SOURCE: Jackson, Mary-Garland. “A Psychological Portrait of Three Female Characters in La casa de los espíritus.” Letras Femininas 20, nos. 1-2 (spring-fall 1994): 59-70.

In the following essay, Jackson analyzes the house in The House of the Spirits as a symbol of not only the societal limitations imposed on Clara, Blanca, and Alba, but also of the ways women nurture themselves and their daughters within the house.

La casa de los espíritus by the Chilean novelist Isabel Allende recounts the history of three generations of women who inhabit a ghost-filled house in the capital of an unnamed South American country. The spirits, which roam freely throughout this labyrinthine dwelling, communicate with its female inhabitants and give them power over their patriarchal heritage, just as the revolutionary spirit of the Socialist party results in the overthrow of the oppressive head of state. Throughout the novel we see the ever-present...