Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez and The Spirits

The assumed power of men has been an issue of gender politics throughout Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez by Sony Labou Tansi and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. The African and Latin American cultures have become societies vulnerable to traditional biases of women being the weaker race, liable for blame of men’s problems. Through their attitudes, physical strengths and abusive behaviors physically, verbally and emotionally, men continue to oppress the women of their societies. Male power has been institutionalized by society, while women continuously combat their socially-accepted roles by using the only weapons to their disposal: their voices and sexuality.

Estina Benta and Clara try to conform to their own standards of life by attempting to defy their male spouses. Using the power to voice their opinions and withhold strong self-confidence, both are able to control the emotions of their male authorities. (Provide context for this quote) “Clara walked around like a silent…shadow. She didn’t even look at [him]. She walked right past [him] as if [he] were a piece of furniture. [They] hadn’t resumed sleeping in the same bed” (Allende 113). Abstaining from communication and sex, Clara is able to expose Esteban’s vulnerability and gain her own power and independence.

This particular vulnerability that is revealed through Esteban Trueba is the very essence of his eventual downfall. He “felt defeated for the first time in his life” (104) (put citation at the end of the sentence) which led to his abusive, possessive behavior towards Clara. “He wanted far more than her body; he wanted control over that undefined and luminous material that lay within her” (96). The necessity of obsessive control over women is the backbone o...

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...m as he needed to be loved, even if it meant he had to resort to extreme measures. [But] he realized that Clara did not belong to him and that…she probably never would” (96).

“Taking charge using his physical advantage Esteban “pulled her from the bed, dragged her down the hall, pushed her down the stairs, and thrust her into the library” (132). Words such as “pulled,” “dragged”, “pushed” and “thrust” correlate to sexual violence, which is a man’s only dominating feature that can keep him in a position of power. However being a strong individual does not mean having physical strength, rather it means strong-minded, emotionally stable and the power to speak out; all weapons of the women of African and Latin American cultures. Through their words and actions such as sex strikes, their power is illuminated and true equality is found because “women are also men” (23).