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Grade Level:
9 - 12
Literary Form:
World Novel
10 Lesson Plans/24 Handouts/73 Pages
ISBN:978-1-56077-854-7
Description:
The House of the Spirits is historical fiction written in an engaging style using compelling language. The novel is both enriched and complicated by its incorporation of multiple narrators and political history. Isabel Allende writes of her native Chile, and she often incorporates autobiographical elements as well as the magical realism typical of Latin American literature. Allende creates strong female characters within a typically male-dominated society in Latin America in the mid-twentieth century. She chronicles the life of a family whose patriarch tries to resist changing with the world around him. Through the Trueba family, Allende illustrates the portion of Chilean history preceeding the 1973 coup. The novel explores themes of injustice, personal responsibility, gender roles, and love on complex psychological levels.
Activities:
This unit engages students in thematic analysis, research about the novel’s political history, character analysis, and literary criticism. Students study the technique of magical realism, the use of multiple narrators, and cinematic techniques. They explore the themes and other elements of the novel through formal research, journal writing, creative writing, and multimedia presentations. Reading quizzes are contained within the lessons. The final lesson contains suggestions for essay topics.
Ethical Values:
Endurance
Family commitment
Integrity
Justice
Responsibility
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