Did it come as a surprise to anyone that ‘Nana’ is really a servant? An Indian maid/cook/nursemaid to fifteen children. Wow! That is some lady, yet her room and the kitchen is firmly in the servants quarters.
Also, I was surprised that the Truebo family have had a servant through all their years of privation. When Esteban returns home to await his mother’s death, the ancient servant ‘embraced him tearfully’, although Esteban had completely forgotten about her existence. ‘Paid slaves’ the narrator calls them.

I think this book is set in Chile, because Esteban works in the gold mines in the Northern deserts, and the Northern Chilean desert is rich in copper, gold, potash and mineral salts. The South is a land of volcanoes and lakes.


Two factors disturb me in this chapter. The first is where Esteban describes his mother dying , her legs rotting and tunnelled with the larvae of flies and worms. Ferula warns him not to get to close as the smell ‘clings’.

The other is when Esteban builds his new home. He wants nothing to do with traditional Chilean / Peruvian architecture, and instead looks for architectural ideas and materials from North America or Europe, ‘with perhaps one or two courageous Indians, …..naked and crowned with feathers, his one concession to patriotism’.

One is not sure where Esteban’s patriotism lies. Is it Europe or South America? On his mother’s side he is ‘heir to the noblest and most highborn surname of the viceroy of Lima’, while his father was a ‘good-for-nothing immigrant, a first generation settler….’ Trueba’s surname suggests he is Spanish, or rather from the Basque area, who do not consider themselves Spanish. During the 18th Century there was mass immigration from the Basque region of Spain/France to Chile, and Peru has long had a Basque population.

So the high born, original settlers were the wealthy elite, while Spanish settlers from later, and especially first generation, were looked down upon, and the indigenous population treated as little more than serfs.
Perhaps the mother represents the mother land, being consumed from within by ethnic differences? Ferula's warning to Esteban about the 'smell clinging' could have been reminding him to distance himself from the shame of having an immigrant father?

Man you guys are deep thinkers. Think I may have gotten in over my head with discussing with you's.

I would love to see what that farm looks like. Bet it is beautiful.

As I stated before I detest Esteban. He gets turned on by melons growing in the field? That was sorta funny in a weird way. Can't imagine his excitement if he ever decided to raise sheep. And what was up with the kid and the belt? Was that really necessary?

He thought that Nivea was sick in the head because she wanted equal rights with men, to vote, to be able to go to university and allow children to be in full protection of the law. He thinks she should be stoned. What a guy!

Wonder if we will read more on Transito Solo. She is the prostitute from the Red Lantern.

Why I see this as a national book for Chile is that Allende is promoting political reconciliation between conflicting groups. Esteban is contemptible, but he also has redeeming features.

It is similar to the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which recognised that forgiveness for past crimes was needed in order for the nation to heal its wounds and achieve unity after the intense divisions of the apartheid era.

Robert Tulip wrote: Esteban is contemptible, but he also has redeeming features.

Yes he does. For me it does not outnumber his insidious ways. Not by a long shot. And I don't think I will ever forgive him. Forgiving is over rated anyways.

So what are his redeeming features?

Yes, Esteban finds a real soul mate in Transito, and suprisingly he finds her ideas refreshing and exciting, while condemning those of Nivea. But any sort of relationship between them would never work, as she is from a different class and way too independent. He appreciates her business like approach. She does play a major role later in the book, but don't want to spoil it for you.
Darn! I can't see us finishing this discussion before I go back to Gambia, so I'm going to have to buy the book and take it with me. I'm already over my luggage allowance. Wish it was on Kindle!

Esteban explains himself in an aside. He says he was a good patron because he rescued his farm from dereliction through hard work and organisation. He condemns class struggle, and argues that agrarian reform – distributing land to peasants – has made people poorer. He says peasants should be loyal to their masters who will provide for them, and that class struggle is wrong.

Esteban’s first instruction to the peons on his farm are that they have the choice to work or eat, with no slacking or lip. Through these harsh methods, he repairs his house, plants and irrigates his fields, and provides medical care for the peasants and the animals.

There is much sense in Esteban’s argument. He points out that before his arrival, many peasants died from hunger because of the massive risks of crop failure with subsistence agriculture on family plots. A minor frost or snail plague could leave babies dead. By bringing them into the modern cash economy, he provides health, education, food security and reputation.

Here we see the dilemma of development in a nutshell. People like to dream about socialist cooperation, but individual initiative and skill are the only things that bring wealth. Individual success also brings hatred, in response to the contempt shown by the rich for the poor.

Yes, there is sense in his argument, but he does not carry it through to its conclusion. he rages that he believes in effort and reward. 'Thanks to that i've been able to achieve what I've achieved. I've never asked anybody for a favor and I've never been dishonest, which goes to prove that anyone can do it.' But when he leaves Tres Marias in the hands of Pedro Segunda Garcia 'his responsibilites as foreman had brought him no more privileges, but only more work'.

Sorry to go on about the dog again! But I thought the way he died, '...the white Chantilly lace, the French silk of the sofa, the Persian carpet, and the parquet floor absorbed his blood.' Does this seem like an allusion to the blood of peasants which created the ability to buy such luxuries in the first place?

heledd wrote:Sorry to go on about the dog again! But I thought the way he died, '...the white Chantilly lace, the French silk of the sofa, the Persian carpet, and the parquet floor absorbed his blood.' Does this seem like an allusion to the blood of peasants which created the ability to buy such luxuries in the first place?

Or perhaps an allusion to the fact that nothing there was of Chilean origin? All the fine things were imported from elsewhere. She could have called it watered silk to show that it was a luxury, but calling it French shows perhaps that local goods were not included in their lives?