This essay is about to tell us how do the fantastic and fictional worlds and images correspond to the real life of the living people, how their culture and traditions are depicted in the works of the artists, writers and film directors and how the images of art pieces reflect and form the life of modern people. Here we are going to describe the outstanding examples of the modern literature and find out how they highlight the world and the people with their beliefs and hopes, their feeling and thoughts. These will be the "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende.
The first to describe will be a piece by Marquez, and we`ll go deep into the meaning of what was written by him. Let take the main plot on the second plan, as we`ve got to tell what was depicted behind it. Just for the basis of our reasoning, we should only say about the main characters of the novel and the main plot line, but just only the basics of it. The protagonist of the novel is Santiago Nasar, and it`s his death that becomes the main plot of the novel, the most of narrator`s attention comes to him; however, his image throughout the novel becomes unclear, his thoughts and ambitions become unclear, but the narrator sympathizes him and ensures the reader that Santiago Nasar wasn`t aware of the reason why he was killed as he hadn`t done anything wrong that could be the reason for that. The second main character of the novel is Angela Vicario, who is a cousin of the narrator, and she is the only key to unravel the great mystery of the novel: was Nasar guilty or not. This is the basis for our next depiction.
Angela Vicario is about to get married to a rich, noble and famous Bayardo San Roman, who is the man of a rich world and always gets everything that he wants. In addition, Angela was not an exception, despite the fact that he decided to marry her from the first glance at her. His flirtation with Angela brightly depicts the customs of marriage common for Latin America, as he brings her a musical box for her birthday gift; still she refuses to accept it. Nevertheless, he does everything what it takes to satisfy her every wish. Such flirtation is not to make a couple to fall deeper in love with each other, but to demonstrate the groom`s abundance and influence. This also asserts that personality doesn`t mean much in choosing the person to marry, but the status and richness do.
Her letter writing to Bayardo is another example of some ritual, as she doesn`t bother about the words that she says in these letters; the only purpose of such letter writing is the knowledge for her that Bayardo is accepting them. On the contrary, Bayardo also doesn`t even mind reading those letters; however, the fact that he has received hundreds of letters during the seventeen years gives him the confidence that she needs him and wants him to come back to her, giving her another chance.
The whole novel is the continuous reiteration of the situations and events that are somehow related to the crime. The novel doesn`t unravel the mysteries regarding them as everything that is written are the narrator`s own discoveries and thought regarding the surrounding events, that`s why the novel itself can be considered as a strange, but interesting ritual of exploration because the end of the novel stays unclear just like was the beginning of it.
Although, as I`ve said earlier, the main plot is not so important as the themes that it describes, for example, the motif of honor is also one of the general characteristics of the novel. In the culture described by Marquez, honor matters and is treated very seriously. Not a single person doubts about the righteousness of every action that is about to protect the honor of a person or his friends and/or relatives. Moral is the key for a person to be treated well by the society, on the contrary, a man with no honor is a castaway for the society.
Every character of the novel is under the influence of the image of the honor, and it being the reason for the people to act in the way they act. The protection of such ideal takes the direct responsibility for the assassination of Santiago Nasar. Hi is killed by the Vicario brothers for the purpose of restoring their sister`s honor. The case is that she disgraced her family by marrying Bayardo and losing her virginity with Santiago. Her brothers seem to be the knights of retribution, and they are sure that, with the death of Santiago, the honor of their sister will be protected and restored, as well.
Despite the fact that some people still want to prevent the murder, for example, YamilShaium and Clothilde Armenta, the majority of people ignored Santiago in protecting him; they thought that his punishment is an adequate measure for what he has done and bringing such dishonor to the family automatically made Santiago worth of being killed. Such case is the evidence of the awfulness and cruelness of such crime as sleeping with a married woman; once it`s done, you deserve to be killed by her family, and she is instantly covered in shame and can hardly ever get married once again. By the way, the marriage is depicted as the only way for a woman to be worth of something and to be able to progress any further.
Let us also describe the style of which the novel is written. The author continuously adds surreal and weird details to limelight the events, which seem to be very common for everyone. An example of this is the depiction of a local bordello, which is described so pretty that the reader is confused for the first time he faces it and the job that Maria Alejandrina Cervantes fulfills; despite the fact that she is a prostitute, her house is so picturesque that it leaves the impression of a noble and beautiful dwelling. This makes us think that even the people that are not so valued in the society can create their own beautiful world to live in.
Marquez also uses his words to add some interesting facts about the main characters, though they are not involved into the plot in any possible manner. At the beginning of the story, the narrator retells the dream that Santiago Nasar had at his last night of his life. "He'd dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely splattered with bird shit" (Marquez). Such bizarre detail contradicts the whole investigative and journalistic style of the novel and the narration, but it transfers a reader in between the dream world and the real world, making him think about the fantasy as an inevitable part of it.
This is the magnificent and surreal novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and it is as trivial as a real life is because in this book, the fiction and the reality are mixed with a great variety of symbols and motives that make us re-read the book again and again to find more and more of its hidden meanings.
The second book to describe is the mentioned in the introduction "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende and the plot and descriptions with illustrations in it are not so surreal as the same of Marquez; however, the themes risen the novel are also of the highest importance. The basis of the plot is the class struggle between the landlords and the peasants, just like in the real Latin America the same situation takes place, as a society is divided into these two categories: here you are either an aristocrat (Trueba and Del Valle families in the novel), or a peasant, who works for them. Still, their future is not so horrible, as they can join the army or the police, educate themselves and somehow achieve a higher-class status (the example of Esteban Garcia). The conflict lies in the situation that Trueba and Del Valle families are the representatives of the landlords and Garicas are the peasants that work on their land. Moreover, the aristocrats here own the whole infrastructure of the region, including roads, connection, schools, banks, etc. They become more wealthy and prosperous due to this ownership and the conflict with the lower class representatives is unavoidable here.
The attitudes to life of each of the character is also different. For example, Esteban Trueba is the supporter of the traditionalism and the conservative point of view: the strong should rule the weak; the intelligent should rule the silly and the wealthy should rule the poor, moreover, there`s no way for any change from such a vicious circle. On the other hand, there is Pedro Tercero Garcia, who is the representative of avaunt-garde-minded peasants that think that changes are made with the hard work for a long time. The author herself supports the philosophy of peasants: the traditionalists don`t see the class struggle as a problem and don`t bother about any possible case of a peasant to become wealthy and respectful man.
The woman`s fate is also the one of the burning ideas throughout the novel: all the protagonists here are the working women that do their best in different ways to support their rights. Alba, Blanca and Clara represent the focus of the novel, at the same time Miguel, Esteban and Pedro Tercero are here for the depiction of whom these women love, care about and live for. All the situations, which take place in their lives, are of a detailed description, we are told of their birth and every case of violence after it. Nevertheless, these women are described as strong and patient; they do not kneel before any injustice against them.
They choose sophisticated and elegant response to every situation they are involved in, and the author tells us that such are the woman ways of struggle. While man relies on the strength and violence, they organize and conduct revolutions, the results of them are of a fast and unstable nature. Women work is more refined and requires more time and efforts with patience side by side, but their ways of revolution bring more long-term results and the changes are more of a deep and permanent nature. For my personal point of view, such meaning is not unreasonable, still doubtful as nowadays it`s a man, who rules and governs, he has learned that nowadays changes are not only made with force, but with the mind and intelligence; however, it`s more female manner of thought: at first she thinks and does indirectly, and her actions are refined, but results can be of a higher value.
Another theme that has been risen in the novel is the theme of civilization and the ignorance. The background for the plot is a country with no name; however it has so much in common with Chile, the native country of the author, as it`s divided between the modern towns and countryside which can hardly be named as a developed one. The aristocrats and the peasants living in the same country are the case familiar for her, and that`s why she mentions the motif of the struggle between civilization and ignorance and even barbarism as the one of the main throughout the novel. The conservative vision of that question is that nature is abundant and have the renewable powers, but it needs the civilization in order to be effective. The similar is the view of aristocrats depicted in the novel; however, the author does her best to break the line between the civilization and the nature, as she shows the civilized people as irrational, inhumane and ineffective. At the same time, the peasants, "the ignorant" ones are the adequate and successfully responding to everything in their life.
The style of writing is also interesting here, as the special attentiveness is given to the manners in which each woman learns the writing, and the momentum when this skill achieves the meaning for a woman`s life. The writing of the protagonists is the evidence for every event in their personal and political life, they are writing everything that is needed for the future generations to find out and learn from. The personal level of woman`s writing is the key to keep the family memories and keep them united due to these evidences of the different family moments. However, on her political level, the writings are the evidences of the power abuse of the military regime governing by that time. Here, Alba`s writing is a highlighted metaphor for the author`s writing as a child for the social and political events that took place in Chile during her lifespan.
The themes of chance and strange turning points of fate appear continuously in The House of the Spirits. These are embodied in the prediction ability of Clara that is bordering with supernatural power of insight. It allows her to look inside the people and watch for their possible future fates. In addition, they became the organizer of the plot that twists around the different colliding of members of opposing families and their civilized and natural environments. In addition, every couple in the book meets by chance when they are young, and they realize they love each other as the years go by. This describes the great hope of the writer in the real love that remains the same for all the life and appears to connect seemingly strangers, but the feeling growth only stronger during the years they are together. Despite the fact that Clara must someday realize that she can only watch the future outcomes of the environment, and she can`t change it, the fate in the book is not the only main symbol of it. The fate of each character is rather of every minor decision they take and the step they make, the same is for the country – its fate is shaped by the particular decisions of politicians that influence the whole country.
The great symbol of the novel is the house built by Esteban that seems to be flashy and garish. Literally, the novel is of a romance nature describing a life of a family through generations. Still, this house is full of complexities and situational issues. The title of the novel speaks for itself: it tells us about a seemingly simple house, where the simple people live; however, it`s full of its phantoms and spirit, sometimes due to Clara`s gift of prediction, but in the majority of cases, due to the mixture of reasons mentioned above.
Works Cited
Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. New York: Dial Press, 2005.
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. New York: Vintage Publishers, 2003.
