I have begun reading Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. The plot begins as we are introduced to Eliza, a young girl left on the front porch of the Sommer’s family as a baby. She grows up with a brother and sister pair, Rose and Jeremy, as her guardians. Rose is a young and free-willed woman where as her brother Jeremy is a strict business man who wanted nothing to do with Eliza. As the years pass Jeremy learns to tolerate her and Rose takes an immediate liking to her, treating her as her “doll” while playing house. Rose, never fond of marriage, took on the role as the woman of the house at her brothers home. There is a continuous reference to femininity when describing the clothing that Eliza is dressed in and the wealthy activities she takes part in, such as dancing and formal education. As well, gender roles play a large part in my reading thus far. “It is a man’s nature to be savage; it is a woman’s destiny to preserve moral values and good conduct.” In the British colony in Chile, the woman plays the part of homemaker, while the men work and provide. Rose, even though the sister, manages the home. “She had good taste and effortless grace; she put a polish on both of their lives…” Jeremy was a hard-working, serious, young man who worked in shipping in Valparaiso, Chile. He had no interest in human relations; actually, they made him nervous. Deep down he loved watching Eliza play but he would never admit it. Thus far the issue of gender roles has been a dominant theme carried throughout the events of Daughter of Fortune.
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