Religion+(Catholicism)+and+Cultural+Context

RELIGION AND CULTURAL CONTEXT   >
 * The story opens, when, on a Holy Thursday, Severo and Nivea del Valle and their eleven children go to Mass. Although they are not Catholic, Severo wanted to be elected to parliament and felt it important to be seen at Mass.(pg3) This is clear indication that the country (Chile) being talked about had a Catholic majority.
 * the "oppressive heat" of the church mimics the imposing ans suffocating nature of the Catholic religion.
 * Farther Restrepo's reference to "Fanaticism and Satanic influences" shows the strong presence of the Catholic Religion in Chilean culture. this is also shown by the fact that the Sunday mass had a high attendance.


 * There is an emphasis on mysticism that is somewhat of a focal point. Clara is able to speak and commune with the spirits of the dead. She can predict future events and move objects with her mind. It becomes abundantly clear that important parts of Chilean culture involve the beliefs which exist beyond the visible and tangible world.


 * In the patriarchal world of Chile, women were little more than chattel, property which men possessed, exploited, and even rejected, as a facet of male privilege. Women had few rights, and so they had to find their own means to control their lives. By making a close reference to this, Allende portrays Esteban’s bad humour being aggravated by Ferula who, on one hand, seeks salvation through her self-sacrificing devotion to her mother, and on the other hand resents the fact that a woman does not have the same freedom to leave the family behind that Esteban does. This helps to show that women and men did not have the same positions in the Chilean society, in the period described in the book.
 * Esteban's mother married an immigrant below her class and in addition, has lost all of her money. Esteban must therefore work to make a living, but still remains part of the upper class. When Esteban moves to Tres Marias, another class status is introduced: the peasants. Although Esteban has relatively little money compared to the del Valles, he possesses a great deal more money than the peasants in Tres Marias. He also holds the official title to the land. Esteban views the peasants as less than himself. He sees Tres Marias's decline since his father's death as not a result of an absence on capital investment, but of an absence of work.
 * Esteban's refusal to acknowledge any of the children he fathers in Tres Marias, and most significantly his refusal to allow any of them to carry his last name, cuts those children out of his genealogy. As they do not inherit his name, Esteban's bastard children will not inherit any of his estate. This shows us the complex family structure in Chilean culture.