History Of The House Of Spirits

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Prit Patel

Mr. Reed

ENG3U7 – 01

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

Chapter 2

Brief Summary

Esteban Trueba lived with his sister Férula Trueba and mother, Dona Ester Trueba. Dona Ester had suffered from arthritis from a very young age and was not able to move as the situation worsened each year. Férula takes care of her mother and this creates an argument between the siblings. Esteban feels as if she is making him feel guilty and decides to leave her to not cause problems in the family. He decides to go to San Lucas to start his family business called Tres Marias. He remembers his previous memories as a child when he reaches the house but it is destroyed and in ruins. He decides to rebuilt the property and become the patron of the city. A man named Pedro Segundo Garcia had been the former patron; however Esteban is accepted as their new patron. "Thus began the new life that, in time, would make him forget Rosa." He becomes a patron who runs the community with ideologies such as communism and Marxism which will be later analyzed in this journal. He becomes a man of will and does anything to please himself and free himself from stress. One incident occurs when he abducts Pancha Garcia, the sister of Pedro Segundo Garcia. He uses her to restore himself and relieve stress and starts to develop the land of Tres Marias. Pancha Garcia becomes pregnant, but Estaben refuses to look at her or her womb. Near the end of the chapter, he is spending time at a brothel called Red Lantern where he helps a prostitute named Transito Soto. The chapter ends when he receives a letter from his sister that his mother is dying and he leaves to see her.

Analysis

In this chapter, we get a different view of the setting as the author takes us through the countryside to the city of San Lucas. The setting is described from the train window "as a passing landscape of the central valley. There are vast fields from the foot of the mountain range, a fertile countryside filled with vineyards, wheatfields, alfalfa, and marigolds." (Page 46) He enters the city where he finds his childhood property which he wishes to develop. He describes the city as ruthless, full of poverty with lots of broken houses. The setting brings up the theme of the division in class and sparks the idea of Marxism which will be later discussed in the analysis. This chapter shows how the character of Esteban evolves from a man with no hope and full of misery to a man of power and strength. At the beginning, he is displayed as one of the lower class peasants as he goes to his old home and decides to find work. However, as he becomes the patron of the city, he becomes a part of the higher class and lives in the mansion developed in the property of Tres Marias.

We have been introduced to a lot of characters in the book and we can make various interpretations about each character. Esteban Trueba is the main character in this chapter who is described as a man who regenerates from a man full of misery and depression to a valiant leader of his city. He highlights the philosophies of communism and Marxism. It states that he "wasn’t interested in having a social life. He enjoyed his solitude." (Page 54) He was only interested in becoming the patron of the city who would control the people. Another character that is also introduced in this chapter is Dona Ester Trueba who is taken over by arthritis at a young age and her daughter Ferula sacrifices her youth and life to take care of her mother. The character of Dona symbolizes disease and how life does not always do the right thing. The character of Ferula symbolizes eternal sacrifice and devotion as she is able to sacrifice her life in order to take care of her mother. Other minor characters include Pancha Garcia and Pedro Garcia who are not greatly highlighted in this chapter.

The philosophy of Communism is greatly represented in this chapter thorough the character of Esteban. After he becomes the patron of the city, he states that "poor people are completely ignorant and uneducated. They’re like children, they can’t handle responsibility. Without me they’d be lost—if you don’t believe me, just look what happens every time I turn my back. Everything goes to pieces and they start acting like a bunch of donkeys. They’re very ignorant." (Page 64) Through this quotation, we can see the communist ideas represented here. Communism is a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. (Oxford Dictionary) In the city of San Lucas, Esteban becomes the leader and each person contributes and earn according to their ability and needs. In this type of society, there is no equality and one must work hard to earn money for food. Furthermore, this can also be interpreted as the philosophy of Marxism as the communist ideas were developed from this political theory developed by Karl Marx. This theory highlighted the difference in classes as well.

Finally, through this first chapter, I got a detailed insight into various theories and various characters. This chapter displayed the setting more vividly and the world outside the big mansion was finally highlighted. Some of the questions that I would like to see get answered are: What will Esteban do with the new baby? What will happen to the family lineage? What role does the division in classes play in developing the plot? What will Esteban do when he sees the dead body of his mother? Will he see the dead body of his mother?