I think it is perfectly reasonable for me to say that the Truebas are the weirdest family I’ve ever heard of. Their actions and deeds are so odd they are almost mind blowing. Esteban has serious anger management, which is pretty clear to everyone, himself included. He can’t truly love anyone, except possibly Alba. Clara is very out of touch with the real world, but communicates great with the spirit world. I think she too is mostly incapable of loving anyone, although she does show care and kindness towards many.
Because of Esteban and Clara, you just know their kids can’t be normal. Blanca seemed to love Pedro when she was younger, but then won’t marry him later because she didn't want to leave her social class and all its luxuries. Jaime and Nicholas have their own peculiar quirks. Nicholas dreams up all these great schemes but somehow they never work. Then he becomes obsessed with some sort of spirituality and moves to Europe. Jaime is extremely dedicated to his work and helping people. If I was forced to pick, I think he is the most normal (its all relative) person in the book. He seems incapable of truly loving anyone, but Amanda may come close.
The whole family definitely has problems with love. We have all extremes, ranging from not showing any love, to “loving” everyone you see, to infatuation. They rarely talk to each other, and if they do it's usually yelling. They are secretive and don't really know what is going on in each other's lives. All in all, the characters make for interesting reading, because you never know what they will do next.
I definitely agree that this is an extremely dysfunctional family. And even after all the talk in class, I never realized until reading your blog that every member of the family has problems with love. Esteban's love is controlling, and he seems to be more interested in ownership of his loved ones than anything else. Clara seems to love as much as she can, but she's so disconnected from reality that it's almost impossible for her. Ferula loves Clara to the point of obsession, and Blanca loves Pedro, but not enough to give up her social class for him. The way these characters love helps to emphasize how it is impossible for them to really understand each other, making them extremely distant and hardly a family at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rachel, and I thank you for shedding some light on that common "love" theme that I somehow missed this entire time. It honestly makes me feel sorry for the entire family. I don't think they even realize how little resemblance there is to love in the family, if you can even call it a family. If they do, they're so disconnected that it's beyond repair.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I noticed this common theme, but I never really looked at it all that closely. The way I saw it, Esteban and Clara's issues with love were what led to all the love problems with their children. It goes all the way back to the beginning where Esteban was in love with Rosa so fully he could never truly love Clara. In fact, I would go as far to say that he doesn't love Clara. It's more a personality flaw where he wants to possess her when no one else can even reach into the world she keeps herself in. Clara herself never loved Esteban either, not even when they got married. As I recall, she may have been happy with the idea of being a bride, but she never spoke of loving Esteban but only seemed reserved to marry him because that's what she had a vision of happening.
ReplyDeleteI think this discussion hinges on what you consider the definition of family. If you mean a group of people that are related, love each other, and are working together to help each other, then this family doesn't fit into the mold. If you base family solely on being related, then you also can't make an argument because you have to take into account all of the illegitimate children running around Tres Marias. In my opinion, "dysfunctional group of related aquaintances" would be the proper term
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