One way to summarize all the "Problematic Binaries" of House of Spirits is "Old vs New". The obvious conflicts being; Science and Religion, Man and Woman, Rural Technologies and New Technologies. These create Political problems for the reader as their opinion is manipulated by the dialogue and writing in the novel. For example the natural remedies that Nana relies on are used much more then the ones the doctor gives the characters. If memory serves, every baby in this novel has been born at home instead of a hospital. An example how the readers opinion is twisted is when the motorcar comes into the picture. The novel talks about how the community hated the motorcar and it outlines all the problems with it leading the reader to believe that the motor car was some horrible contraption when really we use cars today in everyday life. The Characters are conflicted by the Spiritualism versus Religion in which Clara has mystic abilities and is concidered a demon by the church.

theas post: problematic binaires

In the House of the Spirits there are many problematic binaries. One is the way the men treated the women. Esteban trubeba proves this in his actions held towards Pancha Garcia. Through his eyes, he sees women as just something to fulfill his sexual requirements. Although the way he treated the young girl resulted in no consequences, it was common for that relationship to be established, especially given the society and culture that both Pancha and Esteban grew up in. Most men in that time had the same view about women having equal rights. Estabans view changes after meeting clara, and his actions towards women becomes acceptable.

As the plot develop itself, we can see a variety of problematic binaries. One in special, is beauty x grotesque. The first chapter has as a title: "Rosa the beautiful", which insinuates that the reader will see beautiful descriptions, but as the reader goes through the chapter, the beauty is contradicted by Barrabas' arrival for example, or the situations in which Clara get involved in the church. For the characters it become a role in which everything starts to contradict itself, beginning by Clara's beauty and her strange powers.