"Why Women are very important in the novels The House of the Spirits and A Chronicle of a death foretold".
Throughout history man was, and still sometimes is, thought to be the stronger sex, both physically and emotionally, because men seem to be the decision makers and seem to be doing everything by themselves. But behind what everyone sees, the women are usually the ones that are behind the scenes and in control. .
Both "a Chronicle of a death foretold" and "The House of the Spirits" have men as their most apparent decision makers and noticeable main characters, but behind the scenes women affect and influence the men greatly. Each of these women represents a different person and each has a different way of influencing the men that they are with. Angela Vicario from "A Chronicle of a Death Foretold", and Clara Trueba from "The House of the Spirits" are the very important women in their respective novels and therefore the most influential women in their novels. I think that the reason the authors of these novels chose to put women as their strongest characters is because where these authors came from, Chile, family is very important in their culture. Since in most family the mother is the most important figure, they are the people that hold the family together, the authors wanted to show that to everyone in their novels.
Clara has a tremendous influence over Esteban through her mysterious and mystical ways. She is such a mysterious person, which attracts Esteban to her and what little he knows and understands about her, and at the same time tells him to keep his distance until she allows him to approach her, like the time she left Tres Marias two days after he hit her and he did not try to stop her1. This shows Clara's indifferent attitude towards Esteban's feelings and establishes that Clara does not need Esteban as much as he needs her. Clara from then on seemed to control most of Esteban's thoughts, lifestyle and emotions.