Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits

Clara is at the heart of close to of the uncanny in the novel. Her family sees her magical powers as simply "an charge" (Allende 7). The family is at first more concerned with the negative reality reaction such spectral powers might bring to the family: "The some other children . . . in case of visitants . . . would background pop and stop whatever might be moving on the table before the guests noticed" (Allende 8).

The literary/cultural acceptance of such supernatural phenomena keeps the characters from over-reacting, alone they still recognize it as something very superfluous and mysterious and indicative of a connection between this arena and the world of spirits.

Another aspect of the supernatural in this novel is its sometimes sensuous character. The supernatural is not something which draws the characters out of charitable life into an ethereal otherworld, but rather draws them more deeply into this world. Esteban, for example, drives himself with work to such exhaustion and special consciousness that "His supply played nasty tricks on him, suddenly becoming a formidable female, a hard, wild mountain of flesh, on which he rode until his bones ached" (Allende 55). This vision once again is in eccentric accepted as part of life, and in part seen as a sign of some special message aimed at the recipient. The message in this instance was that he needed to withdraw sex with a woman as soon as possible.

The supernatural is often taken comp

In a number of instances, the supernatural has little if any(prenominal) effect on the people it touches. For example, Clara predicts that a man was breathing out to cheat her father in a business deal, but her father ignores the prediction and is indeed swindled. The suggestion here seems to be that human beings will usually do what they are freeing to do, supernatural intervention or not.

At times the visions of supernatural phenomena are clearly meant to be taken more seriously, as when Clara and Esteban are dancing at the party where their engagement is inform and Clara is "completely oblivious to the warnings of the spirits that gestured desperately at her from the curtains" (Allende 90).

The strike of the great dog Barrabas was occurring at that very moment, but so swept up in the festivities is Clara that she is temporarily beyond the reach of the supernatural warning being sent her way.

letely in stride, as when Carla "would announce earthquakes in advance, which was quite useful in that rural of catastrophes, for it gave them a chance to lock up the good dishes and put their slippers within reach in case they had to run out in the middle of the night" (Allende 8).

However, it is not only the perfect(a) details of this novel which make it distinct from the supernatural-oriented novel by Allende. What sets off this novel even more is the perspective and style of the author. Allende is a flamboyant author whose flowery prose sometimes chokes the reader's mind, which by chance reflects the abundance of life in the Latin American culture. Jhabvala, on the other hand, even in her details, is a restrained writer whose conservative style draws the reader in quietly and assuredly, as the culture of India draws in the visitor. One feels that the Chile of Allende would overwhelm the visitor with lush emotions and images, while the India of Jhabvala would gradually lure the visitor in with its very indifference. There is the feeling that anything goes in Allende's fictional wo
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