Chapter Twelve of The House of The Spirits

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Kimberly Dojillo
Major Plot Events in Chronological Order…
⊗ unidentified third person narrator (Esteban) talks about the POLITICS at that I think I have
“
time: Socialists allied with left-wing parties & won the presidential election for the my life [into]
people who live in “the shantytown and working class neighborhoods”—the right before that day
Wing parties were well-prepared for celebrations (shocked) and met at “colonial- divided
and after that
style house” (342) to produce resolutions such as manipulation through the day," Allende told
media Publishers Weekly
⊗ POLTITICS Soon, the rich people withdraw all their money from banks and either interviewer
hid them or send them overseas in fear of Russian aggression, causing anAmanda Smith. "In
“economic destabilization” (342) thus widen gap between the classes that moment, I
⊗ Pedro Tercero García, a peasant, gained office due to “shortage of skilled men” realized that
for the left wing government, and he “stared out the barred window of his everything was
luxurious office and could see only a small square of gray sky.” (344)
possible—that
⊗ Blanca does not see Pedro Tercero for two years because she refuses to marry violence was a
him
dimension
you. that
⊗ Blanca begins storing things in the empty rooms when everything faces awas always
scarcity & a new profession was born: “Professional line standers” and “peddler ”
-Isabelaround
Allende

chicken” were determined not to let the sabotage spoil their gains, so they sang that “people united
would never be defeated” until it became “out of tune because decisiveness and hatred were inexorably
growing” and eventually there’s a “chicken shortage” thus the cadets “were all a bunch of chickens.”
(348-9)
⊗ Esteban Trueba has been secretly storing guns and weapons in his house
⊗ Upon his first return after 3 years and five months, Esteban Trueba was held hostage when the
peasants in Tres Marías took over the hacienda and drank all his precious wines & butchered all the
livestock and “for the first time he could remember, he felt defeated” (361).
⊗ Ironically it is Pedero Tercero who saves him, telling the peasants “it will be better if I take him with me
now, with his tails between his legs” (360).
⊗ Luisa Mora comes in and warns Alba that she could possibly die, and she told Esteban “victory will only
MinorbringCharacter/ Newand
you suffering traits introduced:
loneliness” (364). In 1973, military forces
- General Hurtado wanted a military coup deposed the legally

- Esteban respects “democratic rights” & “freedom of the
press”(343)
- Blanca tells Alba, “whatever happened, one should not lower one’s
standard of living” (350)
- Miguel believes it is “impossible to defeat the right without a
violent revolution” (354).
Major Symbols…
Chicken, Peasants Revolt in Tres Marías,
Civil Services, Class Differences, Colors,
Shift of Power, Blanca and Pedro Tercero’s
Relationship, P.T.’s guitar, Last names
relative to a person’s power and rise to
power, Corruption & Black Market, food
Facts…
elected administration
of President Salvador
Allende, Isabel's uncle,
in Chile.
4. “The story of the hens who joined forces
to confront a fox who came into the chicken
coop every night to steal eggs and eat the
baby chicks” from Chapter Four “The Time of
the Spirits” is once again recalled in this
chapter, now put into action! An
unidentified third-person narrator first talk
about the “chicken shortage” faced and that
the cadets themselves are a bunch of
“chickens” (349), then later Esteban is
captured and held as hostage. When Pedro
Tercero comes to pick him up, he says that
Esteban is leaving “with his tail between his
legs,” relevant to how the fox was described
as it is chased by the overly abused hens,
and Esteban realizes this is the first time he
feels defeated.
Look at this Passage!
“Trueba followed him with his head bowed. His
eyes were red, and, for the first time he could
remember, he felt defeated. They crossed the
kitchen and still the old man did not look up. They
went through the house and followed the path that
led from the main building to the outside gate,
accompanied by a group of unruly children who
skipped along beside them and an entourage of
silent peasants who followed behind. Blanca and
Alba were sitting with journalists and guardsmen,
eating roast pig with their fingers and drinking
mouthfuls of red wine straight from the bottle
that was being passed from hand to hand.”
Narration by Esteban Trueba (361)
5. The narrator of this chapter switches between
Esteban and Alba. While Esteban narrates mostly
about the politics of the time and how he was
captured, Alba talks about her mother Blanca’s
relationship with Pedro Tercero, her own
relationship with Miguel and her love for Jaime.
She also talks about the hardship of people at the
time and the “chicken shortage” (349). This is
very important because both of them referred to
Pedro Garcia’s “story of the hens who joined forces
to confront a fox” from Chapter Four “The Time of
the Spirits” (141).
So Who is the Narrator?

--> Themes <--

Pedro Tercero Garcia’s unchanging love for Blanca despite her countless
rejections to marry him confirms the lower class’s persistence and strive to
Class Differences and the detailed be in the higher class and to improve their status even though they deny
descriptions used for lower class having “the ambition for either money or power” (344).
people (such as page 359 “A few dogs
and several children”) suggests the Allende’s descriptions of Trueba’s guardsman
evil of colonization and slavery, where “eating roast pig…drinking mouthfuls of red
man of lower economic status can be wine” while the person that they are suppose to
only be on even ground with animals. protect is in trouble also demonstrates the
ineffectiveness of money towards one’s loyalty to
his master (361).

Pedro Tercero Garcia’s bizarre action of making a

trip to his house to pick up his guitar before
heading to Tres Marías to save Esteban Trueba
(which is even more bizarre, because Trueba
injured him before) and his explanation that “’It’d
be better if I take him with me now, with his tail
between his legs’” all put forward the fact that the
peasants are more witty and sentimental than the
heartless higher-class people. However, it also
shows that even though they assist the higher
class in many ways, they will never forget their
own values (P.T.’s guitar = chickens & fox story).
The fact that people like Pedro Tercero and
Pedro Garcia can only rise to power
through civil service, compared to Esteban
Trueba’s awaiting opportunities to make
him rich and well known brings out the evil
of the class system, where one can ever
truly rise to a class higher than the one
they were born in.

Blue
THE COLORS….
Overwhelmed, sorrowful, failure, disappointed,
The Title…is very
important because “The
unhappy, stricken, spiritual, holy, expectant,
Conspiracy” itself serves as a
hopeful, earthly and lofty (superior)
symbol to the series of unsuccessful
Yellow Contentment, Delight, excitement, happiness, revolts by the peasants to
enthusiasm, quiescence overthrow the higher class, due to
Gray Lost, adrift, lonely, frustration, melancholy either the lack of planning &
Red Resentful, violence, hate, remorse, anguish, reinforcements or the few
disgraced, admiration, devotion, affection individuals that does not want to
Multicolore Progress, growth & advancements, mixed emotions give up power that they suddenly
d had suddenly obtained.
Light-colors Lifeless, excluded, emptiness, purity,
enlightenment