THOTS: 300-433

"He was awakened by the ring of the telephone. It was the secretary, her voice slightly agitated, who scared his drowsiness away. She was calling from the Presidential Palace to inform him that he should present himself there as soon as possible; no, the President was not ill; no, she was not sure what was happening, she had simply been instructed to call all the President's doctors. Jaime dressed like a sleepwalker and got into his car, grateful that his profession entitled him to a weekly ration of gasoline; otherwise he would have had to go by bicycle."(367)

Context: This passage is during the military coup and this is the part when Jaime is called by the President.

Connecting Idea: This passage deals with the mood of urgency.

1. This first passage does not deal with any literary devices. This is so because it sets up the scene for the audience and it is suppose to give off the sense of urgency due to the "awakened by the ring of the telephone" This means that Jaime was asleep which you can conclude that this is obviously a urgent matter because whomever is calling has something urgent to tell Jaime.

2. This next sentence deals with personification. The secretary's voice is personified as human due to how it "scared his drowsiness away" This sentence also shows a sense of urgency due to the "her voice slightly agitated" by being slightly agitated plus calling during the night shows the sense of urgency within this passage.

3. This next sentence does not have any literary devices but contributes to the connecting idea of urgency. The fact that the President is calling Jaime to meet with him and his secretary has to call Jaime in the middle of the night shows the sense of urgency. The President was not sick, so this is not any official business but the fact that he, the President, is calling for Jaime shows the intensity of the urgency.

4. This final sentence incorporates similes within it. The simile within this sentence,"Jaime dressed like a sleepwalker" shows how Jaime reacts to the Presidents request to see him in the middle of the night and this connects back to the main idea of urgency.

SOLMAT

THOTS: 240-300

"Without her scandalous mane of hair and her sphinx eyes, she looked fifteen. To Jaime, her vulnerability was more seductive than anything that had attracted him before. He felt twice as large, twice as heavy, and a thousand times stronger, but he knew he was defeated from the start because of his tenderness he felt and his desire to protect her. He cursed his invincible sentimentality and tried to see her as his brothers lover, a woman on whom he had just performed an abortion, but he immediately realized how impossible that was and surrendered to the pleasure and suffering of loving her."(242)

Context: This is after Jaime performs an abortion on Amanda, Nicolas girlfriend.

Connecting Idea: This passage deals with the mood of lust and pleasure but also forbidden love.

1. This starting sentence deals with metaphors. The metaphors used in this sentence are used to convey the lust Jaime has for Amanda,"scandalous mane of hair and her sphinx eyes" The scandalous mane of hair and sphinx eyes are both characteristics of sexual like features which appeals to a mans sense of lust for another woman.

2. This next sentence does not display any literary devices within it. This sentence was written primarily for the reason of conveying lust and pleasure that Jaime has for Amanda after he gives her the abortion. This connects to the main idea cause of his lust towards her vulnerability.

3. The following sentence uses anaphora within it. Anaphora is used to convey the intensity of the power this woman has over Jaime, a man that is bigger and stronger than she is. This connects back to the main idea due to the love that Jaime has for Amanda but he knows that she is in a relationship with his brother.

4. This final sentence and rather long sentence deals with metaphor's and personification. The metaphor "He cursed his invincible sentimentality" means that he is upset with his strong sense of sentimentality towards his brothers girlfriend, Amanda. The personification used in the sentence "surrendered to the pleasure and suffering of loving her" connects back alongside with the metaphor to the main idea of lust and pleaure but also forbidden love due to him surrendered to the pleasure and also suffering of loving her.

SOLMAT

THOTS: 180-240

"Clara and Blanca arrived in the city looking like disaster victims. Both had swollen faces, eyes red from crying, and rumpled clothes from the long train ride and Blanca, weaker than her mother although she was taller, younger, and heavier, sighed when she was awake and sobbed while she slept, in an uninterrupted lament that had begun the day of the beating. But Clara had no patience with misfortune, so when they reached the big house on the corner, which was as empty and lugubrious as a mausoleum, she decided that the time had come to bring some joy into their lives."(209)

Context: This excerpt is from the part when Blanca and Clara return to the city from Tres Marias

Connecting Idea: This Passage deals with the mood of tiredness or worn out

1. The first sentence does not incorporate any literary devices, it was only used to set up the scene. This sentence gives the reader a sense of how worn out the two women are from Tres Marias and incorporates the main idea of tiredness and worn out due to the " looking like disaster victims."

2. This sentence primarily uses imagery to convey how tired the women are from Tres Maria. The "Both had swollen faces, eyes red from crying, and rumpled clothes from the long train ride and Blanca, weaker than her mother"shows the intensity of the how tired the women really are. The main idea of how the passage conveys tiredness and worn out is shown through the imagery used in the quotes.

3. This sentence uses personification to make misfortune seem human-like when it is truly just an emotion. After the misfortune at Tres Marias, the mother and daughter are worn out and want to do something more enjoyable. This connected with the main idea at first but changed.

SOLMAT

THOTS: 120-180

"She inhaled his new scent, rubbed herself against his bristly skin, ran her hands over his lean body, and felt a full, all-encompasing sense of peace that had nothing at all to do with the state of agitation that had taken possesion of him. They sought each other with their tounges, as they always did, even though it seemed like a new invention, and fell kneeling as they kissed in desperation. Then they rolled onto the soft bed of damp earth. They were discovering each other for the first time and there was no need for words. The moon crossed the whole horizion, but they did not see it; they were too busy exploring their deepest intimacy, insatiably entering each other's skins."(157)

Context: This is the part of the book when Blanca and Pedro Tercero meet in Tres Marias far away from the family and make love.

Connecting Idea: This passage deals with the lust each of the characters have for the other ones body.

1. This sentence incorparates alot of Tactile imagery within it. The auhtor uses alot of tactile imagery to convey the feeling of Pedro Terceros body to the reader, all of the " rubbing", "bristly skin', and "ran her hands" all convey the a sense of feeling, like you the reader are feeling his body. This goes back to the main idea of lust for each others body because all of the imagery used in this sentence serves the main purpose of "feeling" to the characters bodies.

2. The primary literary device used within this sentence is Metaphor. The author uses metaphor to convey the deep lust Blanca and Pedro Tercero have for each other through the metaphors such as "sought each other with their tounges" and "kissed in desperation", these metaphors show how badly each of the characters want each other. This connects back to the main idea of lust for each other because of the intensity each metaphor brings to the lust of each character.

3. This sentence uses visual imagery within it self. The use of the visual imagery in this sentence was for the sole purpose of making the lust that ecah character had for each other more soft and intimate, " Soft bed of damp earth". This connects back to the main idea because of the "rolling" caused by the lust each had for one anouther.

4. This sentece does not really use any literary devices within it. This sentence was written solely because of how the author wanted to show the intensity of each others lust which connects back to the main idea of the passage.

5. This sentence incorprates two literary devices which are, metaphors and hyperboles. The authors use of Metaphors, "entering each other skins", conveys the lust each character has for one anouther through intamacy and the intamacy also used an hyperbole,"moon crossed the whole horizon", which conveys the intensity of their intamacy. This all correlates back to the main idea of lust due to the fact that they are making love in this sentence.

SOLMAT

THOTS pg: 60-120

"It had been a long time since she had shed even a single tear and she was astonished to see how badly she needed some sign of tenderness. She could not remember the last time anyone had spontaneously touched her. She wept for a long time, unburdening herself of many past sorrows and her loneliness, still holding on to Clara's hand. Clara helped her blow her nose and between sobs fed her forkfuls of pastry and sips of tea. They wept and talked until eight o'clock at night, and that afternoon in the Hotel Frances they sealed a secret pact of friendship that would last for many years."(95)

Context: This is the part in the story when Clara reaches out to Ferula and connects with her after she kisses her on the cheek and tells her everything she wanted to hear.

Connecting Idea: This passage deals with Ferula being able to connect with Clara

1. "It had been a long time since she had shed even a single tear and she was astonished to see how badly she needed some sign of tenderness." - This sentence incorporated a hyperbole within it to convey the extremity of Ferula's sadness. By telling the reader that she was unable to "shed even a single tear" shows the level of sadness she was in. This connects to the main idea of the passage because of Clara connecting with Ferula, she is now capable of showing her emotions.

2. "She could not remember the last time anyone had spontaneously touched her." - This sentence does not have any visible literary devices. This sentence was written to connect with the main idea that by being around Clara and talking to her she is able to connect with another person within her life besides her mother that passed away.

3. "She wept for a long time, unburdening herself of many past sorrows and her loneliness, still holding on to Clara's hand." - This sentence uses a metaphor to convey that because of Clara's sensitivity towards Ferula, she is now able to weep and let her emotions out. The "unburdening herself of many past sorrows and her loneliness" is used to show the reader the that Clara is basically Ferula's savior.

4. "Clara helped her blow her nose and between sobs fed her forkfuls of pastry and sips of tea." - This too is not a sentence with any Literary devices. This was simply put her to explicate the sincerity of Clara towards Ferula as she bears her soul to Clara. This connects back to the main idea due to the fact that it shows a physical connection between the two women, and that connection resembles one of a mother taking care of a daughter.

5. "They wept and talked until eight o'clock at night, and that afternoon in the Hotel Frances they sealed a secret pact of friendship that would last for many years." - The sentence uses a metaphor as well to convey the main idea of Clara bonding with Ferula. The "sealed a secret pact of friendship" shows the bond that these two women now have to the reader.

SOLMAT

THOTS Pg: 1-60

"The Jesuits index finger, which was already raised to illustrate additional tortures, remained suspended like a lightning rod above his head. People stopped breathing, and those whose heads had been nodding suddenly woke up. Senor and Senora del Valle were the first to react. They were swept by the panic as they saw their children fidget nervously. Severo understood that he must act before collective laughter broke out around them or some divine cataclysm occurred. He grabbed his wife by the arm and Clara by the neck and walked out dragging them behind him with enormous strides, followed by his other children, who stampeded toward the door. They managed to escape before the priest could summon a ray of lightning to turn them all into pillars of salt, but from the threshold they could hear his dreadful voice of offended archangel. Possessed... She's possessed by the devil! These words of Father Restrepo were etched in the family memory with all the gravity of a diagnosis, and in the years to come they had more than one occasion to recall them. The only one who never thought of them again was Clara herself, who simply wrote them in her diary and forgot them. (7)

This Passage occurs in the beginning of the book when Clara speaks during the Holy Thursday mass and says "Psst! Father Restrepo! If that story about hell is a lie, we're all fucked, aren't we..."(7) This catches everyone off guard and the passage is about how everyone reacts to it.

This Passage deals with the mood of Anger and Innocence.

1. "The Jesuits index finger, which was already raised to illustrate additional tortures, remained suspended like a lightning rod above his head." - This sentence uses a simile within it. They way the other relates the priests finger as a lighting rod was an accurate comparison because of how he is persecuting them as possessed. This relates back to the anger idea due to the fact of how lightning is closely related to the idea of anger ever since Greek mythology with Zeus.

2. "People stopped breathing, and those whose heads had been nodding suddenly woke up."- This sentence has a hyperbole in it. The over exaggeration of the people stop breathing gives the effect of suspense in the story. This connects with the idea of innocence because of the other people in the audience hearing what Clara had said.

3. "Senor and Senora del Valle were the first to react." - This sentence really doesn't have any literary devices, it was written just for advancing the plot.

4. "They were swept by the panic as they saw their children fidget nervously." - This sentence uses personification. Panic is given a human like trait which is to sweep people this makes the reader feel how quickly the panic got the family. This connects to the idea of Innocence due to the "children fidget nervously".

5. " Severo understood that he must act before collective laughter broke out around them or some divine cataclysm occurred." - This sentence has a metaphor within it. The metaphor is used to create a sense of innocence through laughter which connects the the main idea of the passage.

6. "He grabbed his wife by the arm and Clara by the neck and walked out dragging them behind him with enormous strides, followed by his other children, who stampeded toward the door." - This sentence has a Hyperbole within it. The exaggerated way the author makes the children seem running out of the church creates a sense of urgency. This connects to the idea of anger due to the "He grabbed his wife by the arm and Clara by the neck and walked out dragging them behind him with enormous strides".

7. "They managed to escape before the priest could summon a ray of lightning to turn them all into pillars of salt, but from the threshold they could hear his dreadful voice of offended archangel." - This sentence uses Allusion. The allusion is used to refer to biblical situations to convey anger which connects back to the main idea of the passage.

8. "Possessed... She's possessed by the devil!" - This sentence does not really have any literary devices but it does appeal to the idea of anger due to the reference of the devil which is generally thought of as hate and anger.

9. "These words of Father Restrepo were etched in the family memory with all the gravity of a diagnosis, and in the years to come they had more than one occasion to recall them." - This sentence has a metaphor and foreshadowing within it. The sentence gives the reader a premonition of whats going to happen in later in the story. This connects back to anger because of the severity of the situation and how angry Severno is because of Clara.

10. "The only one who never thought of them again was Clara herself, who simply wrote them in her diary and forgot them." - This sentence does not have any literary devices within it. It was written as an advancement in the plot. But this would be a connector to innocence due to how Clara just simply forgets about what happened.

SOLMAT

MLA Citation

Here is the official citation for the book The House of The Spirits:

Allende, Isabel. The House of The Spirits. New York: The Dial Press, 2005.

All quotes on this blog come from this book.