Sunday, April 28, 2024

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende Plot Summary

the house of the spirits

As it opens, an ambitious young man named Esteban (Irons) is in love with a rich man's daughter, and vows to become rich enough to marry her. Laboring in the gold fields, he makes good on his promise - but then, after his fiance is killed by poison meant for her father, Esteban moves to an isolated ranch and devotes 20 years to turning it into a showplace. Although they enjoy the sexual pleasure that their relationships bring, Allende’s women do not give their spirits or their minds with the abandon that their lovers would wish. Esteban loses Rosa to death and shares with her only a kiss; likewise, he never manages to possess Clara completely. Their relationship is passionate but violent, and Clara withdraws into a spiritual world characterized by séances.

Isabel Allende

Nine years later, Esteban has made a fortune with his family property, Tres Marias, thanks to his hard work and to his exploitation of the local peasants. On top of exploiting their labor, Esteban exploits all of the young girls of the peasant families, notably Pancha, for his sexual satisfaction. In addition to the peasant girls, Esteban also has sexual relations with prostitutes, including Transito Soto. Transito and Esteban become friends, and he lends her money to move to the city. Esteban's mother is about to die, and he returns to the city, where he pays a visit to the del Valle home.

Film Credits

Esteban Trueba is the central male character of the novel and is one of the story's main narrators along with his granddaughter Alba. In his youth, he seeks the mermaid-like and green-haired Rosa the Beautiful, daughter of Severo and Nívea del Valle, toiling in the mines to earn a suitable fortune so that he can support her. However, she dies by accidental poisoning while he is working in the mines, a cruel stroke of fate that hardens his heart. Although he eventually marries Clara (Rosa's sister and youngest daughter of the Del Valles) and raises a large family, Esteban's stubborn and violent ways alienate all those around him. Esteban has a tense relationship with his daughter Blanca but shows genuine love and devotion to his granddaughter Alba. Despite his often violent behavior, he is also devoted to his wife Clara, entering into a state of permanent mourning following her death.

Filming

The best known version of the song is McEntire's from her 2017 album of Christian music. The song was previewed in full exclusively through Drake’s Instagram on April 19, 2024, after he had officially dropped his first diss track “Push Ups” earlier in the day. Now, it will become a gathering place for all things mysterious, magical and macabre.

Storyline

the house of the spirits

Clara becomes pregnant again—which Férula takes as a personal insult—and they go back to the big house on the corner, where Clara gives birth to twin boys, Jaime and Nicolás. The night Clara gives birth, Esteban goes to the local brothel, the Christopher Columbus, where he is surprised to find Tránsito Soto. She offers to pay back the 50 pesos, but Esteban says he would rather she owe him a favor. In the meantime, Esteban receives a telegram from his sister, Férula, which claims their mother, Doña Ester, is dying and wants to see him. Esteban doesn’t particularly love his mother, but he returns home, where Doña Ester begs him to settle down with a respectable wife and have sons to carry on his name.

At his mother’s funeral, Esteban sees a grown Clara and reacquaints himself with her. The couple marry, and Clara and Férula become especially close, with Clara allowing Férula to come live with her and her new husband at Tres Marías. Esteban uses the gold he found from mining to buy a hacienda, Tres Marías. He employs natives to work as peasants on the dilapidated land, eventually turning Tres Marías into a successful estate through his use of brute force.

the house of the spirits

She can read auras and predict disasters, make the saltshaker move across the table without touching it, and talk to spirits. One day, two men arrive with a coffin, and Nana, the servant in charge of the children, runs in the house and tells Nívea that her brother Marcos has died overseas of a mysterious plague. Nívea and the children, especially Clara, are devastated; however, Barrabás, a puppy of indeterminate breed, is among Marcos’s personal possessions, and Clara quickly falls in love with him.

While living in Chile in the 1960s, Allende worked translating English romance novels into Spanish. She was ultimately fired for making unauthorized changes to the books, however, when she was caught rewriting female characters to make them smarter and more independent. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD.

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About The Book

With the success of both of his efforts, Esteban dies happily, knowing that he has achieved Clara's posthumous forgiveness. The story starts with the del Valle family, focusing upon the youngest and the oldest daughters of the family, Clara and Rosa. The youngest daughter, Clara del Valle, has paranormal powers and keeps a detailed diary of her life. Using her powers, Clara predicts that an accidental death will occur in the family. Shortly after this, Clara's sister, Rosa the Beautiful, is killed by poison intended for her father who is running for the Senate. Clara is shocked into muteness after witnessing the autopsy performed on her sister's body.

Before long, Clara is pregnant, and Esteban must return to Tres Marías. Férula and Clara settle into a comfortable routine without him and grow incredibly close. Férula waits on Clara hand and foot and resents Esteban and the masculine disruption he brings to the house. Clara talks endlessly to her unborn child, which she knows is a girl and has already named Blanca.

Esteban becomes very involved in the Conservative party, runs for Senate, and is elected. Esteban and Clara eventually return to a civil, if silent, relationship. About a year after they are married, Clara and Esteban's first child, Blanca, is born. When the family travels to Tres Marias for the summer a few years later, Blanca meets Pedro Tercero and they fall in love.

Pedro Tercero is the son of Pedro Segundo, the peasant foreman of Tres Marias. Toward the end of the summer, Clara becomes pregnant again with twins, who she announces will be named Jaime and Nicolas. Days before the twins are due, Clara's parents are killed in a car accident. No one wants to tell Clara that Nivea is buried headless, because they do not want to upset her just before the birth. Clara, however, realizes that her mother's head has not been found and makes Ferula go with her to find it.

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A few years later, Clara dies peacefully and Esteban is overwhelmed with grief. A visiting French count to the hacienda, Jean de Satigny, reveals Blanca's nightly romps with Pedro Tercero to her father. When Clara expresses horror at his actions, Esteban slaps her, knocking out her front teeth. Clara decides to never speak to him again, reclaims her maiden name and moves out of Tres Marías and back to the city, taking Blanca with her. Esteban, furious and lonely, blames Pedro Tercero for the whole matter; putting a price on the boy's head with the corrupt local police. At this point, Pedro Segundo deserts Esteban, telling him he does not want to be around when Trueba inevitably catches his son.

The movie works on a certain level simply because it tells an interesting story. The characters are clearly drawn, the story provides ironic justice, and the locations establish a certain reality. The cluttered city homes of the rich families, where every surface is lined with expensive bric-abrac, speak eloquently for their materialistic values and traditions. The story told in "The House of the Spirits" is a lusty, passionate Latin melodrama, filled with ghosts, magic, poison and romance. Esteban decides to honor his daughter's wishes and helps to find exile for Pedro in Canada. He also turns to Tránsito, who as an influential Madam has connections to high-level military figures, to help free Blanca.

He even sends Nicolás—whose only interest is Clara’s spiritualism—abroad, and he tells him never to come back. Esteban’s friends take him to the local brothel to cheer him up, where Esteban is again surprised to find Tránsito Soto. “Barrabás came to us by sea,” 10-year-old Clara del Valle writes neatly in her notebook. Clara has special “mental powers,” which her family tries to keep secret.

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