Essay on "Class Struggle"

/>This paper will examine the issue of class struggle in Allende's first novel, the House of Spirits, which has been cited as being at least inspired by both historical and familial events that the author witnessed or was told about, if not a direct though fictionalized retelling of these events and characters (Garcia-Johnson; Hanmer & Akram-Lodhi). Two specific strains of class struggle are identified and examined; the first is directly economic in nature and can be seen in the position and actions of the household in comparison relation to the larger economy and political structure apparent in the society of the novel, while the other is a specific aspect of class struggle that is only tangentially (though importantly) related to economic opportunity and access: the struggle for female independence, equality, and power. Through an analysis of the House of Spirits and selected critical commentary, it will be seen that Allende paints a dark yet ultimately optimistic vision of these struggles and their outcome.

Economic Mobility: The Changing household

One of the most important features of the House of Spirits is, of course, the house or hacienda that is central to the story, Las Tres Marias. Esteban's quest to rebuild this family home and what it represents to its former glory and stability drives many of his actions and shapes much of his character throughout the story of the novel, and thus has major effects on the shape of the novel as a whole and the other characters individually. Class struggle can thus directly be seen in many of the interactions between Esteban and those around him, and can also be more symbolically or implicitly seen by an examination of what the hacienda represents.

In a paper more concerned with real-world economics than with literary symbolism, Lucia C. Hanmer and a. Haroon Akram-Lodhi nonetheless observe that there are important lessons that can be gleaned in economic terms from Allende's the House of Spirits. They note that the household in this tale serves as a powerful and discrete -- that is, unified and singular -- economic agent, which imbues it both with the decision-making necessities and relative independence of an individual economic actor as well as the more potent and influential collectivity granted by the multiple real members of a given household (Hanmer & Akram-Lodhi). In both a "post-Keynesian" economic model and in the House of Spirits quite specifically, the household should be seen as the primary means of wealth attainment and the vehicle of economic choice, and when this breaks down it can be indicative of other economic and societal disturbances, shifts, and instability (Hanmer… READ MORE