Allende and Marquez

A detailed Summary of Allende and Marquez

To some people love may be thought of as just a game but to others it could mean much more than a game. Love can show the control, wealth and influence one person can have over another person. In The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez we read in both books how the authors described the power of guilt and love as a way of life and in some ways a game to be won. Love and guilt are two of the many ways we can compare these books and learn how similar they really are.

Money plays a vital role in each of these books. We see that money has a power over people that can make them feel guilt which in some cases makes people feel loved. We must keep straight in our heads though, that money is not love and love can not be bought with money. This is shown in Chronicle of a Death Foretold when Bayardo San Roman tries to buy the widower's Xius house. Xius tries to stand up for his house and for the love in his heart, but even the strongest feeling of love was not enough to conquer the power money had:

But the widower defended himself until the end of the game. Three nights later, better prepared, Bayardo San Roman returned to the domino table. 'Widower,' he began again

In both books the true love that women feel for their men is forbidden. With that love came the feeling of guilt that the families would feel. Guilt is covered up when honor gets in the way of the family name or some other importance. "The fact that Angela Vicario dared to put on the veil and the orange blossoms without being a virgin" (Marques, 45). In The House of the Spirits, Blanca was forced to marry Jean de Satigny in order to conceal her forbidden pregnancy. The reason Jean de Satigny was content with the idea of marrying a women that was carrying another mans baby was because he had a "dream of marrying a rich, young, beautiful South American heiress," he understands that Esteban Trueba's command offers the realization of his dream and marked an advancement in status (Allende, 214). He didn't realize that he didn't want any person fulfillment from Blanca. There was no loss, but rather only a huge gain for him and of course he would not turn down such an offer.

By reading this we have a very good question placed into our heads. Is love really blind, or is guilt a factor that covers our eyes and makes us blind, or is it the power of money that really brings us down? We read of both the good sides and the bad sides of money and power and the strength of love. Once you have found your true love there is nothing that can get in your way of where you want to be. Love is shown with a sense of guilt, but it shows you that the guilt you feel for loving should really not be there and you should play on your first instinct and follow your heart.

When Angela Vicario returns to her parents, her unfaithfulness becomes aware. "The only thing I can remember is that she was holding me by the hair with one hand and beating me with the other with such rage that I thought she

Some common words found in the essay are:
San Roman, Esteban Trueba, Garcia Marquez, House Spirits, Angela Vicario, Spirits Blanca, Esteban Trueba's, Soon Trueba, , Angela Vicario's, de satigny, jean de, san roman, bayardo san roman, jean de satigny, bayardo san, house spirits, chronicle death foretold, love love, money love, love money, true love, blanca forced,

Approximate Word count = 1212
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels