The House of the Spirits

Chapter 1 opens with a line from Clara’s diary: “Barrabás came to us by sea” (1). The narrator, Alba, comments on how she would use Clara’s diaries to “reclaim terrors of [her] own” 50 years later (1).

Clara del Valle and her family attend a mass at church on Holy Thursday. The del Valles are headed by Severo, an atheist who attends church to pursue his political ambitions. Nívea, his wife, is a progressive suffragette and mother to 11 children. Clara suddenly interrupts the sermon, saying, “If that story about hell is a lie, we’re all fucked, aren’t we.…” (7). Severo and Nívea hurry their children out while the priest angrily pronounces Clara to be possessed by the devil.

Ten-year-old Clara is the youngest of the del Valle children and was born with telepathic and clairvoyant abilities. Eighteen-year-old Rosa, an “otherworldly” beauty with green hair and yellow eyes, is the oldest of the daughters. Rosa is engaged to Esteban Trueba, who works in the mines in the country’s north. Esteban fell in love with Rosa the very first time he set eyes on her. He frequently sends Rosa letters, though she rarely thinks of him; she spends her time daydreaming and embroidering imaginary magical creatures onto a tablecloth.

At home, Nana, the del Valles’s servant and nanny, announces that some men have come to deliver the dead body of Uncle Marcos, Nívea’s brother. Marcos was an intrepid explorer with an eccentric streak; some years ago he built a bird-like contraption upon which he took flight and disappeared. He was initially presumed dead and a funeral was held for him; however, he returned a week after his funeral. Now, Nívea rushes to see her brother’s body, confirming that Marcos is in fact dead.

Clara was closest to Marcos, having delighted in his many stories; Marcos in turn encouraged his niece’s clairvoyance. The arrival of a caged puppy, brought along with Marcos’s body, lessens her grief at his death. She adopts the puppy and names him Barrabás, and it grows into an enormous but gentle dog.

Later that year, Severo is invited to be a Liberal Party candidate as part of the upcoming congressional elections; the invitation arrives with the gift of a roast pig and a bottle of brandy. Clara announces that there will be an accidental death in the family. Shortly after this, Rosa develops a chill. On the doctor’s advice, Severo asks Nana to give Rosa some brandy; Rosa is found dead the next morning.

The doctor performs an autopsy and determines Rosa was poisoned; subsequently, rat poison is discovered in the brandy. Severo is overcome with grief, believing his political ambitions to have inadvertently brought about his daughter’s death. The assassin is never discovered, and the “shadow of suspended vengeance […] continued to hang over succeeding generations” of the family (35).

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Clara witnesses the autopsy. Her imagination transforms the scene, and she sees the doctor as a vampire cutting open her sister’s body. This sight, along with the fear that her prophecy caused her sister’s death, stuns her into silence for the next nine years.

Esteban narrates his experience of hearing about Rosa’s death. When the news reaches him, rage and grief overcome him. He rushes to the del Valle house, where a silent Clara greets him and stays by his side throughout the funeral. Esteban accompanies the body to the mausoleum, where he pays a caretaker to allow him to stay beside the body the entire night.

Over dinner, Esteban tells his sister, Férula, that he is not returning to the mines; Férula immediately retorts that he must work at something, as their mother’s medicines are expensive. Their mother, Doña Ester Trueba, is mostly bedridden from arthritis, and Férula has long since accepted her role as her mother’s nurse. Unmarried and alone owing to this, Férula’s relationship with Esteban is complicated. Although she doted on him as a boy, she now resents his freedom and the possibilities that his future holds; he, in turn, feels suffocated by her.

Esteban tells Férula that he is going to take charge of Tres Marías, the family’s hacienda. He promises Férula that as long as he is alive, she will never want for anything. Esteban travels to the country and arrives at Tres Marías to find the land and the house in ruin. The only man present is Pedro Segundo García, the others having left for work elsewhere; Pedro Segundo eventually becomes Esteban’s foreman.

Esteban reflects on how he was a good patrón. He invests all the money he has into reviving the estate, including renovating the house and buying livestock. Slowly the estate begins to do well, and men begin to arrive for work. Esteban enjoys himself in the country, but the solitude also worsens his naturally bad character, and he becomes increasingly savage, experiencing unquenchable sexual urges. He finds Pancha García, Pedro Segundo’s 15-year-old sister, and rapes her in the fields one day; he then orders her to work in the house and continues to have sex with her every night. Pancha eventually becomes pregnant. At this point Esteban loses interest in her and moves on to raping other young girls; Pancha returns to her house and gives birth to a son, also named Esteban.

Over the next decade Esteban becomes one of the most respected atrons in the region as Tres Marías flourishes and he raises the standard of living for his tenants. He builds a granary, modernizes the dairy, sets up a schoolroom and sewing workshop for the children, and establishes a general store for his tenants. Esteban’s tenants are paid in kind, their wages including food and poultry, shares of the harvest, and pink slips that they can use at the store. Esteban makes sure to send enough money and supplies home for Férula and their mother, though he never goes back to visit.

Esteban also becomes universally feared for his ill temper and violence. He continues to rape young female tenants, fathering a number of illegitimate children whom he refuses to acknowledge. He rejects Pedro Segundo’s suggestions of compensating his workers with a fair salary instead of pink slips and treating them with respect and dignity, avowing that these are communist ideas. Esteban believes the peasants are “like children” and need his firm hand and leadership to better their lives.

The war in Europe (likely World War II) ends, and with it new ideas come into the country; delegates from newly formed leftist parties arrive at the haciendas and spread Marxist ideas among the peasants. Esteban and the other landowners meet to strategize for the upcoming presidential elections. The meetings take place at a local brothel, the Red Lantern, where Esteban solicits the services of a young, ambitious sex worker named Tránsito Soto. One day she asks him for a loan of 50 pesos to go to the capital and pursue her dream of becoming rich and famous. Tránsito Soto promises Esteban that she will see him again someday and repay the loan with interest.

The Conservative Party wins the elections through a combination of ballot-rigging, intimidation, and bribery. Three days later, Esteban receives a letter from Férula with news that his mother is dying.

Clara’s silence, which begins at the age of 10, lasts until she is 19. Nana spends the next nine years attempting to frighten Clara into speech, leaping out at her from corners and dressing up as horrifying apparitions. Clara is removed from school and spends most of her time reading, recording her private observations in innumerable notebooks, and cultivating her clairvoyance and telekinetic abilities.

Clara is doted on by her older siblings, parents, and Nana. Nívea in particular spends a great deal of time and attention on her daughter, talking to her and telling her family stories to make up for the friendships and company her daughter is missing out on. Nívea’s efforts result in “creating a tie so strong that it continued into succeeding generations as a family tradition” (91).

On her 19th birthday, Clara finally breaks her silence and declares that she will soon marry Rosa’s fiancé. Two months later, Esteban arrives back in the city to visit his dying mother. Doña Ester makes Esteban promise that he will marry and continue the family name and bloodline. Esteban visits the del Valle house to enquire whether they have any daughters of marriageable age, and Severo and Nívea tell him about Clara. Clara comes to meet Esteban, and he is immediately smitten with her. A small engagement party takes place for Esteban and Clara. At the very moment that the couple exchange rings someone screams, and Barrabás is discovered bleeding to death with a butcher’s knife in his back. The dog dies with its head in Clara’s lap while the guests hurriedly leave the party.

The next year is spent preparing for the wedding. Esteban organizes the construction of a magnificent and luxurious new house. The impending nuptials begin to worry Férula, as after their mother’s passing she feels unsure of her position in the household. She invites Clara to tea to talk to her alone, and Clara, unprompted, tells Férula that the “two of [them] will be just like sisters” (106).  Clara’s tenderness moves Férula, and an immediate bond forms between the two.

Esteban and Clara marry in a modest ceremony. When they return from their honeymoon, Esteban takes Clara to their bedroom, where he has a surprise for her: Barrabás’s coat and head transformed into a rug. Clara faints at the sight of it, and the rug is quickly hidden in the corner of a basement.

Clara becomes pregnant, and Férula cares for her while Esteban returns to Tres Marías to check on things. Completely absorbed in her task of attending to Clara, Férula feels happy; she begins to resent Esteban’s returns from Tres Marías, which inevitably push her into the background.

Clara foresees that the child is a girl who will be named Blanca; Blanca arrives, “an uglier, hairier child than usual” (113), by way of a Caesarean delivery. Esteban is horrified at the child’s appearance, but Clara is delighted—she takes the baby everywhere, constantly nursing her and talking to her in perfect Spanish. Blanca eventually transforms into a healthy, pleasant-looking baby.

When Blanca is still a toddler, the family decides to spend the summer at Tres Marías. Immediately upon arriving, Blanca meets Pedro Tercero García: Pedro Segundo’s son, who is a little boy her age. The two children run around naked and play together until they fall asleep under the dining table. Clara finds them there that night after everyone spends hours worried and looking for them: “Many years later, they would be found in the same position, and a whole lifetime would not be long enough for their atonement” (117).

Clara takes to life at Tres Marías, feeling as if she has “finally discovered her mission in life” (117). She divides her time between the sewing workshop, the school, and the store. She does not want to leave at the end of the summer, and despite hating it there, Férula stays too, as she cannot bear to be far from Clara. In their time at Tres Marías a plague of ants arrives, and no one makes any effort to stop it. As a last resort, the aged Pedro García, Pedro Segundo’s father, is called in. He takes a fistful of ants, tells them he will show them the way out, and leads them to the highway; the ants miraculously disappear the very next day. Clara is the only one who does not find this surprising.

Clara becomes pregnant again, and the family returns to the city. Clara’s pregnancy is uncomfortable, and Clara “elevate[s]” to a higher plane to leave behind the pain, falling into another spell of muteness. She emerges from it a few days before her delivery date and reassures Esteban that everything will be fine: She is carrying twin boys who will be named Jaime and Nicolás.

Esteban is furious, insisting one of the boys must be named “Esteban”; he flies into a rage, but Clara is unmoved. Angry with Clara, he visits Christopher Colombus, a well-known brothel, later that night. There he again meets Tránsito Soto, who is doing extremely well. She tells Esteban her ideas to improve the brothel, which include a plan to eventually form a cooperative and take charge of the place. Esteban and Tránsito Soto sleep together and part ways, the latter saying that they will probably meet again. Esteban, who is narrating this portion of the chapter, reflects that he would not have mentioned this encounter with Tránsito at all if she did not play such an important part later in the story.

A few days later, Clara’s parents die in a car accident. Clara sees this in a dream before the news reaches them and tells Férula. Two days later Esteban comes home with the news and forbids Férula from telling Clara, but Clara dreams of a headless Nívea that night and wakes up insisting she must find her mother’s head. The accident had in fact decapitated Nívea, and no one was able to find the head. A headless Nívea is buried along with Severo; Clara is drugged and kept away from the funeral. A few days later, Clara reiterates her demand to find her mother’s head. Clara directs the carriage driver to the exact location of her mother’s head; she and Férula then rush home with it just in time for Clara to give birth. Nívea’s head is stowed away in the basement. Clara recovers quickly from birth, and the care of the children is entrusted to Férula and Nana, the latter joining the Truebas upon the demise of Clara’s parents.

The three Mora sisters arrive at the house one day. The sisters are “students of spiritualism and supernatural phenomena” and come in search of Clara (139). Clara and the Mora sisters become intimate friends and begin conducting psychic experiments together; this gradually evolves into regular weekly meetings attended by a growing crowd of people.

Clara exists on a different plane than everyone else in the house. Although unable to take care of domestic matters, she nevertheless has a strong relationship with her daughter, built upon a foundation of storytelling and reading magical books together. The twins grow up apart from the “feminine dyad.” Clara’s growing detachment from worldly things upsets Esteban; he desires to possess both her body and mind, and his inability to do the latter enrages him. Férula’s closeness to Clara fuels his resentment, and he and his sister begin to hate each other, viewing themselves as rivals for Clara’s attention. The tension comes to a head when Esteban finds Férula in bed next to Clara one evening upon returning from Tres Marías—an earthquake scared Férula, who crept in next to Clara for company. Esteban drags Férula from bed and throws her out of the house, accusing her of leading Clara into romantic relations with women and threatening to kill Férula if she ever returns. Férula leaves, cursing Esteban to always be alone: “Your body and soul will shrivel up and you’ll die like a dog!” (147) However, Esteban ensures that Férula receives money every month, in keeping with his promise to take care of her financially as long as he is alive.

After Férula’s departure, Clara leaves domestic matters in Nana’s hands and continues her many psychic experiments. Blanca accompanies her everywhere, but Esteban sends the boys to an English boarding school so Clara’s “magic” will not influence them. The boys grow up with different eccentricities: Nicolás in his great-uncle Marcos’s mold, with a combination of an adventurous spirit and an interest in astrology and predicting the future, and Jaime with an unexpected interest in Marxist ideology.

At Tres Marías, Pedro Tercero begins to be influenced by similar revolutionary ideas. Pedro Tercero and Blanca continue to share the same close relationship they had as children, each reciprocating the other’s love; they look forward to spending summers together. The year they turn 10, Pedro García tells them the story of a group of hens who join forces to defeat a fox that steals eggs from their coop. While Blanca laughs at the impossibility of the ending, Pedro Tercero is quiet and spends a long time thinking about the story.