Is society truly male dominated? Can our voice only be heard when we are in a position? People forget that power doesn't require a position or title, but mainly comes through each individual's needs. Often, men had the superior positions, but behind their fazade, lay the influence of women due to their dependence on women. Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold, depict that the power of men had is actually an illusion. The decisions that men make are bounded by their sexual and emotional need for women. The authors convey this message by first establishing a male dominant society through the character's actions and thought, then contrasting it with the long-term influence women have on male's life. Through this method, the readers are first provoked by the sexist actions and thoughts of characters, but later solved by the plot, forcing a bigger impact on the readers. .
The sexual dependence of men for women is a reason why women can exercise control over men. However, the author first shows the men to be in control of their dependence, and uses their status to use women to satisfy this dependence. In House of the Spirits, when Esteban Trueba went to Tres Marias, "he left not [one] girl pass from puberty to adulthood that he did not subject to the woods-(Allende 63). He used and raped all the women merely for his lustful needs. He was even allowed to get away with any impregnation of the women that he raped. This established physical dominance of Esteban over all females causes tension between the reader and the plot of the book. Another example this dependence ties Esteban to Transito. Although Esteban is the one that needs the sexual satisfaction of Transito, a prostitute, she was conveyed as dependent on Esteban. She had an economic dependence of him to support her future and her current expenses. Allende exemplifies this dependence when she was forced to ask Esteban for 50 pedros to leave the place and have an future.
