THE SITUATION OF WOMAN ( THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS) BY ISABEL ALLENDE - Essay ExampleOn the contrary, the women are passive, subservient and puppet-like in the hand of their male counterparts. It is not that they do not long for freedom of action and choice; indeed, they long for it and attempt to exert stealthily. But when their ambition are revealed, they have been mercilessly silenced down by the men around them. All of the protagonists in Allende’s novel are, more or less, vulnerable to male violence and brutality. They are powerless in the face of the men’s superiority and macho possessiveness. Despite their powerlessness, they challenge the patriarchal authority by feminine mode of protests such assuming reclaiming maiden name, resort to silence, self-withdrawal, etc. After all, the women’s status, as portrayed in the novel, is more like an addendum to their men than a self-dependent individual.Like any patriarchal society, the fate of Allende’s women is determined greatly shaped and determined by the men around them.
