The Irony of Civilization and Barbarity-Rachael Gregson

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While The House of the Spirits is a book definitely not meant for the squeamish reader, the themes it portrays are great and well handled. The country where the setting takes place is divided between city and underdeveloped country and its people divided between aristocracy and peasantry. That being said, the novel deals with heavy instances where the differences of civilization and barbarity are pitted against one another. The traditional viewing of barbarity is that it and the people who practice it need the restoration and order of civilization, but in this book, I find it ironic that the characters who are more of the aristocratic side are written as inhumane and twisted, even more so than the "barbaric" peasants. Definitely the first half is an odd read and I'm sure the last half will be too, but I'll take it with a grain of salt. Isabel is right in the fact that having an external title like 'aristocrat' or 'peasant' doesn't determine how you act or feel internally. People aren't what they seem.

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Comments

Drew Hedden said…
I feel like Allende plays with identity a lot throughout the book, and, like you mentioned, a huge part of that relates to social class and status. I believe she also uses the topics of bloodline and family names to continue to highlight the error in characters who believe that identity is something you are given, when Allende (seemingly) believes that identity is formed by an individual's actions (see Esteban Trueba).
March 18, 2020 at 12:50 PM
Osten said…
While researching for an honors paper I stumbled across an article I no longer remember the title or author but it discussed how in a modern society physical strength really isn't needed to be seen as a man. Today's manly men are those who know how to get a lot done without lifting a finger. Esteban seems to be the opposite. He strives to be a refined gentleman but he can't stop working. He believes that peasants will be peasants and can never be rich like him but he forgets that he was once just like them. People gravitate to who they truly are no matter how hard they try to hide it.
March 20, 2020 at 12:23 PM
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