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April
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I actually like the relationship between Jaime and Nicolas. It has a 'sibling yin yang' feel to it. Such as Nicolas' more adventurous side compared to Jaime's more down-to-earth nature. And the love triangle with Amanda also helps to bring in some character development between the two.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Blanca and her reaction after finding out about Pedro's "death" I have mixed feelings about it. I am aware that a heroic BSOD is common following the loss of a loved one. The thing is, there are some times where they are done well and others where they are not. And this one just felt odd.
Blanca has been shown to be a strong person, going against her father's commands/wishes more than once. While her reaction is realistic it also feels weird after reading what she was like before it. For one thing it gives off the feeling that she can't go on without him. While I have no problem with that kind of thing (if it's done right and the person has an actual reason other than "No! My love is gone! I have been reduced to nothing more than a whimpering crybaby!") Basically a BSOD can either appear to be justified or a waste of character development. And personally, I consider this to be the latter.
I feel so bad for Jaime in this chapter! What a terrible feeling it must be to love someone that is, or rather was, his brother's lover! I do have to say that Amanda has a clear view of Nicolas, though. "It's no use, Nicolas," she said. "Can't you see my soul is very old and you're still a child? You'll always be a child." (p.234). Nicolas is very childish. He can't even stand up for himself, he has to have someone else do it, usually Jaime. 'As always happened when he was playing alongside a precipice, someone stronger than himself has risen up beside him to take charge of things-" (p.233). He didn't even care enough to visit Amanda while she was recovering from her abortion, as Clara noticed, "She couldn't fal to notice that Nicolas discreetly asked about her but made no attempt to visit her. Jaime, on the other hand, lent her his favorite books and walked around like someone in a trance, babbling incoherently and crisscrossing the house as he had never done before." (p.244). I really think that Jaime deserves Amanda more than Nicolas, but I'm not sure that Amanda really deserves him. He has really become one of my favorite characters within this novel thus far.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Jenny, that Blanca just bursting out in tears and accepting the fact that she was being forced to marry Jean de Satigny was not at all what I expected out the rebellious, headstrong, and extremely stubborn young woman. On page 215 it says "Blanca began to cry and continued to weep inconsolably in the days to come." Personally, I'd think that Blanca would be wise enough at this point to understand her father a little better and realize that Esteban Trueba will say or do anything in order to get his way and keep his precious name clean.
ReplyDeleteI think Jaime is very brave for telling his father that he wanted to change his name, and also very clever for figuring out how to get his way after his father denied him. Jaime "...walked the fifteen blocks back to his house in his underwear, followed by a bevy of chldren and curious observers who cheered him on." It was so clever, that Jaime didn't even have to do anything that he wouldn't normally do. Also, Jaime deserves Amanda far more than Nicolas does, although I will give Nicolas credit, he did admit on p.235 "I have a lot to learn."
I'm also a bit curious and a bit confused as to what could be so exceptionally circumstantial that Miguel had to witness the birth of Alba. I'm sensing another Blanca and Pedro Tercero Garcia in the making.
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ReplyDeleteThe differences in the brothers are interesting. Jamie goes on to study real life issues like medicine while Nicholas sets out in pursuit of his destiny and finds interest in his mother's spiritual meetings. One studies real life the other studies the make believe and mostly unrealistic.
ReplyDeleteAfter it is out that Blanca is pregnant and Esteban brings Satigny with him to the city, Esteban lies to Blanca and tells her that Tercero is dead. At hearing this Blanca agrees to marry the beast that is Satigny in her father's way to hide the fatherless child. Satigny pretends to be the father of her unborn child.
Amanda steps into Nicholas's life like a vision. Her tinkling beads and airy appearance. The secret love that Jamie has for her is sad. He feels this need to be around her yet she is with Nicholas and knows it would not end well for him is Nicholas found out about his love for her so he loves her at a distance, always keeping a close eye on her.
Nicholas's eccentric ideas grow more and more. He soon forgets about Amanda because he is too caught up in his plans. When he finally realizes that she hasn't been around he rushes to see her only to find that she is with child. This point really got to me because I couldn't ever imagine an abortion. Personally I am pro-life and the end of this chapter irked me. I felt bad for Jamie who had to perform the abortion himself. Jamie had to see the deplorable state the Amanda was in and afterwards he sat there holding her in his arms. On page 241, "She was smaller and...enough to touch them."
I was confused as to why this chapter was called The Brothers until the end of the chapter when I finally understood.
ReplyDeleteI think Esteban was very unwise and cruel by makeing his daughter marry this count who doesn't even make Blanca happy. The wedding was very overdone for something that was not the will of the entire family in the first place.
I think its kind of funny that the brothers are so different but in the end love the same person. Where do I even start to describe Amanda. On page 222, Jamie describes this theory that "he distrusted her exotic appearance and was convinced that if she wore her hair like other woment and wiped the makeup off her eyes she would look like a very thin, greenish rat. The rattle of bracelets that always accompanied her distracted him from his studies, and he had to make an enormous effort not to follow her around the house like a hyponitized chicken." This is how the classic love story of the modern day usually starts out. Someone catches your eye and you really want that person but you know you can't have them so you try to make them as ugly in your mind as possible, i.e. the very thin greenish rat.
I was not expecting for Nicholas to get Amanda pregnant without even knowing where she came from or what kind of conditions she was living in. That was a very uneducated move by both of them. Poor Jaime had to perform an abortion on the girl he loves which only increased the anger toward Nicholas even more. I feel sorry for Jaime but then again I think things might turn in his favor since on Page 242 Amanda says "Please lie down next to me and hold me."
Something that makes me irritated about this book is the random foreshadowing of events that occurs such as on page 223 and 224. Allende says right out after Amanda tells Miguel that she would give her life for him that "She did not know then that one day she would have to." It's irritating to know whats going to happen before it actually happens. I would rather be kept in the dark.
I find the extreme differences between Jaime and Nicolas to be very interesting. Jaime is the big strong, masculine type, whereas Nicolas is very small and a ladies man and lacks in the maturity department. Nicolas is always doing crazy and sometimes stupid things and Jaime is more practical about life. This chapter was also frustrating because Esteban after learning Blanca was pregnant, forced her into marrying Jean de Satigny. Blanca in the beginning refuses to marry him, but then on pg. 215 Esteban tells her that Pedro Tercero Garcia is dead and then she seems to give up any will power and agrees unwillingly to marry the count. At that point it became frustrating because we knew that Pedro Garcia wasn't dead because on pg.217 Clara tells Blanca this giving her the hope to go with the count and try to endure her pain. I also feel very sorry for Jaime in this chapter because he loves Amanda who is with Nicolas even though she shouldn't be. Nicolas is immature and even Amanda realizes this and so does Jaime, but neither one do anything about the situation in fear of hurting Nicolas.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship and contrast between Jaime and Nicolas is insane. Jaime is large, uncomfortable with himself, scholarly and intent on saving as many people as possible where as Nicolas, being small, charming, and more of an entrepreneur, is always trying to come up with the next fad. Jaime is always the protector when Nicolas gets himself into trouble, even when it meant helping him to abort Amanda and Nicolas’ baby, regardless of the fact that Jaime is secretly in love with her. Jaime is my favorite of the male characters, despite his semi taboo infatuation towards Alba.
ReplyDeleteDespite my unreligious nature (or possibly because of it) I also find the blatant disregard for the idea of religion to be an amusing factor of the book. From the beginning when the reader is informed of Severo del Valle’s Atheist views, to P221 when Jaime is infuriated by his mothers claims that he should have become a priest because of his humility, poverty and chastity. Despite his Clara’s opinion, Jaime “felt that Christianity, like almost all forms of superstition made men weaker and more resigned, and that the point was not to await some rewards in the sky, but to fight for one’s rights on earth.” I don’t hope to start a religious battle with this, but this quote is so notable to me because saying that people should sit back and wait for a greater being to fix all their problems not only passive, but unrealistic. This belief worked in Jaime’s favor most of his life, prompting him to help others and be nearly selfless
~Haley
My mother would have had my head if I had done what Nicolas had done with his dance classes. Dancing on the table is and was unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteMy mother would have had my head if her table was reduced to such a state because of the dancing too.
(p.219) The dining-room table was on the verge of splintering,
The relationship between the twins, Nicolas and Jaime reminds me, in a way, of the twins in my family. The two are very, very different from one another. There is hardly any communication between the two, hardly acknowledging that the other existed. And let’s not mention brotherly love. Jaime and Nicolas are quite the same. “Most recently they had had nothing to say to each other, and on the rare occasions when they met on the doorstep, they had merely exchanged nods” (p.236). The only time there seems to be a bond between the two is when one is in need for the other’s help, such as, when Nicolas asked Jaime to perform the abortion after Amanda found out she was pregnant.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tab about Nicolas and Jaime. I do not have twins in my family but I do have friends that are twins. They are very different people and they act the same as regular non twin siblings. I think that Jaime and Nicolas have an understandable relationship. However I did not like that Nicolas told their mother, and wanted to tell their dad that Blanca was pregnant.(p.212) Nicolas should have talked to Blanca first. If my sister was pregnant and I knew I would have went straight to my sister to talk about it. I feel like it is not my business to tell that to my parents.
ReplyDeleteThe brothers are different in a lot of ways. Jaime is a devoted man with morals and ideas that he protects to the end, while his brother is a wild confused man who seems to always be looking for silly new ways to occupy his time.
ReplyDelete"I didn't do it for you, creep, I did it for her." (p 243) This is talking about Jaime aborting Nicolas and Amanda's unborn child. One reason Jaime was so angry at his brother was because he knew he didn't truly love Amanda as he had. Jaime had always desired Amanda but when she finally returns his love he has completely lost interest with her which I found very odd and disiappointing. I could not think of a good reason why he would have this change of heart when he has spent most of his life wishing against hope that they might have a future and when it finally come he shuns her. So in that way the brothers are alike that they confuse infatuation with true love.
I strongly agree with Brittany on the issue of foreshadowing.
ReplyDeleteIn the book, Allende's use of it is anything but discreet. In nearly every chapter she leaves cryptic prophecies that begin by saying, "they didn't know then that..." At first, these hints were enticing, and left the reader wanting more. But by the time p.224 comes along and Allende spills that Amanda will one day give her life for Miguel, the reader is tired of all the mysterious clues.
Of course, foreshadowing is an invaluable device for authors. It grabs the reader's attention and leaves one with an insatiable need for more information. But by the halfway point of this book, there is no more need to pull readers in. By that time, the complicated characters and their endless turmoil does a pretty good job of it.