Family

The dominant theme of the novel is family. The majority of the the novel focuses on the family experience of the Trueba family, beginning with the early adulthood of Esteban and Férula Trueba and the marriage of Trueba to Clara del Valle, and extending through the death of that generation to the coming of Alba's generation. Indeed, the novel's timeline spans approximately nine decades of time, all of it devoted to one generation or the other. The theme of family is evident not only in the marriage of Trueba and Clara and their children, but also in the marriage of Blanca Trueba to Jean de Satigny, Severo del Valle to Nívea, Ester Trueba to her husband, and so forth. The traditional families are contrasted to the illegitimate pairings of Trueba with Pancha, et. al., the inference of various peasant liaisons, and the unconventional but durable relationship...