Family Theme Analysis

Families and their interconnections with one another are a complex theme within The House of the Spirits. Allende’s exploration of families begins with the del Valles, who suffer endlessly when the family’s eldest daughter, Rosa, is inadvertently murdered in an assassination attempt meant for her father, Severo, an up-and-coming politician of the Liberal party in an overwhelmingly conservative country. The novel also examines the Trueba family, whose only son, Esteban, is first engaged to Rosa del Valle and later marries her younger sister, Clara, after Rosa’s untimely death. On Esteban’s hacienda (estate), Tres Marías, lives the García family, a peasant family including Esteban’s trusted foreman, Pedro Segundo (who is also the brother of Pancha, the mother of Esteban’s illegitimate son), and his son Pedro Tercero, the future lover of Esteban’s daughter, Blanca. The interconnectedness of families is also a key part of the lives of Amanda and Miguel, an orphaned sister and brother. Amanda falls in love with Esteban’s twin sons, Jaime and Nicolás, and Miguel ends up being the love of Esteban’s granddaughter, Alba’s, life. These complicated webs of connection sometimes lead to pain and loss for Allende’s characters, but Allende nonetheless argues through their stories that family ties are a crucial source of love and meaning. 

Family is at the center of much drama and pain in Allende’s novel, which underscores the power of families to cause emotional pain and even violence. Esteban has a poor relationship with his sister Férula, who, prior to her death, curses Esteban so his body will shrink “in the same proportions as his soul.” As Esteban ages, growing more disagreeable with each passing year, he indeed begins to shrink, a constant reminder of his strained relationship with Férula. Esteban’s poor relationship with Férula is likewise reflected in the unfulfilling relationships he maintains with his wife and children, who largely ignore Esteban and rightfully blame him for their unhappiness. Esteban’s wife, Clara, even refuses to speak to Esteban after he abuses her, a vow that lasts seven years until Clara’s death. Even Esteban’s illegitimate grandson, Esteban García, resents Esteban and his refusal to recognize Esteban García and his father as rightful heirs of the Trueba fortune. Esteban García’s resentment causes him to target Alba, Esteban’s legitimate granddaughter, whom Esteban García rapes and tortures during the military coup at the book’s climax. Esteban García’s anger towards his grandfather and his violent treatment of Alba further highlight the pain caused by family connections in the novel.

Despite the drama and pain caused by families in The House of the Spirits, family is nevertheless an important part of Allende’s novel, and it is a source of deep love and meaningful connections for many of the characters. Even though Blanca’s relationship with her father is often strained due to Esteban’s refusal to accept Blanca’s love for Pedro Tercero, Blanca never stops loving her father, regardless of the intense anger she feels for him. When Blanca sees Esteban for the last time, she throws her arms around him lovingly. “I love you so much, Papa!” Blanca cries, covering him with kisses. Esteban responds in kind, illustrating the deep love within all families, even those divided by disagreement and betrayal. Esteban’s relationship with his son, Jaime, is also strained, due in part to Jaime’s refusal to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a wealthy politician and landowner. Esteban and Jaime are at each other’s throats for much of the novel, but when Jaime is killed during the military coup at the novel’s climax, Esteban is inconsolable. After Jaime’s death, Esteban waits for Jaime, his “eyes glued to the doorsill, calling to [Jaime] with [his] mind.” Like his relationship with Blanca, Esteban’s relationship with his son suffers, but he deeply loves Jaime, a fact which again stresses the connection and love within families. Like her mother and uncle, Alba blames Esteban for the many tragedies in her life. However, when she sees her grandfather crying out for his dead wife and son, Alba’s “love for the old man returns and she runs to embrace him, running her hands through his white hair and comforting him.” Despite the terrible things Esteban has done, his family still loves him.

After Alba is arrested during the military coup and is tortured and raped by Esteban García, the hatred she feels for him begins to soften with time, and she decides that her connection to Esteban García began long before her birth. “The day my grandfather tumbled his grandmother, Pancha García, among the rushes of the riverbank, he added another link to the chain of events that had to complete itself,” Alba says. “Afterward the grandson of the woman who was raped repeats the gesture with the granddaughter of the rapist, and perhaps forty years from now my grandson will knock Garcia’s granddaughter down among the rushes, and so on down through the centuries in an unending tale of sorrow, blood, and love.” Alba’s reflections suggest that ultimately, family connections are neither inherently good nor inherently bad; made up of equal parts pain and love, they’re simply an essential part of being human.