Focus Points : The House of the Spirits

Focus Points
House of the Spirits

1. Importance of various secondary characters: Barrabas, Tránsito Soto, Férula, Nana, Mora sisters.
2. Evolution of Estéban Trueba (remember Rosa, Three Marias, etc.).
3. Excesses of daily life—dreams, engagement party, ants, Nivea’s death, ways to make Clara speak, etc.
4. Politics—Nivea, Clara, Blanca, Pedro Tercero García, Estéban Trueba, twins.
5. Clara’s attitudinal changes—towards mother, towards daughter, politics, marriage, tenants.


There is more than one narrator in this book. Can you identify the different narrators? Each narrator has a distinct style and personality. How consistent is this personality with the character as described in the book?

 Look for facts that indicate where (in what country) and when (in what time period) the action occurs.

 Think about the affective relationships amongst the characters, the sex roles they play, their social position within the family, their economic reality and their geographic and historical situation.

 Is there a sense of humor in this novel?

Examine the different descriptions of men and women in this novel. There is a constant preoccupation with understanding the human universe in terms of sexual relationships. What solutions are proposed to the dilemmas faced by the characters?

Think about Esteban Trueba as a character: his origins, his infancy and childhood, the way in which his fortune is created, his temperament, his conduct in the Tres Marias (administrative and sexual) and afterwards his political activity. As a person, does he constitute a recognizable historical type?