An in depth look in Isabel Allende's book, "My Invented Country".

1. Presentation by Alexia Smirnov, Pierce College,
WA
Please attribute Creative Commons with a link to creative commons.org
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

2. Isabel Allende’s, My Invented Country

3. Isabel Allende’s history
● Born in Lima Peru on August 2nd, 1942
● She grew up in Santiago, the capital of Chile with her grandfather
● Her first introduction to writing came when she was a journalist, her first job
after college was gathering data about trees for the government.
● Her father’s cousin was Salvador Allende
● After Salvador Allende was killed Isabel did her best to harbor people in the
resistance, but after many nightmares and constant fear of living in Chile she
moved to live in exile in Venezuela in 1975.
● She wrote her first novel in 1985, The House of Spirits.
● Moved to San Francisco California in 1987 where she still lives to this day,
she has become an official U.S citizen in 1993.

4. Santiago, Chile

5. History of Chile before and during the military coup:
● Chile was always centered around classes, especially since most presidents
were run with only the people with the most power in mind, “Ever since its
independence in 1810, Chile has been run the social class that has the
economic power (...) first hundred years of the republic, the presidents and
politicians were all from the upper class.” (Allende, 143) Later on there were
middle class presidents. There was a was a battle between a socialist
president and a rightist economy and policies.
● On September 11th, 1973 Salvador Allende is killed after being president for
3 years, at the age of 65. He was a democratic socialist who dedicated his life
to changing the government system, considered a Marxist of his time. He was
murdered by the military. His death was staged as a suicide by that same
Military.

6. History continued...
● Augusto Pinochet, a former Chilean
general took over as president in 1973.
● During Pinochet's rule about 3000 people
were killed and there is still about 1000
Chileans still missing.
● Augusto Pinochet remained president till
1990.
● During the military coupe, military took
control of the country. Within the first
couple months of the coup thousands
were killed for being communist/leftist or
even accused of being communist or
leftist.
● One of the most famous killings was of
Victor Jara in a soccer stadium.

7. Cultural history
● During the coup, many artists
took it upon themselves to
protest about the government in
songs, poems, and books.
● Isabel Allende frequently
mentions how much she loves
Pablo Neruda.
● Chileans were very catholic,
often so reserved with their
views that families would have
so many children due to
contraceptives being a sin.
● A culture that the author
describes as very traditional,
closed off, constantly feeling
watched and judged, page 190
to be exact.

8. Point of view:
● In first person, in the view of the
author herself, Isabel Allende.
● She rarely ever says “I” or
refers to herself to the majority
of her story, she often goes on
about the history and culture of
Chile, but she does of course
also mention her own childhood
as well in an often witty and
humorous manner.

9. Mood/tone:
Allende creates a mood that
varies such as awe and wonder
like she does in the beginning
of her book when talking about
Chile’s beautiful landscape, “in
springtime parts of the lunar
rubble tend to be covered with a
mantle of flowers, like a
wondrous painting by Monet.
(...) shaken by the sighes of
hundreds of volcanoes, a
geological miracle between the
heights of the cordillera and the
depths of the sea (...)” (Allende,
pgs 1 and 2).

10. Mood/tone
continued...
She also gives very funny stories of her own
experience and of others, here is an extremely funny
part of her book; one of Allende’s relatives was a
very strong catholic and hated the thought of
contraceptives, but after his seventh child he needed
to have a word with God, “Lord, since you sent me
seven children, it would be a kindness if You helped
me feed them,” he argued (...)” he then found
winning lottery numbers in a dream, which he won
millions. But along with Chile’s inflation rate his again
increased family drained him of his money, “When
the last of his children were born, number eleven, he
returned to church to argue his case, and again God
came in his aid by sending another revelation in a
dream. The third time it was no deal.” (Allende, 134).
She gives other hilarious stories about Chilean
culture and even American culture.

11. Mood/Tone
continued...
The author also goes on very
passionate rants about feminism and
lack there was of in Chile. She talks
about how her own mother was a
victim of sexism and from then on she
decided she would not be a victim of
the same circumstance. She also tells
various stories of feminism, for
example in her book she talks about a
priest who came to a town to purify
and accuse women of giving oral sex
to men, by the end of the story the
priest was taken to a dark alley where
his member was chopped off by those
same women.

12. Who is the protagonist?
The author Isabel Allende instead of telling a story of her changing throughout the
novel, she tells the story with her present self and how much she has changed
since she had grown up in Chile. She describes how she lost a country before the
coupe and she gained a new unrecognizable one after, “That distant tuesday in
1973 my life was split in two; nothing was ever again the same: I lost a country (...)
nothing will ever again be the same, and I gained a country.” (Allende, introduction
xii). She tells of her feminist fight with her own family, her own country, and
throughout her whole life. She describes the progression of the military coup and
her forced exile in Venezuela, her book takes so many twists and turns in her life
and through the history and life of the actual country and the people of Chile.

13. What is the plot?
● The story is a mix of pyramidal and episodic. Pyramidal in a way of describing
the country’s history, the interference with the coup, and what happened to
the Chile afterwards.
● It is more episodic when she talks about her past with her mother and father,
her growing up, and her marriages. She includes her past more with the
progression of Chile.
● But it is not open because both stories go down the timeline with Chile.

14. The plot in major points:
● Isabel Allende grows up with her grandfather after
her own father abandoned her and her mother.
● Isabel Allende through her teenage years has a love
for books and a passion for proving her
independence, but when hormones hit she latches
on to the first man that takes interest in her and
marries her first husband, Miguel Frias.
● Isabel Allende has two children, both of which
become insparations for her later novels.
● September 11th happens and Isabel’s life is
completely changes, she hides people in the
resistance and staying in the country absolutely
terrifies her.
● The author then moves to Venezuela where in exile
she transformed into the writer she is today.
● After her splitting with her husband Isabel goes into
a state of depression, wishing she was back in
Chile.

15. The plot in major
points continued...
● She ends up writing a letter to her
grandfather which transforms into
a story and into her first novel,
House of Spirits.
● She meets her new husband Willie
and she moves to San Francisco
California with her children.
● She returns to Chile to visit but
realizes it is not the same nostalgic
one she remembers.
● Isabel’s daughter dies, inspiring
another novel for her.
● Isabel Allende then writes this
novel to appreciate both her love
for the states and for Chile, both
the current and the one in her
heart and mind.

16. Theme
The overall idea throughout this novel is how the progression and changes of
Chilean government had changed her and created who she is today. She
describes how the military coup forever changed how Chile, both the people and
herself. She demonstrates the fight for feminism for herself and other Chilean
women. Isabel Allende’s statement through her book is her struggle of finding
herself and her love for both the U.S and Chile which she had a lot of conflict
about.

17. Symbols
● Allende’s grandfather represents both her growth as an independent woman,
but also her biggest obstacle in proving she is equal to a man.
● Allende’s mother represents the woman she could have been, weak and
fragile, if she did not pick up feminism.
● Chilean superstitions or folklore represent how Chileans interpreted fate, and
how impossible it seems to escape it.

18. Self interpretation
My Invented Country by Isabel Allende has left me with a sense of empowerment
and love her charismatic writing. When she describes her struggles throughout the
book whether it was with feminism or the government she expresses passion and
a spark for going against the norm. She also writes with a heavy sense of pride of
being a Chilean woman. While she may have said she wrote this novel to have
love for both Chile and the U.S. I believe she wrote this novel to teach others
about her country’s struggles and history. She goes heavily in depth about Chile’s
history and geography to prove that but she also seems to write to encourage
others to write, in an interview she describes writing as silence and a way of
finding one’s self. While the story did go in random directions, it was just a
beautiful case of pride, mixed with passion, and heavy nostalgia.

19. Works used:
Bertodano, Helena de. “The Incredible Life of Isabel Allende.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 28 Jan. 2014,
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/10589928/The-incredible-life-of-Isabel-Allende.html.
Soledad Lastra, and Carla Peñaloza Palma. “Refugees in dictatorship. Chileans in the Argentine embassy.”
Perfiles Latinoamericanos, vol. 24, no. 48, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Sede México, July 2016,
pp. 83–109, doi:10.18504/pl2448-004-2016.
David W. Dent. Salvador Allende. ABC-CLIO, Oct. 2010, https://latinoamerican2.abc-
clio.com/Search/Display/1329112.
Hoffert, Barbara. Isabel Allende.(spotlight)(Interview). Vol. 140, no. 19, Library Journals, LLC, Nov. 2015,
pp. 111–111.
Araujo, Kathya. “Equality in social ties: socio-historical processes and new perceptions of inequality in
chilean society.” DADOS : Revista de Ciencias Sociais, vol. 56, no. 1, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, IESP,
Jan. 2013, p. n/a, doi:10.1590/S0011-52582013000100005.