Magic and the Supernatural Theme Analysis

As its title suggests, The House of the Spirits is imbued with supernatural elements. Clara, one of the novel’s main characters, is a clairvoyant, and she has the added powers of predicting natural disasters and levitating furniture and saltshakers. Clara’s magic is commonplace in the privacy of her home, but her family attempts to hide her powers—especially after an outburst in church as a young girl causes the parish priest, Father Restrepo, to declare Clara “possessed by the devil!” Clara’s supernatural powers are present throughout her life, and she exposes her children and granddaughter, Alba, to her spiritualist lifestyle. Clara’s husband, Esteban, and even her son, Jaime, are dismissive of Clara’s abilities, which reflects the dismissiveness of women in the novel more broadly. Despite the dismissive way in which Clara’s family approaches her magic, they often turn to her powers in times of great need, which suggests that Clara’s supernatural abilities aren’t as silly as her family first pretends. With the incorporation of magical elements in The House of the Spirits, Allende highlights the mysterious nature of the world and ultimately argues for the power of the supernatural to bring comfort in times of suffering. 

Clara’s supernatural powers are an important part of her life; thus, her powers are a prominent part of her family’s lives as well, even though they generally ignore them. From a young age, Clara can “predict the future and recognize people’s intentions.” She foresees her father, Severo’s, hernia, predicts her brother’s horseback riding accident, and even knows the identity of a local murderer before the police find the victims’ bodies. Clara’s supernatural abilities manifest early, and while her family largely ignores them, they only get stronger with age. By the time Clara and Esteban are married and have children, the three Mora sisters, local “students of spiritualism and supernatural phenomena,” are inexplicably drawn to Clara. The sisters—who have a photograph of themselves seated around a table with a “misty, winged ectoplasm,” which Clara sees as “irrefutable proof that souls can take on physical form”—spend an extended period living in Clara and Esteban’s house, even though Esteban considers their spiritual beliefs nonsense. Like Clara, the Mora sisters believe wholeheartedly in the supernatural, and they spend their days and nights summoning spirits together. In the years that follow, “a group of Gurdjieff students, Rosicrucias, spiritualists, and sleepless bohemians” gather around Clara and the Mora sisters. This group of spiritualists and mystics live in Clara and Esteban’s house, too, and they divide their time “between urgent consultations with the spirits of the three-legged table and reading the verses of the latest mystic poet.” Clara’s family tolerates this eclectic group, as they do with the Mora sisters, and accepts them as another one of Clara’s eccentricities.

With the exception of Clara’s son, Nicolás, who shares his mother’s enthusiasm for the supernatural but none of her talent, Clara’s family is largely dismissive of her powers. However, they often turn to her magical gifts for comfort, which implies that on some level they do respect the power of the supernatural after all. Esteban maintains that “magic, like cooking and religion,” is a “particularly feminine affair,” and he merely tolerates his wife’s obsession with the supernatural out of his deep love for her. Within the novel, magic is symbolic of the strength of women and their real-life skills and abilities, and when Esteban dismisses Clara’s magic, he dismisses her as a woman as well. When Esteban runs for senator, he grows increasingly nervous as the election nears, so he goes to Clara and asks if he will win. Clara only nods, and Esteban’s fears are immediately relieved. “You’re fantastic, Clara!” he exclaims. “If you say so, I’ll be senator.” While Esteban merely tolerates his wife’s peculiarities much of the time, he clearly believes in her supernatural abilities and is happy to benefit from them when the occasion arises. Long after Clara is dead, and Esteban is alone in the big house on the corner with his granddaughter, Alba, he fears the sounds of lingering spirits and ghosts are evidence of senility. But these “doubts melt away” whenever Clara’s ghost passes Esteban in the halls, or when he hears her laughter on the terrace. In life, Clara easily communicated “with those of the Hereafter,” and in death, she is likewise able to communicate “with those of the Here-and-Now.” Esteban believes Clara has this power, and it is a comfort to him in his old age. Furthermore, when Alba is arrested during the military coup and is tortured and raped by the police, she invokes “the understanding spirits of her grandmother” to help her die. The spirits don’t come, but Clara does appear in Alba’s semi-consciousness and encourages strength and inner peace. Like her grandfather, Alba shows little interest in Clara’s magic—until she needs it, that is.

At the end of the novel, as Esteban dies an old man, bitter and angry, Alba is convinced of Clara’s presence at the very moment of his death. Initially, Clara is “just a mysterious glow,” but as Esteban slowly loses the rage that plagued him in life, Clara appears “as she had been at her best, laughing with all her teeth and stirring up the other spirits as she sails through the house.” Because of Clara’s ghostly presence and supernatural powers, Esteban is “able to die happy, murmuring her name: Clara, clearest, clairvoyant,” which further underscores the power of the supernatural to bring comfort during times of great suffering.