Comparison: "The House Of the Spirits" and "The Outsider"

Essay by manulover August 2006

download word file, 4 pages 2.3 1 reviews

Downloaded 27 times

The two novels that I will compare in this literary essay will be "The House Of the Spirits",

by Isabel Allende, and "The Outsider", by Albert Camus. In "The House Of The Spirits", there are many themes present in the novel that can be tied into the setting of the novel, for instance, the magic vs. realism theme is portrayed well with the big house on the corner. In "The Outsider", there is not as much themes in the novel that can be tied into the setting, but they are important to the working of the novel. For instance, the beach, and when the sun plays a big role in the novel.

In "The House Of The Spirits", The big house on the corner is a very important setting

because that is where the main characters live. This setting ties into and portrays the idea of magical realism in the novel.

Clara is clairvoyant. So during the day, when she was at home, she invited friends over, such as the Mora sisters, and looked into the powers of the unnatural and tried to make connections with the people who have passed onto another life. The big house on the corner was built by Esteban Trueba for his wife Clara, and it was so magnificently built with materials coming from all over the world that it looked very out of place in the Chilean city. Because the house looks so out of place and magnificent, it would suggest that magical and mysterious happenings are conducted inside the house. This is true, because of the amount of magical happenings occurring within the house through Clara and her three legged table.

In "The Outsider", the presence of the sun in crucial scenes is very important to the novel. When Meursault is...