Different Things

     I was rather fascinated by the twins that Clara gave birth too. For one they were sent away to a boarding school run by the gringos. I wanted to see if that major influence early in their life would be enough to break them free of the cycle of self destruction in this family. And we were soon informed by Allende that these were some very interesting children. And although not necessarily normal, they didn't really seem much like the family.

     If one of the brothers fit into the family it would probably be Nicholas. He has trouble controlling his impulses and is sort of a free spirit that refuses to be contained. He also has trouble sticking to things and taking responsibility for his actions. At first he is obsessed with women. Then he wants to get rich quick. Then to settle down and marry his girlfriend. The only thing in common with all his goals is that he gives up short of achieving them.

      Jaime is Nicholas' opposite to a fault. He has no desire to sleep with every woman he sees. He couldn't care less about getting rich or having money. Jaime is so willing to take responsibility that he even takes it for others actions. His only desire is to help those less fortunate than him and he would be the first to give his all when the need arises.

      I have to wonder when I look at the two brothers if they wouldn't both have been more mild had it not been for the other. Take Nicholas for example. Whenever he got into trouble for bedding a girl, or picking fights at school. Jaime would always be there for him to run and hide. So as he grew older he was completely accustomed to not taking responsibility for his actions and ding whatever he wanted. And the inverse is true for Jaime. He always fought for things that his brother did wrong so he just kind of began shouldering everyone's problems as a force of habit. And as Jaime saw the hurt that Nicholas was besetting the girls he used and tossed aside, it made him shy from relationships and love. So perhaps these two characters interfered constructively to magnify some of their certain characteristics.

Trueba's Truebas

     What a strange family.. When we first meet the Trueba's all we know is that Esteban's father managed to ruin a prosperous and valuable hacienda called the Tres Marias. Then Esteban's mother is dying a slow strange death by arthritis. Culminating in leg worms? I saw right off the bat that Esteban was a little different. With some of the thought processes we see in the mines and the way that he becomes uncontrollably furious about Rosa's untimely death. His stay at his mothers house only makes him sink deeper into a terrible disposition from which I am unsure if he ever will emerge. And he seems to drown all his positive emotions in work and raping peasants. The last type of person you would expect him to marry would be a clairvoyant, delicate young girl like Clara.

     But it happens.. so what do you get when you combine a raging lunatic with a laid back wonderwoman? You get Jaime and Nicholas Trueba. These twins are about as far apart from each other as is characteristically possible. And not only are they completely different from each other, but they are each absolutely nothing like the rest of the family. However, tangentially I don't think any of the Truebas act similar to each other. I believe Clara summed it up well enough when she said that most families have one mentally retarded person in them. But that the Trueba family spread out there insanity between all it's members so that there wasn't enough left over for someone else. But in the case of Nicholas and Jaime, I can hardly believe that they are brothers let alone twins. However Blanca appears pretty normal.. for now.. all she wants is to live and love her soul mate Pedro Tercero Garcia.

     It slightly annoys me how all of the characters in the family are just sort of irrational in their own way. And instead of just adjusting to it as the story moved on it just became more obvious and annoying to me. What is wrong with this family?