Exploring Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits: Foucauldian Perspective on Power

Abstract

Power is a crucial phenomenon which influences almost everything around. Micheal Foucault, a French philosopher, opined that power exists everywhere and it works most of the times in disciplinary forms. The present study deals with Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits regarding the portrayal of power analyzed from Foucauldian Perspective. The novel is the story of class, politics and family struggles. All the actions and motifs in the novel are affected by class structure. This class also has devastating control on the poor people of the society and peasants who have little access to business and politics. The study employs Foucault's theory of disciplinary power which refers to a systematic exercise of power in modern societies through surveillance, control, and regulation.