The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder - Book Report/Review Example

Dona Clara A1 Dona Clara is the pompous and witty daughter of the Marquesa, and the wife of a rich landowner in Spain. A2 She is the daughter of the Marquesa, but she despises her mother for her domineering nature and emotionality. “Despises” applies because Dona Clara genuinely dislikes her mother. B1 In the beginning, when Dona Clara indicates that she will be a mother, she finds that the Marquesa is overcome with emotions. Dona Clara hates this about her mother; Dona Clara prefers to remain the rational art connoisseur of the court. B2 Dona Clara finds herself talking to the Abbess who cares for the sick and poor. Outside of the court, she finds herself experiencing the kinds of emotions she had ascribed to her mother and for which she hated her. B3 Near the conclusion of the story, Dona Clara realizes that the only connection between the land of the living and the land of the dead is authentic love. She alone remembers Esteban and Pepita, keeping their memory alive, which in a way contributes to the strength of those two characters. Captain Alvarado A1 Captain Alvarado is an astute and esteemed man who has the respect of many people who come to seek his company. A2 Alvarado develops a relationship with Esteban in Cuzco, whom he hires to sail with him. The two develop a friendship that is based on mutual respect and compassion. B1 Alvarado is compassionate to Esteban in the beginning, knowing that he helps the Abbess attempt to reform him. He is compassionate because he genuinely cares about Esteban and his future. B2 Captain Alvarado is relatively static. He is troubled by the loss of his daughter, which is the main reason why he sails everywhere. Like with Dona Clara, his memory of his daughter keeps her alive. B3 He does not have a role in the change from false to authentic love in another significant character. Don Jaime A1 Don Jaime is the son of Don Andres and Camila. He is a weak child who is sent to live at the home of Uncle Pio. A2 Don Jaime is involved in an uncle-nephew relationship with Uncle Pio. Most of the attention given to Don Jaime in the story is through the perspective of Uncle Pio, who takes Don Jaime in order to teach him Castilian. B1 Don Jaime clearly likes and respects his Uncle, which is a relationship based on compassionate and mutual beneficence. B2 Don Jaime is not a notable character, aside from his role in Uncle Pio’s life and for the fact that he is the fifth person on the bridge when it collapses. B3 In many ways, Don Jaime represents the compassionate love that Uncle Pio has for Camila, who he taught just as he will teach Don Jaime. Although one generation has passed and Camila is being disfigured by small pox, his commitment to her has not changed. Manuel A1 Manuel is the twin brother of Esteban, reared by the Abbess. A2 Manuel is torn between a relationship he has between his twin brother Esteban and Camila, whom Esteban has feelings for. B1 Esteban’s relationship with Camila Perichole is certainly more passionate than compassionate, since it comes at a great price of straining Manuel’s relationship with his twin brother. B2 Before Manuel dies, he refuses Esteban’s offer to send for Camila, which shows that throughout the course of the story’s treatment of Manuel, his passionate love for Camila has dried up. Manuel dispels his curses of Esteban, which shows that he has drifted back toward a compassionate relationship with his brother. B3 Manuel changes Esteban by showing that the relationship the twins share is more powerful than any other. Given that they can experience each other’s feelings, things return to the way they should be when Manuel refuses Camila’s company and instead accepts precious moments with his brother. Pepita A1 Pepita is an orphan who develops a relationship with several characters, including the Marquesa and the Abbess, as a faithful and obedient servant. A2 Pepita is taken in by Dona Maria after her time at the Convent. She travels with Dona Maria to Spain, but this servitude is marked by misery and loneliness. B1 Pepita is not involved in a compassionate or passionate relationship with Dona Maria. Instead, it is uncertain. From the surface, the relationship, as Pepita describes to the Abbess in a letter, is not based on any kind of mutual love or respect, which may explain why Pepita is hardly remembered after she perishes on the bridge. B2 Pepita’s relationship with the Marquesa reaches a breakthrough when she confronts Pepita about the letter she addressed the Abbess. Unfortunately, the next morning, both women perish on the bridge. B3 Pepita’s letter does, in the end, have an effect on Dona Maria. Dona Maria asks Pepita about her letter to the Abbess, which Pepita says she has burned. Dona Maria, however, realizes how unloving she has been and that she ought to change her ways. The Abbess A1 The Abbess, or Madre Maria del Pilar, is an idealistic woman of God who cares for the sick and poor, and reared Pepita, Esteban, Manuel, and many other children. A2 The Abbess, as the caregiver for Manuel and Esteban, forms a compassionate love for the two twins. B1 The Abbess is caring and loving to everybody she attends to at the Convent, including Pepita. This is a compassionate love, since she has dedicated herself to God and cannot have a passionate relationship. B2 Since the Abbess is an idealistic caregiver, her attitudes and ideas do not change very much throughout the novel. She exists primarily to inject meaning and themes into the book. B3 She cares about Esteban after the death of Manuel so much that she sends for Captain Alvarado to give him a job. Esteban accepts and, as a result, finds himself on the bridge when it collapses. In that manner, she indirectly precipitates his death. Esteban A1 Esteban is the twin brother of Manuel, reared by the Abbess. A2 Esteban has a deep connection with his brother Manuel up until the time when Manuel dies from a cut on his knee. Esteban gives his brother’s body to the Church. B1 Esteban’s love for his brother was best characterized as compassionate, given their ability to experience each other’s feelings. Their similarities led each of them to have feelings for the same woman, Camila. If compassion is the ability to feel things from the perspective of another, that is the defining feature of Esteban. B2 Esteban’s relationship to his brother changes due to Manuel’s love for Camila, which causes tension and guilt in the relationship he shared with Manuel. B3 As Manuel is dying, Manuel refuses Camila’s company to Esteban’s, which represents a shift and then return to the compassionate love the two brothers share. Uncle Pio A1 Uncle Pio is Camila Perichole’s valet and a servant to the Viceroy. He has also had a variety of other professions, including being an interrogator for the Inquisition. A2 He is most heavily identified with Camila in terms of his relationships to other characters in the story. He is everything to her, including her valet, singer-master, reader, errand-boy, banker, and allegedly, her father. B1 Uncle Pio is always passionate about Camila, which is obvious from his faithful devotion to her and her three children. This becomes obvious later in the story when he takes in Don Jaime after Camila is disabled by small pox. B2 His relationship with Camila changes when the Viceroy insists on making Camila a lady, at which point Camila elects not to correspond with Uncle Pio as she did before. B3 Uncle Pio does not inspire a change in the love of another character, but his love for Camila remains constant, even as Camila is replaced by Don Jaime as the recipient of that love. Camila A1 Camila Perichole is an honored actress and eventual mistress to the Viceroy. He is also a friend to Manuel, who expresses his love for her. A2 Camila is the longtime friend of Uncle Pio. She is also tied romantically to the Viceroy and to Manuel. B1 Camila is compassionate in her relationship with Uncle Pio, with whom she spends a great deal of time. It is compassionate because Uncle Pio has provided her with much help in her life, learning from the lessons he has taught. Camila is passionate in her love life with Manuel, with whom she shares a deep romantic connection, and with the Viceroy, with whom she bears three children. B2 She changes in how she relates to Uncle Pio most of all, who starts out in her childhood as a teacher and later in her life, becomes the guardian of Don Jaime when Camila comes down with small pox. B3 Camila plays a role in the changing dynamics of the relationship between Esteban and Manuel, who are pulled apart at first by Manuel’s love for Camila. However, Manuel’s deteriorating health brought Manuel closer back to Esteban. The Marquesa A1 Dona Maria, or the Marquesa, is an emotionally sensitive, superstitious, and religious mother to Dona Clara. A2 The Marquesa is referred to most in terms of her relationship with her daughter Dona Clara, and as one of the victims of the bridge collapse. B1 At the beginning of the story, Dona Clara cannot stand her mother the Marquesa. She is fed up with her sentimentality and her superstitious beliefs as they apply to Dona Clara’s future children. However, Dona Maria loves her daughter regardless—a passionate love for seeing her daughter being so successful in Spain. B2 The Marquesa does not seem to change in terms of her passionate devotion to her daughter, even as her daughter does not respect or like her mother. B3 The Marquesa’s death, more so than anything she did as a living person, inspires the most change in the Dona Clara character. Dona Clara returns to Peru to pay respects to her mother after her death, and while there, she is moved by the sick and poor at the Convent. Read More