How does Isabel Allende portray woman in her stories verses Isabel Allende

Year of the Elephant can be read as a feminist text. Throughout the text, there was clear outrage over the treatment of divorced Moroccan women. Not only was divorce a cultural stigma—and Zahra was ostracized by local gossip because of her divorce—but divorce was also financially devastating. The root of divorce's impact was traced to education. Moroccan women, particularly peasant women, did not have the education necessary to make a decent living after their marriage was severed. The marital system was oppressive precisely because it created such dependence in women. In the story, Zahra attempted to change things by creating a women's literacy group, and in fact she learned to read and write through this group. It is clear that author Abouzeid supported increased education as a way to empower women in the developing world.

Abouzeid indicted the system of law in the country for encouraging male oppression. Zahra repeated over and again the phrase her husband left her with: "Your papers will be sent to you along with whatever the law provides." Full of spite, Zahra railed against a system that would reduce a woman to her "papers," and sarcastically suggested that "whatever the law provides" was in fact hardly anything at all. The law (and the culture at large) was not on the side of women, and it had to be changed.

The Stories of Eva Luna portray strong women who are smart and creative. Eva is inspirational, and yet, her character doesn't necessarily fit in with the feminist ideals of equality of the sexes.