The Judges Wife by Isabel Allende - Essay Example

Isabel Allende's -"The Judge's Wife" : Character - Nicolas Vidal Isabel introduces Nicolas Vidal in her book, “The Judge’s Wife” who was a bastard son to a prostitute and it was predicted at his birth that he would lose his head to a woman. Dwelling on this, he has managed to harden his heart and in the process make sure that no woman tries to get close to him in an emotional way. Nicolas Vidal is tormented by the same problem that is stated in the first paragraph and he never experiences the warmth of true love throughout his life. Being born with four nipples, he was considered deformed and this made him have a “doleful expression” and in his early life, “his face was scarred from knife fights before he reached his teens” (Allende & Peden, 1999). His mother was a prostitute who lived in a brothel and when she was pregnant, she had made several attempts at aborting him in different ways but she did not succeed. When he was born, he grew up without a father and very little guidance from his mother always avoiding affection and love. He only sought women in the instances when “the demands of manhood needed satisfying” and all this attributes lead to his cold, heartless demeanor and the life in crime he led (Allende & Peden, 1999). The prediction that Nicolas Vidal will “lose his head over a woman” is a factor that greatly contributed to his avoidance of intimacy and since words are what a person perceives them to be, he used this statement as part of his tools of avoiding intimacy (Allende & Peden, 1999). Since Nicolas Vidal grows up in an environment that lacks love, he develops the notion that he will put himself in danger if he falls in love with a woman. As a result of this, he becomes more cold-blooded and no one stands up to him except the judge Hidalgo. Vidal is depicted as a smart character when Hidalgo decides to set a trap for him by putting his mother in a cage in the town square with a little water thinking that Vidal will come to rescue her. Vidal does not fall into this trap and her mother is too embarrassed that her son did not come to her rescue and decides to hang herself. This makes Vidal hunt down Hidalgo but in the process of the escape, he suffers a heart attack that makes him lose control of the car and only his wife and kids survive. After the accident and consequent death of her husband, Casilda keeps her children hidden in the caves that are nearby as she waits for the gang that is led by Vidal. When Vidal makes the discovery that Casilda has no fear for him and this sparks passionate interest in him making him want to make love to her. The life that Nicolas Vidal lead was greatly influenced by his childhood and it was an affectionless one that led him to a cold and heartless life of crime and loneliness. Even when he paid for the love of women he never developed the feelings that are needed to make life happy. When he was able to feel the warmth of loving and being loved, he could not let go and this was the beginning of his downfall. Throughout the story, Vidal tries to avoid women by surrounding himself with men who were mainly thugs and this kind of life made it hard for any woman to get close to Vidal. Unfortunately, he could not get Casilda out of his mind up to the little details such as "the translucent young girl in her traveling suit, with bashful eyes and delicate fingers" (Allende & Peden, 1999). The story generally tries to show the struggle Vidal has in trying to find freedom from his desire for love and intimacy but he is not successful in resisting his desires. He ran away from love all his life but in the end when he gives in to his desires, it costs him his life. The assumumption early in Vidals life that he will be a criminal as a result of the markings on his face may be added to the fact that the judge also contributed to it like the rest of the society that made a stereotype and decided that Vidal was an outcast Flannery O'Connor - "A Good Man is Hard to Find" : character - The Misfit From the conversation that The Misfit has with the grandmother, it can be seen that he seeks some justification of the predicaments that he has been suffering spiritually and he also sees a disproportion between the personal suffering he thinks he afflicted and his actions. He thinks that his past actions cannot be equated to the punishment he has been given for them. He is depicted to wear tan and white shoes without any socks or shirt and he is a guy with spectacles that make his appear intellectual and through the way he talks, it can be concluded that he is uneducated even though he talks with politeness. In giving instructions to his accomplices to take the family members to the woods, he maintains a level of calmness. Through the account that The Misfit gives the grandmother, it can be understood that his father died and he was consequently mistreated. This has made him develop the attitude that he portrays since the world had afflicted some injuries on him. The character that he portrays is the outcome of the experiences that he has gone through while growing up. Since the misfit has questioned and considered his life closely, he exhibits a self-awareness that cannot be seen in the grandmother and he has the knowledge that he is not a great man while knowing that there are others who are worse that he is. He comes up with some notions that are undeveloped like “no pleasure but meanness” and “the crime don’t matter” (O'Connor & Asals, 1993). Even though the philosophies may be debauched, they are still consistent unlike the case of the grandmother whose moral code deteriorates immediately is challenged. The misfit has a view of life that is constant and takes actions depending on what he considers to be right and while his beliefs and actions have no morality in the conventional sense, they are constant and strong. Even though his philosophies are twisted, he can depend on his moral code as a guide to his actions while the grandmother cannot and eventually when she is almost dying, she identifies the strength he has and the weakness she possesses. Regardless of his past, the misfit wants to believe in God but the only hurdle ishow unfair the world is and if there was a way that he could prove the world is fair, he would have faith. Through his acts, he seeks to test the fairness of the world and if there is a God, he knows that he will get punishment eventuall and even though he regrets the murders, the only problem he has is how he can restore he faith in God. Flannery O'Connor - "Parker's Back" - character – Parker When Parker was fourteen, he spotted a man who had tattoos and he connected with it making him eventually get one himself. Throughout his relentless life, he seeks to gain the beauty he saw at the age of fourteen on the skin of the circus performer. He stopped going to school when he was sixteen and went on to work unskilled jobs that would fetch him cash for getting tattoos. His mother took him to a revival out of concern but he ran away and joined the navy demonstrating his rejection for God. Parker frequently avows since he has grown up not understanding himself and this can be seen in his shiftlessness. He has an affinity for structure as well as boundaries but he also struggles with them. This is demonstrated by the fight he has with his religious mother from the navy and the contempt he has for Sarah emotionally and physically. He is also depicted as a man of the flesh through his pursuit of body art and he is also full of lust since he is attracted to women with plenty of meat on them and he denies God and wants to live entirely in the material world. In the navy, he manages to get more tattoos which cover his entire body apart from his back and it can be seen that when he is dissatisfied about an issue in his life, Parker gets more tattoos. Parker never wants to reveal to Sarah the meaning of his initials only whispering “Obadiah Elihue” and warning her to keep it a secret since he does not want to accept who he is since his first name has some Christian symbolism (O'Connor, 1965). While thinking of a tattoo that will please Sarah, he crashes a tractor into a tree that catches fire and the statement “if he had known how to cross himself he would have done it” suggests that he believes in God for the first time (O'Connor, 1965). The statement “it was as if he were himself but a stranger to himself, driving into a new country though everything he saw was familiar to him, even at night” shows that he is realizing the changes going on within him (O'Connor, 1965). After his divine intervention, parker still cannot please his wife since the situation is not the same as beforeand when he washes his back at the tattoo palour, he has the feeling that his bad deeds have washed all the wrongs he had in te past. When he considered himself as Obadiah, he feels some form of relief. References Allende, I., & Peden, M. (1999). The stories of Eva Luna (1st ed.). New York, NY: Scribner. O'Connor, F. (1965). Parker's back (1st ed.). Chicago: Esquire. O'Connor, F., & Asals, F. (1993). A good man is hard to find (1st ed.). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. Read More