The House Of The Spirits

Submitted By Brutii
Words: 1199
Pages: 5

During the early 1900’s Latin America has been at the mercy of European hegemony. Causing the Latin American citizens to believe that they are second class and don’t deserve to be a great race of people. As Latin America has grown and changed it has faced many problems with Europeans and their influence on the paths of the Latin Americans. As some of them tend change the social and political structure of a whole nation. An example of this could be found in Chile as European ideals, such as Marxism and Fascism, which cause a coup d’ etat against a president which brought in a military dictatorship in Chile. In the novel The House of the Spirits, a family experiences a whole new way of life as they live through these series of political changes that greatly impacts their way of life and their . Allende uses Father Restrepo, the ant, and the count to emphasize the problem of European influences in Chile.
Allende created the character Father Restrepo to reveal the power of the Church and the effect the church had over the people. In the beginning of the book, Allende gave a description of the Father and the things he would normally do to his followers. “No one dared to disobey him.”(2). Used to present the power behind the church in the story. This quote reveals the powerful aspect that the priest has over the people. Since, the church is a symbol of the social takeover of European influence in Chile it makes sense that Allende make such an emphasis as though implying that the Europeans were always obeyed in Chile. The quote emphasizes the ability of the Europeans on the Chileans in that century, as the Father gave out his orders to go to follow the word of the lord the people die nothing but obeyed him. This explains as to why the people followed the Church so much in Chile, and Allende wanted to show why the Chilean citizen were so into Church at the time. Another instance of where Allende shows the power and fear that is brought by the Church is the description of how Father Restrepo would control his followers of the Church. “…and a tongue well schooled in arousing emotions.”(2) This statement about the methods of Father Restrepo seems to relate how the Europeans charmed the Latin American into believing everything that they say as true. This phrase was used to begin the intertwining relations between the historical context and the novel. The quote also plays the role as to reveal one of the basic characteristics of the characters of European origin.
In the novel Allende creates another minor character that reveal the effect of the Europeans have on the Chilean citizens, she creates the Count Jean De Satigny. As the Count comes to the neighborhood he is then view as a king as he comes across the Chileans. He is treated royally and even plans to make a business deal with Esteban within seconds of meeting him. “The count was a social acquisition for the Trueba family….to all cultural and social events in the area.”(182) Allende inputs this quote in the novel to reveal to the reader how great a European was treated in Chile. It almost seems she is making fun over the fact that a guy who cannot find a job, becoming the social center in the rich neighborhood. Allende seems to play with the fact that he does not even deserve to be in such a social class because he was not so in his own country, and Allende seems to imply that since Europeans could not make it in their European nation they would come to Chile in order to obtain power and money much simpler; for just being European. As Allende continues to unfold the new European character, the reader views Jean de Satigny’s strange behavior has he marries a woman he just met and doesn’t even ask for sex from her. “… Jean de Satigny’s studio was covered with distressing erotic scenes that revealed her husband’s hidden character.”(260) Allende use of this instance was to reveal the truth behind the “great” Europeans. She makes the character have such a dark secret to promote the