Sex As The Driving Theme In The House Of Spirits

The House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende is a complex novel. It is a family saga where the barriers between romance and tragedy are often blurred. The House of Spirits utilizes themes ranging from class struggles and politics to genealogy and fate. It embodies the motifs of women’s rights, the importance of writing and memory, and above all else: the power of consequence. The action of the novel is cyclic and by its conclusion, it comes full-circle. Although never explicitly revealed, Allende uses sex as the driving force in the novel. Sex serves as the primary means, the catalyst that carries the characters through the winding paths of their lives and ultimately determines their destinies.

The idea of sex as a shaping force is seminal in the novel and instrumental in molding the lives of the characters. The first character that is impinged on is Clara who bears witness to an action that affects the course of her childhood for nine years. Silently, on the night after Rosa’s death, Clara peered into the kitchen where Dr. Cuevas and a man she had never seen before prepared Rosa’s body for burial. Remaining after Dr. Cuevas left, Clara stayed until she saw the “yo

ung man she had never seen before “kiss Rosa on the lips, the neck, the breasts, and between the legs” (39). Afterwards, she returned to her bed “feeling within her the silence of the entire world. Silence filled her utterly. She did not speek again until nine years later” (39). The death of her sister and her witness to this traumatizing scene affects Clara two-fold. Firstly, and most apparently, they force Clara to retreat from the outward world to a place deep within herself, however, it is because of this retreat that Clara is able to further develop her powers of clairvoyance and in turn, it shapes her future personality.

tried to see her as his brother’s lover, a woman on whom he had just performed

Jaime never forgave his brother for what had happened, and that night in the hospital he “turned his back on his brother” forever (243).

Although Esteban’s relationship with Transito eventually reunites him with his granddaughter, the influence of sex in the novel is often more dividing than it is reuniting. It was sexual infatuation over Clara that ultimately estranged Esteban and his sister Ferula. Every night she witnessed her brother and Clara retire to make love, Ferula “was overwhelmed by a peculiar hatred she couldn’t explain, which filled her soul with regret” (99). As her desire to “climb into bed with Clara” increases, Ferula’s feelings for her brother darken. She confesses to the priest that she has watched Esteban and Clara make love explaining, “You don’t know the thoughts that can run through the mind of a single woman, a virgin” (99). Esteban on the other hand grows increasingly anxious about his sister’s relationship with his wife. He is convinced that it is because of Ferula that he never receives the exaggerated love he dreams of. One evening when he returns home, he finds Ferula in bed with Clara. Dragging her from the bed, he informs her that she should leave the house never to return. Before she leaves Ferula exclaims, “ ‘I set my curse on you, Esteban! [. . .] You will always be alone! Your body and soul will shrivel up and you’ll die like a dog!’” (132). This curse, forged deep within a jealous soul, would one day have its revenge.

Some topics in this essay:
House Spirits, Esteban Esteban, Pedro Garcia, Dr Cuevas, Marias Esteban, Red Lantern, Nicholas Jaime, Transito Soto, Clara Dragging, Alba Garcia, transito soto, house spirits, shaping force, life esteban’s, driving force, sexual appetite, dr cuevas, force novel, pedro tercero, sex serves,