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The Dehumanization Of Women In The House Of The Spirits

1258 Words6 Pages

In a study of print media, researchers at Wesleyan University found that on average, across 58 different magazines, 51.8 percent of advertisements that featured women portrayed them as sex objects. In The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende employs the motif of beauty and expectations as a powerful tool to reveal the dehumanization of women in patriarchal societies, highlighting the ways in which societal norms and expectations reduce women to mere objects of desire and limit their potential as human beings, while also celebrating the strength and resilience of women who challenge and oppose these oppressive societies
The motif of beauty and expectations is introduced in the novel through the character of Rosa, who is praised for her beauty …show more content…

Pancha, a young “peasant” girl that Esteban finds one day, takes advantage of her, in which he then gives her the order to work in the main house the next day. Esteban uses his authority to get whatever he wants. “She continued to weep. Before dropping her off at her hut, the patron kissed her on the lips. “Starting tomorrow, I want you to work in the house””(65) The excerpt represents the dehumanization and objectification of women in Chile by illustrating the ways in which their physical appearance and gender roles are exploited and used against them. The patron's kiss on the lips and his “instruction” (because he later on says it isn’t an order) for her to work in the house shows the expectation that women must be sexually available and subservient to men. The fact that the kiss and “instruction" happens in close proximity to each other suggests that they are linked and that the patron is using his authority and power to manipulate the young woman's emotions and desires, possibly causing Pancha to disregard her rights as a human being. “ Now Esteban took the time to savor her fully and made sure that she felt pleasure too. He explored her slowly, learning by heart the smoky scent of her body and her clothes, which had been washed with ash …show more content…

Esteban’s growing authority tends to make him overlook the lower social class workers. Esteban's focus on the woman's scent, hair, skin, and lips also reinforces the idea that her value is primarily in her physical attributes rather than her humanity. This is further emphasized by the fact that he learns the texture of her skin in the most intimate places, implying that her body is a source of pleasure for him rather than a site of mutual connection and respect. Not only that but it is factual that Esteban later on loses interest in Pancha’s body and begins to ignore her as a

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