueba. Left-wing idealist. Doctor dedicated to the care of the poor in the hospital.

Nicolás Trueba del Valle. Jaime's twin, son of Clara and Esteban Trueba. Without a defined vocation, he ends up exploring Hinduism and finds in it his personal and economic fulfillment.

Jean de Satigny. French count. Blanca Trueba's husband in an arranged marriage. Never consume your union. He gives his surname to Blanca's daughter with Pedro Tercero García.

Alba by Satigny Trueba. Daughter of Blanca and Pedro Tercero, adopted by Jean de Satigny. Commune with the ideas of the left. She falls in love with the guerrilla Miguel, Amanda's brother.

Pedro Garcia. First administrator of the Las Tres Marías farm.

Pedro Segundo Garcia. The son of Pedro García and second administrator of the Las Tres Marías farm.

Pedro Tercero Garcia. Son of Pedro Segundo. He falls in love with Blanca. He embraces the ideas of the left and preaches them among the tenants of Las Tres Marías. He is fired by Trueba.

Pancha Garcia. Daughter of Pedro García and sister of Pedro Segundo. She is raped by Esteban Trueba in her youth, from whom she becomes pregnant.

Esteban García (son). Unrecognized son of Esteban Trueba and Pancha García.

Esteban García (grandson). Unrecognized grandson of Esteban Trueba and Pancha García. He grows up wanting revenge against the entire Trueba family. He tortures Alba.

Father Restrepo. Conservative-minded priest and fervent preacher of hell.

Father Antonio. Confessor of Férula Trueba. He assists her spiritually in the last years of her life.

Father Juan Dulce María. Jesuit priest committed to the people, close to the ideas of the left. Friend of Pedro Tercero García.

Amanda. Miguel's sister. Lover of Nicolás and, later, Jaime.

Michael. Amanda's younger brother. She believes in armed struggle as the only way to freedom. He becomes a guerrilla. She falls in love with Alba Satigny Trueba.

Professor Sebastián Gómez. He instills in the students the ideas of the left and fights alongside them in the demonstrations.

Ana Diaz. Companion in the struggles of Miguel and Alba and leader of the left.

Soto Transit. She is a prostitute and friend of Esteban Trueba, to whom she owes her loyalty.

Nana. Responsible for the upbringing of the Del Valle children, and then the children of Clara and Esteban Trueba.

Barabbas. Clara's colossal dog in her childhood. She dies on the day of her marriage to Esteban Trueba.

The Mora sisters. Three spiritist sisters, friends of Clara and the Trueba brothers. Luisa Mora is the last survivor, and she announces new dangers for the family.

The poet. Character without active participation in the novel, constantly mentioned as a mobilizer of feelings and conscience. He is inspired by Pablo Neruda.

The Candidate or The President. Leader of the left movement, who momentarily comes to power and is overthrown by the military dictatorship. He is inspired by Salvador Allende.

References

Avelar, I. (1993). "The house of the spirits": The Story of the Myth and the Myth of History. Chilean Literature Magazine, (43), 67-74.

Handelsman, M. (1988). "The house of the spirits" and the evolution of modern women. Feminine Letters, 14(1/2), 57-63.