Yarmouth HS Daughter of Fortune

I have read the entire book, so my perspective may be a bit different than Mikala’s and David’s
My thoughts up to page 200:

While it is indisputable that Allende is not making some grand novel-essay tailored to answering the two essential questions, I agree with Mikala that Allende is overloading on the quantity of characters in this book although not at the expense of the quality of the descriptions. While characters such as Joe Bonecrusher, Ah Toy, Paulina, and, of course, Eliza are not “dead ends,” Allende uses four (!) characters, admittedly with different attributes, to show that women can be successful in the business arena. Judging by the kind, smiling picture staring back at me on the back cover of my copy of Daughter of Fortune, I don’t imagine Allende to be some sort of overzealous feminist who feels the need to hammer angrily the same messages about female capabilities into my head. That said, an author would generally create characters with different attributes for the sake of demonstrating the power of the conglomeration of all of their abilities, something that Allende doesn’t ever pursue in writing Daughter of Fortune. Thus, four characters (and one could stretch this category to Miss Rose with her business pursuits), all aligned under the same theme, is probably a bit excessive on the part of Allende.

One of the advantages of having such a multitude of female characters is that Allende does cover the entire spectrum of characters with regards to almost any issue; here, I’ll focus on morality and treatment of others. While Miss Rose clearly thinks herself superior to the servants, a telling sign rises to the surface when she is going after Michael Steward for Eliza. Allende notes that (paraphrasing) Miss Rose was indifferent to the concerns of her “friends” or “acquaintances” who frequented her house every Wednesday; in fact, Miss Rose wanted to “refresh” the entire guest list. The differences are clear when one compares Miss Rose’s treatment of high-class citizens to Eliza’s crunch-time decision to save the servants from a tongue-lashing from their master in her farewell note. As we read further into the book and consider more about what Eliza gains from her experience in California, we must realize that to a certain degree Allende already had a venerable character in Eliza. Morality will certainly be put into relief in the midst of so many ventures that truly risk everything, and Allende is probably setting us up to examine whether or not Eliza’s compassion for others is lost in her “quest for love.”

Based off of the way I just phrased the reader’s dilemma, it seems as though the answer to the question will be a resounding “no.” While this analysis may seem like too much of the after-the-fact analysis that it is, I think it is important to consider alternatives. Appropriately, given one of the examples I used in the miserable writing prompt today and endless hours spent reading analyses and watching the movies, a Star Wars example came immediately to my mind. I was going to consider Anakin Skywalker’s “turn to the dark side” while following his heart’s desire, but the Anakin Skywalker-Eliza Sommers analogy is probably not going to work well for me. The truth of the matter is, however, that one can get burnt out. One can get distracted and “transform” into someone else, just as Joaquin Andieta went from next Chilean guerilla leader to California gold-hunter in a matter of moments. At this point in the book, does anyone think it possible for Eliza to lose sight of morality in California?