Esteban Relationships

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Throughout the novel, Esteban builds many types of relationships with a wide range of characters. Allende successfully uses these relationships to develop Esteban in a volatile character. The reader is introduced to Esteban in a relationship with Rosa, who passes away suddenly shortly after. Years later, Esteban marries Rosa’s sister Clara, and they build a family together. Esteban “quickly lost patience…as he put it, he was up to here with living among a bunch of lunatics and all he wanted was a little normality, but he had the misfortune of marrying an eccentric and siring three good-for-nothing crazies who were ruining his life.” (Allende 221) Esteban has unconventional ideas about what a family should look like. A person who describes his wife…show more content…
Esteban says what poor people “don’t realize is that [they] are completely ignorant and uneducated. They’re like children, they can’t handle responsibility. How could they know what’s best for them? Without me they’d be lost – if you don’t believe me, just look what happens every time I turn my back. Everything goes to pieces and they start acting like a bunch of donkeys.” (Allende 65) Esteban justifies the barbaric patriarchal system that he leads in Tres Marias by directly stating that all poor people are completely ignorant and uneducated. Allende remarks that his actions in Tres Marias are “slowly [turning him into] a barbarian.” (Allende 45) He argues that he acts like a father towards them, providing them with a source of authority without which they’d be unable to live. Although, his authority only ensures the people of Tres Marias will not be able to survive without him, suppressing their futures. He also cannot imagine how these barbaric actions could make anyone think of him as “anything but proud?” (Allende 65) Eventually, Esteban establishes a relationship with Transito Soto, a character who fits his standards of
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