Portrayal of Latin American Women in Literature - Book Report/Review Example

The House of the Spirits in the Portrayal of Real Life Latin American Women The House of the Spirits is about women coping in a man's world. The novel was set in the first half of the century in Latin America where and when the social hierarchy in this patriarchal society was largely deemed "anti-women". It was at a time when Latin American women were prominently relegated to the traditional role of subservience, and a time when women face so much prejudice against breaking out of their superimposed gender roles fixed on them by their culture. The novel details the life of its three main protagonists, the Trueba women - Clara, Blanca and Alba - as they struggle to establish their independence against their patriarch, Esteban Trueba. Main Characters Even as a child, Clara del Valle Trueba has an unusual ability to see things. A clairvoyant and a telekinetic, she becomes mute after the death of her sister. It was during this time that she reads voraciously and writes in her notebooks, exercises which prove to be invaluable in the future to her granddaughter Alba, as these bore witness to their lives. At age nineteen, Clara sees her future is with Esteban Trueba and decides she will "marry without love." (Allende, 90) If she is not into her paranormal activities, "Clara divided her time between the sewing workshop, the general store, and the school, where she established her headquarters for treating mange and lice, untangling the mysteries of the alphabet, teaching the children to sing "I have a dairy cow, she's not just any cow," and the women to boil milk, cure diarrhea, and bleach clothes." (105) She works to educate the people on the plantation, trying to teach the women and children about equality, hygiene and literacy. As the oldest child and only daughter of Esteban and Clara, Blanca is very close to her mother. She is still a child when she first meets Pedro Tercero at Tres Maras, and she runs naked to play with the boy and falls asleep on his stomach. This incident foretells their future relationship, when they become lovers and are discovered in the same position by Esteban. The uproar when her father discovers their relationship causes the family to split apart. When Esteban discovers her daughter Blanca is pregnant, he forces her to marry Count Jean de Satigny. Being of pragmatic character, Blanca tries to make the most of her marriage until she discovers the Count's unusual hobby. For a time she refuses to reunite with Pedro Tercero until the turn of events forces them to flee the country. Blanca ends up a successful artist in Canada, living "completely fulfilled in the peace of satisfied love" with Pedro Tercero. (400) Alba is the product of Blanca's illicit affair with Pedro Tercero. Born feet first and with a tiny star-shaped mark on her back, Clara predicts that "she (Alba) will be lucky and she will be happy." (262) Like her grandmother, she has a wild imagination and generous spirit. For as a young adult, she smuggles food supplies out to the poor and also gives many of the weapons hidden by her grandfather to Miguel's guerilla movement. After the coup, she helps victims of political persecution find asylum. Because of these endeavors, the secret police seize her in the middle of the night. She is tortured, but a vision of Clara convinces her that survival should be her goal. Alba recovers and begins to write and recreates the family story. Gender Inequality "Since when has a man not beaten his wife Since when has a woman ever done the same things as a man"(106) These are questions that the women that Clara is teaching threw back at her. In the Latin context, the roles of women are greatly overshadowed by men. Like in any dominantly patriarchal society women are undervalued and their abilities are underestimated. In several entries, we see lines reflecting gender inequality, such as "Following the custom of the women (of her kind) who bow their heads before the male" (57), and "Even though they (women) worked as equals with the men, the women did not receive this sum because, except for widows, they were not considered heads of family." (60) Often the discrimination women face is related to social prejudices regarding appropriate patterns of conduct, which did not seem to be a problem to the main characters as they are unconventional women who are have special powers and even play subversive roles. Although each of the main protagonist's life was marked by inequality, one doesn't see Clara, Blanca, nor Alba actively condemn the gender inequality of their day. Instead, they teach and act against it; their indomitable spirits even give the impression that that is a non-issue (with them) as they normally and casually defy appropriate patterns of conduct that are expected of them. It is only through the character of Clara's mother, Nivea del Valle that gender inequality was vigorously denounced. Nivea chained herself at the gates of the Congress, and called for women to have equal rights with men, and was hailed as the "first feminist in the country". (121) Perhaps a lot had to do with the fact that the main characters are privileged, wealthy women, who, in the first half of the novel, are always protected and surrounded by attention and comforts, and are removed from the brutal demands of the world. Whereas, when the average women at the turn of the century Latin America had constricted roles and narrowed choices, except those that were linked to some form of domestic service, Clara Trueba had a choice to be actually "no good at domestic matters." (152) And although the Trueba women did not share the day-to-day concerns of female peasants, what they did not share economically, they shared in terms of violence and brutality as Pancha Garcia and Alba are both raped. As intoned by Pancha, "Before her, her mother -- and before her, her granmother - had suffered the same animal fate. (57) This entrenched sex inequality provides the setting for the pervasive and widespread human rights violations Latin American women face as supremacy and the power to dominate and to require submission were given to the men. As such they easily become victims in the areas of sexual rights and reproductive health. The nonchalant portrayal of Esteban Trueba and his habits of rape and whoring highlights the physical and sexual violence against women prevalent during that time: "His concupiscence also intensified. Not a girl passed from puberty to adulthood that he did not subject to the woods, the riverbank, or the wrought-iron bed. When there were no more available women in Tres Marias, he began to chase after those from the neighboring haciendas, taking them in the wink of an eye, anywhere he could find a place in the fields, usually at dusk." (63) Femininely Empowered The main protagonists in this novel are all strong female characters, who know how to find ways to assert their rights against all odds. They are empowered by strength of character, force of conviction, business sense, access to resources and opportunities, and literacy. Strength of character is showed by all: in Clara's refusal to be dominated by her husband, in Blanca's refusal to give up her lover or remain in an arranged marriage, and in Alba's spirit when she refused to use "de Satigny" as her surname, and more importantly, when she is tortured by the right-wing regime. These female characters refuse to remain victims. The sheer force of conviction is exemplified by Nivea del Valle's call for woman suffrage while Transito Soto, on the other hand, empowered herself through commercial enterprise (116-117). More noteworthy though, is the special attention given to literacy, and how this empowered the characters of Clara and Alba. "Special mention was given to the ways each woman learns to write, and the moments when writing acquires meaning in her life"(Sparknotes). Alba and Clara both favor writing things on paper and how the women were able to escape reality by capturing their world on paper. Even in the opening sentences of the book, it already mention Clara's writing style and how "she was already in the habit of writing down important matters..."(1) Alba, on the other hand, will be comforted as well as inspired, by these writings. In fact, it is the desire to tell her story to the world that forces Alba to decide to endure the torture instead of submitting to death. Also mirrored in the book is the progression and degree of female political participation from Nivea's peaceful call for woman suffrage to Alba's involvement in violent student and revolutionary activities. Loveless Marriage In the book, women have the strength to endure a marriage without loving their husbands. Even more, children from a very young age are aware that they will be forced to marry as Clara "had already made up her mind to marry without love" (90). Blanca does not want to marry Jean de Satigny and protests: "I'm not getting married, Papa," [Blanca] said. "Be quiet!" [Trueba] roared. "You're getting married.Don't talk back to me! I want you to know that Pedro Tercero Garcia is dead. I killed him with my own hands, so you might as well forget about him and try to be a good wife to the man who's going to lead you to the altar." (215) Blanca does not love Jean and does not want to marry him, but nonetheless she must. Domestic Skills Allende does not make her female characters learn to perform household responsibilities. Except for Ferula and Nana, other females in the book, especially the main protagonists are not mentioned have domestic skills. Clara "wasnot particularly well suited to the duties of marriage and domestic life" (88), and later, "Clara had no interest in domestic matters" (128). Clara has no domestic skills because they were not emphasized when she was growing up. The same thing goes for her daughter and granddaughter. There was no mention of Blanca being taught how to do household chores. While, Alba on the other hand, is considered fortunate, and "this is why they made no effort to prepare the child for life, since the stars had already conspired to endow her with so many gifts." (262) Especially in the case of Clara, "who sailed masterfully through the agitated seas of social life, and the other, more surprising ones of her spiritual voyage," (266) the preoccupation of the women had more to do with the political, social and metaphysical, domestic duties are practically consigned to the hired help (Nana) and/or a close relative (Ferula). Latin American Women in the 80's The book was written "in the early 1980's when the protagonistic role of women of Latin America became more massive and evident", and when traditional definitions of gender roles have broken down considerably. (Rodriguez, EPICA) During this time, attitudes toward the proper roles of men and women in Latin American societies no longer follow a fully traditional pattern. (Women's History About.com) Perhaps this is due to the effects of the political and economic crisis in Latin America that had touched the very existence of Latin American women. While display of paranormal abilities are not seen in women in real life (when the novel was written), Clara's charitable works, on the other hand, are an accurate response of enlightened middle- to upper-class Latin American women who had been forced to confront head on the many conditions and factors that divide them from their not-so-fortunate sisters. These expansive capabilities to help are aided by her (Clara's) access to resources and opportunities. All the women in The House of the Spirits are strong women who do not bow to mistreatment. They chose subtle responses to situations, instead of outright revolt. They are perceiving, persistent, champions-of-passive-resistance females who know the advantages of silence. They effect more long-lasting changes in their clever methods of teaching literacy, and even in refusing to speak! (Sparknotes) Allende had managed to make her heroines look more like Latin American women during the 80's complete with their own brand of feminism on how each found a way to escape the tyrannies of a macho society. Despite Esteban's control, the Trueba women eventually get their way to seek respect for themselves and their beliefs. And in order to attain these, they use feminine methodologies of compassion, love, gentleness and subtlety. In effect, they were able to do "everything that men do, but without sacrificing everything that makes it so wonderful to be a woman." (Rogoff, Isabel Allende) Works Cited Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. Trans. Magda Bogin.New York: Knopf, 1985. Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Chile-Family and Gender Issues." Women's History About.com. 19 April 2008. "The House of the Spirits." Sparknotes. 19 April 2008. "The Protagonistic Role of Women in Latin America." Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Carribean. 19 April 2008 Rogoff, Marianne. Isabel Allende. 19 April 2008 Read More