Isabel Allende's "The Infinite Plan""

Isabel Allende's "The Infinite Plan"

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines "infinite" as "subject to no limitation or external determination." "Plan" is, on the other hand, defined as "a method for achieving something." Thus, Allende's title immediately leads the reader to the inherent contradictions Gregory Reeves' will face during his life. The novel illustrates the map of Gregory's life as determined by the moral lessons he learns throughout. As the title suggests, the plan of Gregory's life is shaped by a series of events that demonstrate the infinite possibilities of human nature. Simultaneously, however, it explores the ways in which our infinite possibilities can be limited by our human associations.

Norma Helsper argues the family serves as a powerful symbol in Western society (50). Helsper notes that Allende is familiar with the significance of the family in Western society; however, she argues Allende is also familiar with the "double identity" of the family (50). For example, Helsper argues in The House of Spirits Allende debunked the traditional family as symbol by showing it to be a respectable fatade that hid the truth of rape, adultery, battering, and domination (50). Similarly, in The Infinite Plan, Allende uses the double identity of the family and its internal contradictions to demonstrate Gregory's influences and growth.

Allende's story of Gregory's life in The Infinite Plan begins with his earliest memory of infinity encircled in his ea

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nt and healer, has "tomato-red" hair (Allende 7). In The House of Spirits, Rosa and Alba have green hair. Patricia Hart argues the green of the hair is symbolically representative of the fading of memory and the growth and intertwining nature of plants (112-13). Red, on the other hand, symbolizes life. It denotes strength, force, vigor, passion, and capability (Hart 118). Certainly, these aspects can relate to Olga's personality. However, they also relate to the characteristics Olga develops in Gregory when his father is unable to do so. Furthermore, the reader familiar with The House of Spirits can also read into Olga's hair the intertwining of human association providing, as Hart states, "the assurance of the continuation of life in spite of all man's mean efforts to the contrary" (124). In California, the Reeves' live with the Morales, Pedro and Immaculada. Pedro was a follower of Charles' Infinite Plan (Allende 35). But, moreover, his life-style demonstrated the idea of The Infinite Plan more than Charles' own. Pedro was a pillar of the community, particularly in the aid of new immigrants. The idea of offering sanctuary and aid to immigrants opens the reader's mind to the infinite connections in the human community

Category: Literature - I