Allende, throughout this short excerpt, has an overall tender tone toward Pancha and Esteban. She explains the compassion that the two haphazard lovers explore. Her style doesn’t portray how Pancha feels during this interaction, which is a major reason why she is not a major character. Allende gives Esteban the power and actions in this passage. In the first line of the passage, “Now Esteban took the time to savor her fully,” we see that the style of Allende has dramatically changed. She no longer portrays Esteban as a savage sex machine. He now is a compassionate lover by which he, “desired her calmly, initiating her into the most secret and most ancient of sciences.” Her diction demonstrates this compassion with words such as, “texture, tranquil, fresh, and soft.” Allende also uses rich imagery that enables the reader to picture this compassionate scene taking place. “Her straight, dark hair…soft in the most hidden places and rough and callused everywhere else…her fresh lips…her broad belly.” Allende also uses simile to describe the interaction between Esteban and Pancha. She says, “…the two of them cavorted like two puppies in the huge wrought-iron bed.” By way of this simile we define a better understanding of the situation like the horsing around of two puppies. Moreover, this comparison can also seem like a type of conceit because it compares two seemingly unlike things, puppies and humans. The fact that Allende tries to flaunt the compassionate nature of humans with the “cavorting of two puppies” is a rather odd mix. Perhaps this is a stylistic vantage point that helps undermine the intensity of the situation.
Before reading this excerpt, I felt that Allende would always portray Esteban as a savage man only craving his desires on an animalistic level. Allende brought about a change in the character of Esteban, or a recollection of his past character. Esteban used to love Rosa and would do anything for her, as we learned through the first chapter, but in the second chapter this all changes. Esteban becomes an animal only filling his desires on the primitive level. I see this passage as the means of bringing back the passionate side of Esteban that had vanished so long ago. This feeling was brought about by the diction and style that Allende wrote with. She used vivid imagery and a compassionate tender tone that almost conveyed a sense of love, something that had seized to be introduced in such detail. When reading this excerpt, I felt different about Esteban. I no longer accused him as being a complete savage animal that pillaged the lives of young girls, but rather a man of two effects. One was the primitive necessity effect and the other was the passionate sensitive effect. The latter helped to ease the resentment that most readers would associate with Esteban prior to reading this excerpt. After reading this passage, I became aware that Allende wanted the reader to understand that the male is a two-faced creature capable of sharing the most passionate moments and the most disastrous moments. I think that this compassion foreshadows another woman in his life. Although it may not be Pancha, Esteban is eventually going to settle down and love will be a prevailing factor in his life.
