Hello

Hi everyone!

I apologize for posting so late, I was sick the whole week. Though sick, I still read the assigned chapters and I agree with Victoria - this book is page turning and I'm loving the story! Sticking to the chapter question about the inclusion of the fantastical progress of the story, I think all have been mentioned already from Rosa's "...incredible green hair, which framed her face like a fantastic hat, her fairy-tale manner, and her special way of moving as if she were flying."(22), to Clara's predictions of the future, and moving objects across the room. And then we have Barabas the giant black dog - or is Barabas really a dog? haha

Allende created such complex characters. She feed us details about each of the main characters and it's fascinating mixing the reality and the magical. One character stood out for me because she is an example of a strong woman struggling and fighting for equal rights. She is brave and determined to create a change. Clara thought it was absurd though because this woman sure speak about oppression, equality, and rights to a sad, resigned group of hard-working women in their denim aprons, their hands red with chilblains while wearing her fur coat and suede boots (81). I agree with Clara it is absurd. But anyway, I think Nivea was creating a change through educating woman of their rights and her thoughtfulness for the poor.

I hope to do the next posting by tomorrow.

Karen

browsed your posts

I appreciated Kevin's observation that the only chapter without magic was the one dedicated to Esteban...and then immediately noticed the juxtaposition of Chris' comment that Esteban is a monster of fantastical proportions. Both "magical" and not, then. Like Alyssa I worry some about Clara given Esteban's (and Ferula's) obsessive relationship to her...but, I worry more for the peripheral characters, the women and men without power because they are disposable in the world of these upper class characters. Clara is above it all (which, while I'm glad this ethereal nature protects her from her husband's rages, I find really annoying). Talk about a Princess. ;}
Aryana

Briefly-- Characters

Due to the high volume of work I have this quarter, I am extremely behind. On all studies and our book. :D
But what I have to contribute...
So far I am really enjoying the characters of the book. Of the little I have read the plot is steadily moving and we are given much information in only a few pages. The ethereal character that is Rosa, the quirky background of the deceased uncle. Many hints at new information we have yet to find out as well (like the giant?). It reminds me of many fairy tales, where it is a norm in our main character(s)' life to have odd things happening all around. I found.. Nana was it? to be a funny character. I liked that we are given many actions that show her loving but harsh personality, being the one to kill the annoying parrot and all. It seems we have a window into all of the characters, the author seems very efficient at laying out the main impression.

Luminous Material

I say, the inclusion of the fantastical is an exaggeration of the real, which serves to make certain things strangely more real. I better understand Esteban's infatuation with Rosa, and later his paralytic grief and rage at her loss, because she is otherworldly and irreplaceable. This loss progresses the story, in that it propels Esteban's first steps toward becoming the stern ruler. Referring to Tres Marias, Esteban resolves that, "if there was anything that could alleviate the grief and rage of Rosa's loss it would be breaking his back working this ruined land" (50-51). He goes on to rule this land with a firm hand - and having no need to keep up appearances, gives in to his "bad character" (54).

Later, I better understand Esteban's love for Clara because, while the details are different, she is magical and irreplaceable as Rosa. While Esteban may think he sees her eccentricities as annoying, I believe he is attracted to her magic. I believe this is what he means when he speaks of her "undefined and luminous material" (96). I believe Rosa might have been made bodily of the same stuff. It may be a factor of Esteban's attraction to the sisters, that in the chapter that focused solely on him, there was no magic.


As a side note, as much as anything else in the book, I'm wondering what will happen with the young prostitute Transito Soto, who tells Esteban that she is "going to go far," and that "life is long and full of unexpected turns" (69). She has made an impression on me.


In other news, the worst thing about being a last minute post-er, is I'm able to see that most other people have already mentioned almost everything I have to mention. Looking forward to the next blog date.


-Kevin

A New Respect for the Fantastical

Hi everyone!  My name is Chris and I am excited to be able to discuss this book and many more throughout the rest of this year.  I find it interesting that we are visiting the theme of magical realism this quarter – Victoria and I were speaking of our disdain for that particular style shortly before the winter break.  I have to admit, when it was first assigned, I was not very excited about reading The House of Thousand Spirits.  I have been pleasantly surprised.

Unlike the magical realism novels that I have read in the past, author Isabelle Allende uses the fantastical in a limited fashion.  She does this to bring attention to characters and events that are important to the plot.  To me, this only enhances the scene and gives it dimension.  In the first three chapters of the book, the characters that stuck out to me through Allende’s surreal writing style were Clara, Rosa, Uncle Marco, and Esteban.   These characters all have unique magical qualities.  For instance, Clara, the first character introduced in the book, is a mystic—a clairvoyant.  Her strange powers draw attention to something important.  She was “a fragile creature whose lungs were always full of phlegm, who was always on the verge of losing her breath and turning purple…”(8).  Despite this, she has an immense power and the ability to foretell the future.  Although she has not been able to change the future, this ability is important to readers as a tool of foreshadowing.

Esteban is another fantastical character.  He seems to start out as a devoted son and smitten suitor, but when beautiful Rosa dies, everything falls apart for him and he becomes a sort of villain of fantastical proportions.  Once in power, Esteban demonstrates an unreasonable amount of condescension and develops an insatiable appetite for unwilling sexual partners.  His exploits do a lot to illuminate the central themes of class divide and sexism.

More to come....

First three chapters

Hello, this is Alyssa. I finished this section over the weekend but haven't had time to post until today. Aryana has already pointed out a lot of the main sources of the fantastical in this first half of the book. One person that hasn't been mentioned that is very fantastical is Uncle Marcos, Clara's relative that goes off sailing into the sky on an augmented bird skeleton (13-14). It's clear that her uncle has had a big impact on Clara's life and may explain why she spends most of her time isolated in a dream world. Marcos himself was an explorer, physically inhabiting a place other than Clara's and filled her head with stories of those distant places until she could "see reptiles slide across carpets between the legs of the jacaranda room divider, and hear the shrieks of macaws behind the drawing-room drapes" (17). Marcos was also the first person to really encourage Clara's gift of clairvoyance (16), which has so far been the only positive affirmation of her abilities. Almost all the other times she voices her predictions, it is followed by a death in the family.

As we move into the second part, I'm really worried about Clara. As was pointed out by Tiffany, Esteban has a past of simply "us[ing]" (62) women to release the tensions created by his ravenous libido and the rage produced by Rosa's death. He feels as th0ugh he must control everything, to be on top or he'll be forced to confront the feeling of inferiority he experienced as a young boy (92). Because of this I'm able to sympathize with him. At the same time, however, I am frequently horrified by the way he treats women like mere wads of tissue to be discarded and the way he talks about those in the lower classes, especially since he experienced class struggle himself. My fear for Clara is that he will end up crushing her spirit in his attempt to possess that "undefined and luminous material" (96) that Aryana already mentioned. I'm very anxious to see how things will turn out.

Tiffany's Post (it was under Aryan's comment key)

Tiffany said...

I haven't been able to find how post an individual posting so here goes mine. Throughout the first hundred two pages of this novel, I could not help noticing the differences in attitudes and behaviors between men and women in the society.
"'I would like to have been born a man, so I could leave too,' she said, full of hatred.
'And I would have not liked to be a woman,' he said." (45)
Later in the novel, the gender roles are displayed through Pancha Garcia.
"He simply used her as a hygienic method for relieving the tensions of the day and obtaining a good night's sleep. But the moment came when Pancha's pregnancy was obvious even to him." (62)


I also agree with Aryana about how Allende exposes us to a different culture.
In the quote, "The fasting consisted of soft puff pastries, delicious vegetarian dishes, spongy tortillas, and enormous cheeses from the countryside, with which each family commemorated the Passion of the Lord, taking every precaution not to touch the least morsel of meator fish on pain of excommunication." (2)
Allende introduces us to a different kind of fasting. From my background, I think of reflection and starvation when I hear the word "fasting" but when I read this quote, was aware of the difference in cultural context from my world and that of the novel. What may seem to be obsurd to me such as the poor treatment of women in the society may very well be seem as normal.

Greetings

Hi
I'm another Victoria, so I'm going to go by VickiBee. It stands for Vicki Berman.
I'm looking forward to the bookclub!
Vicki

Progressively Fantastical Progressively

     I have to say that this is the kind of story I had in my mind as the describing nature of magical realism.  It fits so well within the descriptive nature of Allende's writing I think the story would be banal without it.  From Rosa's, "green hair and yellow eyes," (28) to Clara's eccentric abilities to interpret dreams, move furniture with her mind and her extreme apathy to the magnificence when it is around her--except barrabas' split corpse as an area rug (97) it all moves the story along at a page-turning pace.  Even the horrible escapades of Esteban in Tres Marias were written with an air of profundity that ties the truly fantastical together.  I am intrigued and excited to continue onto the next part of the story.  I am sad that Clara seems like she may never be able to feel love and they may get her into trouble with Esteban later in the story.  I was happy to see Esteban settle down and fall in love with Clara and not treat her like Pancha Garcier and his other baby mamma's.  I am not exactly sure how Ferula will come to be a part of the Trueba house.  Will she replace Nana totally?  She is already bathing an adult Clara in jasmine and basil water.  I need a Nana or Ferula.

nonchalant exposure...

What I mean by this. Nibbling at the edges of my conscience as I read this book is the conviction that the way the fantastical progresses the story is by exposing the characters' insides through nonchalantly ascribing bizarre characteristics to their external reality. Rosa is a green haired mermaid, splendid even in death (27). Clara has sensitive spirits congregating around her (74), interprets dreams (75), predicts the future (76), intuits other people's desires/emotions (95), and has an elusive, "undefined and luminous material" within her that drives her possessive husband to distraction. She is elsewhere, even in the most intimate moments. Both Rosa and Clara are cast as spirits themselves through being described both physically and personality wise as ethereal. Barrabas, the monstrous dog arrives into the story and dies under mysterious circumstances...with an unexplained dagger in his back (91). He adds an element of the weird to the illustration of Clara's childhood and early adulthood. Esteban's mother, Dona Ester is last seen as a mountain of rotting flesh, dying in a bed of pain (86) and Clara's first daughter Blanca is born monstrous too, lika a hydatidiform mole come to life (101). The only main character that is described as relatively normal looking is Esteban...and he really is a monster/freak, ethically speaking, given the way he treats people, especially peasant women. Unless, of course, his rampant concupiscence can be interpreted as his bizarre characteristic. In any case, what I realize is that the effectiveness of this descriptive style lies in its ability to set the story on the edge of believable, realistic experience. Aside from the spirits that keep getting mentioned but whom we never really meet, all these descriptions could be real...they just make the story taste really weird (in a good way, in my opinion).
Aryana