The House of the Spirits- Chapter 7 Analysis

Amanda invites pity upon Nicolas when she exclaims, “you will always be a child” (234). Throughout this passage, we see many subtle signs of Nicolas’ emerging maturity. The flamboyant and retrospective young man slowly starts to realize the protective shield that has been guarding him for all his life, and the true nature of the world behind it. Isabelle Allende makes the rite of passage clear through the turns in Nicolas’ personality. A key way in which Allende cements her point is through the narrative structure of the passage.

Nicolas, who has never been taught the virtue of hard work, has always considered the world his oyster. However, his careless attitude towards his freedom is contradicted through the shocking news of his girlfriend’s pregnancy. Nicolas had thought that “she had sufficient experience to avoid making him a father at twenty-one and herself an unwed mother at twenty-five” (232). This results in Nicolas transforming from a childish “irresistible seducer” to a man “who realize[s] he know[s] almost nothing” about the woman he