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April
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- Esteban and Clara
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April
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Esteban is infatuated with Rosa when he is introduced. He doesn't drink, is unsocial, sickly, and works insatiably to gain the wealth for their marriage. When she is murdered he is infuriated to have wasted so much time in terrible conditions, yet relieved to have the burden lifted. He then travels to Tres Marias to be patron and take on the back breaking reconstruction. Here, he is hard (but claims to be mostly fair), prefers brothels and rape to his sisters strict chastity, and quickly becomes feared and hated by his tenants. When he returns to the city, Clara engages him to turn over a new leaf in his life, where he is once again dedicated to forcing love. They balance each other out, and for a while Esteban is happy, until his ridiculous temper gets the best of him. He slowly and unintentionally makes himself more and more distasteful as he dictates his family's lives. His harsh and unfaltering beliefs, along with his fire cracker temper, make him hard to communicate with, and slowly, he is left with only one person (Alba) being able to stand him, yet alone love him. Once he's lost the energy for tantrums, is able to see things he'd rather look past, and becomes more accepting, he can dial in on what is truly important.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Haley completely on the infatuation with Rosa. He basically throws his life away hoping to please her. However when he gets to the Tres Marias after Rosa's death, he is a complete different person. Truely I believe he became a pig. He treated the tenants like dirt and started raping women and just before that he was this "perfect" fiance. When he kicked out the first women that got pregnant, I wanted to throw the book. It was his fault and he just kicks her out. Wow, what a pig. Then when his mother tells him she needs grandchildren he drops his life and courts Clara. He becomes the gentleman again. Talk about some slipt personalities.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the book when Esteban is introduced he doesn't come off to be that bad of a guy. He is completely infatuated with Rosa and thinks of nothing else but her. When Rosa dies he believes he cannot live without her and that is when he goes out and buys Tres Marias. When Esteban first sees Tres Marias it is not very beautiful or prosperous, but he makes it a priority to make it become successful. He fills his life with nothing but Tres Marias and works all day to make it better. After this he becomes a monster by raping girls and is a completely different person. He becomes very hateful, but when he courts Clara he mellows slightly. As their marriage progresses he goes back to his old ways and never really changes.
ReplyDeleteI actually think that Esteban's feelings for Rosa were more obsessive than anything. Especially when you consider the two scenes in the graveyard. Admittedly, he was a more sympathetic character in the early story. That is until he passed the Moral Event Horizon when he raped Pancha. And his continued dog kicking between that and his return home didn't help either.
ReplyDeleteAfter his marriage with Clara, Esteban seemed to calm a bit which indicated her status as a morality pet. Although that did lessen as his berserk buttons were repeatedly pressed. Unfortunetly the earthquake did nothing for his characterization. When he whipped Blanca and hit Clara it showed that Clara's previous status as his morality pet was basically used up.
Clara's departure seemed to show Esteban what kind of person he is. And this causes Alba to become his new morality pet. This one actually works a little better as he is shown to care about her. His actions near the end (especially the events concerning Alba) are basically what keeps him from dying like a dog.
Esteban is one heck of a dude! In the beginning he comes off as this amazing guy that would do anything for the girl that he loves. Then, when she died, he becomes this man who will stop at nothing until he has mastered wealth and importance. Though he does show his true colors when he rapes Pancha and numerous other female tenants and becomes infamous to his workers. They even say "no girl passes to adolescence before Patron Garcia takes them to the bushes". After marrying Clara, Esteban becomes the doting husband. He buys her very expensive things and tries to make her life as confortable and fine as money can buy. When he has kids he really never becomes a father figure, not until much later when his granddaughter is born. When the earthquake hits, so does Esteban's temper. It is at this time that he whips his daughter and beats his wife. From that day forward, Esteban spends much of his life trying to fix his marriage. Esteban occasionally has raging outbursts but overall he mellows in his old age. He even tries to help the hungry in the end. Esteban is one of my favorite characters in this novel, and probably the most complex of them all.
ReplyDeleteCarole, I find your quote about Esteban notable as well. I think He's skummy, and the only reason he even was caring towards Alba was because by then he realized how much he had disengaged himself from his family and just how alone he was.
ReplyDeleteJennifer - "moral event horizon." Nice word choice. I want to see more of these kinds of observations from you DURING class time!!
ReplyDeleteEsteban began as a poor young man who was determined to somehow make his fortune. He was very high-spirited and did not want to be tied down by his sister Ferula and his ill mother so he went to "The Three Marias" to escape his problems. He rebuilt it and it became a prosperious land. He then married and started a family. He didn't particularly like family life and didn't have a good relationship with any of his children and struggled for his wife's affection. He becomes a senator and a promonate member of society but his family relationships continue to deteriorate. He disagrees with his sons ideas and constantly argues until he sends Nicolas away and he never becomes close to his daughter. His stubborn attitude only make things worse for him. Although he is now very rich he never seems to be happy as he trys to bring down the Communists. He greatly dislikes the way the world is changing around him and he does he thinks is right for the country but ends up being one of the contributors to its failure.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning Esteban is obsessed with Rosa. The idea of her being his wife drove to work until her death. Then that obsession turned his temper to almost a rage for the rest of his life. He had times when he was ok but when he was mad he was MAD. Tres Marias gave him an outlet for his anger a grief. When his emotions and hormones took over, rape was his solution. Also prostitution, where he met Transito Soto. When his mother died he felt instant grief for never loving her as properly as he should've and promised her to settle down which lead him to Clara. He loved her dearly but was always agry that he could never fully own her. He never had a good relationship with his children and his hatred for Pedro Tercero almost lead him to murder. He ends up loving Alba more than the rest and is a bitter man until he is very old. His old age made him to tired to fight anymore. This allowed him to have an understanding relationship with Blanca in the end. He died peacefully with Alba back in his life and Clara never leaving. He was a happy man.
ReplyDelete