Self-Actualization: Earthquakes and Imprisonment
The precursor to Clara’s self-actualization takes place when her ethereal realm of the spirit world clashes with reality when the earthquake occurs. As the “hens were not laying their daily eggs, the cows were acting frightened” and “the dogs were howling to death”, Clara’s behavior changes as she takes notice of the animal’s odd behavior. She stares “obsessively at the frail column of white smoke that was issuing from the volcano” and watches intently for any “changes in the color of the sky.” Clara searches the landscape for answers to the dangers that she intuitively knows is rapidly approaching. No longer lost in her world of spirits, she is fully aware of the changes that are taking place because they haunt even her dreams, driving her attention to it. Before the earthquake, she was stirred awake by “an apocalyptic nightmare of exploded horses, cows hurled into the sea, people crawling under stones, and gaping caverns in the earth into which whole houses were falling.” The foreboding vision pushes her towards dealing with the looming chaos on earth and the destruction it will ultimately bring. When she rushes to Blanca’s room and discovers that it is locked, the precursor to her self-actualization takes place as “she understood the color of Blanca’s aura, the bags under her eyes, her listlessness, her silence, her morning sleepiness, and her afternoon watercolors. And in that instant, the earthquake began.” Her two worlds collide at this moment-Clara acknowledges Blanca’s affair with Pedro Tercero because the earthquake rushes her to rescue her daughter. Although the romance had been happening right under her nose, Blanca’s strange behavior was still a mystery to Clara until that moment. Allende needed that moment in order for Clara to change from a wispy, ethereal character to a woman who takes charge of the Tres Marias after its destruction from the earthquake. She watches helplessly as the “adobe walls of the house crumple” and “the earth opened just as she had seen it in her dream.” The earth destroys everything, including “the chicken coops, the laundry troughs, and part of the stable.” As the estate falls apart, the peasants flee out of their houses, terrified, and Clara watches her husband as he is crushed by the weight of the falling houses. Watching her nightmare turn true pushes Clara’s transcendence from the safety of her spiritual world to a harsh reality. She recognizes where her help is needed, and in doing so, will eventually achieve her full potential. By using the earthquake as a trigger point, Allende sets off the button in Clara’s character. When her spiritual and real world intertwine, Clara makes the transition into a strong character that is intent on overcoming what has happened. The plot moves on accordingly because a protagonist has suddenly emerged.
Mersault’s self-actualization takes place in prison, where his positive reaction strengthens his role and prepares him to accept his death. Adjustment is hard for Mersault at first, yet he realizes that he can live without luxuries, such as cigarettes: “I had gotten used to not smoking and it wasn’t a punishment anymore.” His discomfort soon grows to an indifference to the simple luxuries he formerly enjoyed in life. He states that “after a while, [he] could get used to anything.” His accommodating attitude is an advantage, seeing that he is in prison. Interestingly enough, when the cigarettes and sex he loves are taken away, he does not become depressed for long. Instead he uses the wants and desires of himself to occupy his time and his jail cell becomes “filled with their faces and crowded with [his] desires” and he discovers that this action “kill[s] time].” The physicality of these desires isn’t available to Mersault, so they exist in his mind. Embroiled in his thoughts, he recognizes these are the only things he has, so he lives off them. He states that: “If I had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowering overhead, little by little, I would have gotten used to it.” [77] His perspective on his imprisonment is unique and he shows no sign of remorse for what he has done. The “main problem was killing time” yet he solved this by learning “how to remember things” and then he “wasn’t bored at all.” Society’s attempt to break down Mersault and change him into a reformed man fails-Mersault benefits in the long run by adapting to life in prison. He is grounded in his existence and plays with the cards he is dealt. He doesn’t waste time and instead, uses it. This doesn’t make him bored with life, but rather more intrigued and involved with it. Camus allows Mersault’s character to transition from one situation to the next. In doing so, Mersault will develop the mindset in order for him to accept his death.
Clara adapts to the destroyed atmosphere and reinvents herself by abandoning her spirits due to the circumstances of the earthquake. She becomes more conducive in her role as the protagonist and to her environment by helping Tres Marias and her family. As the situation changes, so does Clara. With her husband injured and with Ferula and Nana dead, she “took charge of material things, without any help” “for the first time in her life.” Her former dependence upon others vaporizes when the earthquake hits and she realizes that “her three-legged table and her capacity to read tea leave were useless.” Her spirit world is fruitless when she is needed to protect the tenants “from epidemics and disorder, the earth from drought and snails, the cows from foot-and-mouth disease, the chickens from distemper, the clothing from moths her children from abandonment, and her husband from death and his own rage.” The earthquake might have been the downfall of the Trueba family, but it marked “an important change” in which Clara was essential to being a part of. When she fetches her daughter from school, Blanca is surprised that her mother, “who she remembered as a lighthearted, absent-minded angel dressed in white” had been transformed into “an efficient woman with callused hands and two deep lines at the corners of her mouth.” As they cleaned the big house on the corner, “Blanca noticed that in the course of all these chores not a single ghost appeared from behind the curtains, not a single Rosicrucian arrived on a tip from his sixth sense, nor did any starving poet come running in summoned by necessity.” In fact, “her mother seemed to have become an ordinary down-to-earth woman.” Clara’s role shifts accordingly with her environment and she becomes one of the strongest characters in the novel. She faces the uncertain future of the Trueba family and Tres Marias, unafraid and certain in her ability to turn things around. Allende uses subtle feminism, centered on the three main women: Clara, Blanca, and Alba. With the earthquake that sets off Clara’s self-actualization mode, her hardheaded behavior afterwards perpetuates the theme of strong women.
Mersault’s adaptation to prison life helps him embark upon anew attitude that will ultimately help him accept his death. His last wishes consist of “a large crowd of spectators” on the day of his execution alongside “cries of hate.” At this point, Mersault acknowledges that his death is inevitable, and in doing so, it enables him to accept it. The flexible frame of mind he acquires from being imprisoned allows him to hope for the best thing he can hope for: “cries of hate” and a “large crowd of spectators.” His motive for the crime he committed is largely unknown and society has ostracized Mersault. He knows this and he refuses any standards set upon him by others. Instead, he understands that “we’re all elected by the same fate” which is death. He accepts his situation where he is about to be executed and makes the most of it. He faces the unknown without fear and sees it as unthreatening, because it would a waste of time to think otherwise. The main character achieves self-actualization upon being placed there and accepts whatever is give to him. Camus focuses on Mersault’s time in jail in order to convey the theme of existentialism.
Clara and Mersault both take on new attitudes that are conducive not only to themselves, but their changing situations. They reach their maximum potential in the roles they play as protagonists and achieve a higher level of character. They do what no other characters could do: face the unknown and see the truth in a more logical and efficient way. Both characters grab hold of a more efficient perception of reality and in doing so, it allows the authors to perpetuate the themes of existentialism and strong women.
