Analysis of The House of Spirits Novel of Isabel Allende - Book Report/Review Example

Literature "The House of Spirits" is a unique novel portraying deep personal feelings of the characters combined with revolutionary struggle and fights for freedom and participation in the history. In this novel Isabel Allande examines emotional and sexual forces, physical and spiritual needs and created outstanding characters. The novel has a unique structure that marks the significance of the events and destiny of each character. "The House of Spirits" describes lives of several generations of the del Valle-Trueba family and the Garcia family. At the beginning of the novel Isabel Allande describes Clara del Valle who plays a crucial role in the novel being a progenitor of the family. She keeps a journal describing the history of the family that will be continued by her husband Esteban and her granddaughter Alba in half a century. Clara has a gift of prevision is able to predict the future. She foresees that Esteban Trueba is her destiny and merry him in several years. Further, Isabel Allande depicts a hostility existing between two families the del Valle-Trueba family and the Garcia family caused by class location and social position. Clara has three children: Blanca, Jaime and Nicolas. When Blanca grows up she meets Pedro Tercero, son of a peasant and a revolutionist in contrast to Esteban who is a conservative. In a time Esteban knows about this love affair and tries to kill Pedro Tercero. Accidentally Esteban hits Clara that resulted in their separation. Blanca is told that Pedro Tercero was killed and forces to marry Jean de Satigny. Nevertheless, their marriage is not happy and in half a year she leaves him. Blanca's daughter, Alba, is raised by the entire family being a loving and sympathetic girl. She supposes that Jean de Satigny is her father. One day she meets Pedro Tercero and be on friendly terms with him. At the University Alba meets Miguel and falls in love. The situation in the country is politically unstable and when the leading party is changed, and mortal danger threatens Esteban, Alba asks Pedro Tercero to save his life. The colonel who kidnaps Alba turns out to be the grandson of Esteban Garcia and Pancha. Esteban Garcia tries to take revenge on Alba, because of cruelties and oppression faced by his grandmother, but fails. At the end Isabel Allande that Alba and Esteban began to complete the story of their family, but suddenly Esteban dies. And Alba continues this work along being pregnant. "The House of Spirits" is an extraordinary work depicting life of generations through different world frames. The novel consists of many themes which help to create a message of the story. The main statement/message of the novel is that everything is the life falls back into its place. The cyclical structure of the novel proves this fact returning readers to the place they have started to read the story: the family member puts pieces together to complete the story of the family. This theme is closely connected with fate and the role of destiny in the life of an ordinary person. Only some people can predict and foresee their future, but even they are helpless to chance something in their lives. The theme of fate is unveiled in the novel, although it plays an important role in lives of the main characters. For instance, the members of the del Valle-Trueba family and the Garcia family are met by chance and falls in love or establish friends with each other. Isabel Allande depicts that everyone and everything is submitted to destiny. The irony is that people try to escape their fate but fail. Insults, desire to take revenge, cruelty and desperation ruin the world of the hero who cannot submit to destiny. As the most important, Isabel Allande depicts that neither political priorities nor social position can help to avoid fate. The novel has a cyclical structure sets in a frame that joins the past to the future The novel consists of 14 chapters and an epilogue. The most important is that the events in chapters are also repeating each other in a particular interval. For instance, Transito Soto helps Esteban in the fourteenth in favour of his help described on the second chapter. The aim of this structure is to show that all debts are repaid. The structure helps Isabel Allande to underline the idea that everything is balanced in our life and every good and bad action will be repaid in n double measure. To convey the message of the novel Isabel Allande uses different literary and stylistic devices to appeal to reader's emotions and imagination. Many themes are hidden and expressed though symbols and metaphors. For instance a symbol of "the big house on the corner", means the big family that has a deep historical roots. Esteban builds this house for all member of the family being an ancestor of the clan. The titles of the chapters are also symbolic forcing the readers to look deep into roots of the problems describes by Isabel Allande. For instance, The Epoch of Decline or the Hour of Truth are symbolic embodies a hidden meaning of the whole chapter. The literary method of comparison is used throughout the novel. Similes and metaphors are also employees by the author, for instance, "you'll die like a dog!" (p. 45), or "satanic possession in the heart of the twentieth century" (Allande, p. 8). The author is keen observer of people and nature, which is manifested in the style of writing. The repetition technique helps to shift logical stress and draws the readers attention to some key elements of the sentence structure, helping to shape authors message.: "in the heart of the twentieth century, this century of lights, science (Allande, p. 8). "The Jesuit's index finger remains suspended like a lightening rod above the head " (Allande, p. 7). The other literary device is the evolution of a character from a "blinded" person who does not care much about the consequences of his actions to a mature personality. For instance, the character of Alba changed greatly from a young girl to a mature woman able to protect herself. As the most important, unprepared readers understand the message of the novel without difficulties, because the language of Allande is very vivid and clear; descriptions of events and emotions are very concise and brief. A unique and unusual structure of the novel, specific stylistic techniques and literary stylistics devices help Isabel Allande to convey a message of the novel and appeals to emotions. Evolution of characters, simple vocabulary and a deep emotional impact on the reader are the main writing features of Isabel Allande. References 1. Allande. I. The House of Spirits. Bantam; Reissue edition. 1986. Read More