The House of the Spirits: Characters and Storylines

The House of the Spirits: Narrative and Structure

A clear example of social contrast is the family of *del Valle* workers compared to Esteban Trueba in *Tres Marías*. Differences are also seen within the same city, contrasting working-class neighborhoods with upper-class neighborhoods. That magical conception of reality is evident in the episode of the expulsion of the ants. *Tres Marías* has been invaded by a plague of ants that are destroying the entire crop. Esteban Trueba seeks all possible solutions, even bringing in technical specialists, but nothing remedies the problem until Pedro García intervenes: all he had to do was show the ants the way out. This “magic bullet” serves as a metaphor for problem-solving in real life.

Time is perceived as cyclical, not linear, decoupled from the traditions of modern rationality. Although the novel is told in a linear fashion, there are elements that break this linearity: the novel’s structure and the use of anticipations or prolepsis. This idea appears in the cyclic structure of the novel. It begins and ends with the first sentence of Clara’s notebooks: “Barrabás came to the family…”

Structure, Themes, and Storylines

External Structure

The House of the Spirits is divided into fourteen chapters and an epilogue.

Internal Structure

The narrative can be structured into two not perfectly defined, but recognizable, parts, and an epilogue. The first part focuses on the family history of the del Valle and Trueba families. The foreground is occupied by the more romantic aspects of the story, and the narrative rhythm is slower. In the second part, the country’s turbulent history takes a leading role. This second part begins in Chapter X, “The Time of the Spirits,” with the death of Clara, which foreshadows the horror and events to come. In this second part, events rush, the narrative rhythm becomes more agile, and historical events occupy the foreground.

Circular Structure

The epilogue closes the novel, bringing together the story and giving it a circular structure. The circle encompasses the entire story. The phrase “Barrabás came to the family by sea” opens the notebooks in which Clara records her life, becoming a witness to events. The reader learns at the end of the epilogue that Alba is writing the book, encouraged and helped by her grandfather.

The Narrative Thread

The two parts of the novel intertwine two storylines that complement each other: individual and family memory, with its web of mysterious reality, and collective memory. Both narrative threads merge in the fiction.

The stages of the lives of the Trueba and del Valle families reflect Chilean reality. These include the family history of the del Valle, of Esteban, his sister, and mother; of the family of Esteban and Clara; of the Pedro García family, and others. Ultimately, we see the patriarchal society, abuse against women, Nívea del Valle’s fight for suffrage, the arrival of the telephone, the situation of the peasants, etc.

In the latter part, history is imposed on the story, perhaps because the social process determines the fictional plot. This includes the presidential elections, the growth of trade unions, the workers’ struggle, strikes and demonstrations of the proletariat, and the long path that will lead the candidate (Salvador Allende) to become President.