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Férula Trueba
Clara and Esteban Trueba’s son, Blanca and Nicolás’s brother, and Alba’s uncle. Jaime is Nicolás’s twin brother, but they couldn’t be more different. While Nicolás is busy chasing girls and talking to ghosts, Jaime is studying medicine so he can become a doctor and serve the poor. He is close friends with Pedro Tercero, and together they talk “of justice, of equality, of the peasant movement and of Socialism.” Esteban wants Jaime to be a lawyer and go into politics, but Jaime won’t hear of it. His own principles are completely at odds with his conservative father, who calls Jaime a “hopeless loser” and claims his “utopian values” don’t exist. Jaime falls in love with Nicolás’s girlfriend, Amanda, but he never acts on his feelings out fear of rejection and respect for his brother. Amanda falls in love with Jaime years later, after he helps her overcome a drug addiction, but by then there is no trace of Jaime’s love left. Jaime is also close friends with the President, whom he meets during a routine medical call; he calls Jaime to the Presidential Palace on the morning of the coup d’état. Jaime is subsequently killed when he refuses to say that the President was an alcoholic who committed suicide, and despite his differences with his father, Esteban greatly mourns Jaime’s death and never quite recovers. Jaime serves as a sort of foil to Miguel. While they both support socialism and Marxist ideals, Jaime is uncomfortable with the violence of revolution. He is a pacifist, and he seeks the equality and freedom of the working and peasant classes through non-violent means.
Jaime Trueba/del Valle Quotes in The House of the Spirits
The The House of the Spirits quotes below are all either spoken by Jaime Trueba/del Valle or refer to Jaime Trueba/del Valle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6 Quotes
He was the son of Esteban García, the only bastard offspring of the patrón named for him. No one knew his origin, or the reason he had that name, except himself, because his grandmother, Pancha García, had managed before she died to poison his childhood with the story that if only his father had been born in place of Blanca, Jaime, or Nicolás, he would have inherited Tres Marías, and could even have been President of the Republic if he wanted. In that part of the country, which was littered with illegitimate children and even legitimate ones who had never met their fathers, he was probably the only one to grow up hating his last name. He hated Esteban Trueba, his seduced grandmother, his bastard father, and his own inexorable peasant fate.
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Chapter 10 Quotes
“You’re a hopeless loser, son,” Trueba would say, sighing. “You have no sense of reality. You’ve never taken stock of how the world really is. You put your faith in utopian values that don’t even exist.”
“Helping one’s neighbor is a value that exists.”
“No. Charity, like Socialism, is an invention of the weak to exploit the strong and bring them to their knees.”
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When the project was complete, I came up against an unexpected obstacle: I was unable to transfer Rosa to the new tomb because the del Valle family objected. I tried to convince them, using every argument I could think of along with gifts and pressure, even bringing my political power to bear, but it was all in vain. My brothers-in-law were unyielding. I think they must have heard about Nívea’s head and were angry with me for having kept it in the basement all that time. In light of their obstinacy, I called Jaime in and told him to get ready to accompany me to the cemetery to steal Rosa’s body. He didn’t look surprised.
“If they won’t give her to us, we’ll have to take her by force,” I told him.
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Jaime Trueba/del Valle Character Timeline in The House of the Spirits
The timeline below shows where the character Jaime Trueba/del Valle appears in The House of the Spirits. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4: The Time of the Spirits
...a son after all this trouble, and Clara says she will have two sons—twins named Jaime and Nicolás. Esteban hates such foreign names and demands one of his sons be named...
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...Marcos’s trunks and the Barrabás rug. Nana moves in to help Férula with Nicolás and Jaime, but the only thing the two women can agree on is their faith; otherwise, Férula...
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...children grow, too, and Clara tells Blanca stories just as Nívea did before her, and Jaime and Nicolás become young men and go off to school. Esteban returns to his former...
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...not to interfere with his Clara’s spiritualism. However, Esteban is determined to keep Nicolás and Jaime sheltered from such nonsense, so he sends them to an English boarding school. The Victorian...
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Chapter 5: The Lovers
...to carve the meat, Férula walks in. No one has seen her for six years. Jaime and Nicolás are home from school—a fact, Esteban interrupts, that is important because their life...
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Chapter 6: Revenge
Even Jaime and Nicolás are won over by Jean’s good humor, and while they initially make fun...
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...is a handsome young man and incredibly smart. He fights with his brother constantly, though Jaime instantly feels guilty whenever he beats up the much smaller Nicolás. Nicolás makes up for...
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...to convince Esteban García that if his father had been born in place of Blanca, Jaime, or Nicolás, he would own Tres Marías and maybe even be President of the Republic....
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Chapter 7: The Brothers
Jaime, who is studying at the university, and Nicolás, who is in search of his destiny,...
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...other daily, and these many letters take the place of Clara’s notebooks for a time. Jaime and Nicolás grow apart, too: while Jaime is busy studying medicine, Nicolás is dances flamenco,...
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Jaime approaches the study of medicine as if it is a religion, and Clara remarks that...
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...following months, Esteban greatly enjoys his new position of power, and has no idea that Jaime meets frequently with Pedro Tercero, whom Jaime considers a close friend. After Esteban’s assault on...
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One day, Jaime comes home and says he wants to change his last name to del Valle. Ever...
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After this incident, Jaime asks Nicolás where Amanda has been, but he doesn’t know. He has been so busy...
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...know how to handle Amanda’s pregnancy or the abortion, so Amanda suggests they go to Jaime for help. When Nicolás knocks on his brother’s door, Jaime is reading a book of...
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On Sunday, Jaime waits outside the clinic where he does his training, and Nicolás goes to pick up...
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Jaime and Nicolás take Amanda back to the big house on the corner so that Clara...
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Chapter 8: The Count
...she married, and Esteban begins to fume. He raises his arm to strike her, but Jaime suddenly steps between them, silently daring his father. Esteban drops his hand and leaves the...
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Chapter 9: Little Alba
...at the big house on the corner, she was immediately taken to Clara’s room, where Jaime (with Clara and Amanda’s help) delivered Alba and Miguel hid in the closet watching. Afterward,...
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...corner. Amanda has healed completely from her abortion, and she has grown increasingly aware of Jaime’s feelings for her. She quietly leaves without a word, and Jaime resumes living like a...
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Alba grows up around the spirits and Clara’s telepathy, and she is educated by Jaime, Nicolás, and the three Mora sisters. Clara is still incompetent when it comes to domestic...
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...doctors for her imaginary illnesses that have manifested into the real thing. Sometimes, Clara or Jaime give Blanca money, but for the most part, she can’t even afford socks—a stark contrast...
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...in a box beneath her bed, releases the caged birds, and begins to slowly suffocate. Jaime goes to examine his mother, and while he can find nothing wrong with her, he...
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...into a deep sleep, and Alba never once leaves her side. Surrounded by Alba, Blanca, Jaime, Nicolás, and Esteban, Clara takes her last breath. Jaime places his stethoscope on her chest...
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Chapter 10: The Epoch of Decline
Jaime and Nicolás remain distant from their father, and Jaime spends most of his free time...
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...to run the house, but it is never enough, and she must always borrow from Jaime. Alba begins to suffer nightmares and starts sleeping in Blanca’s room. Every night, when Blanca...
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...family to transfer Rosa’s body to the mausoleum, but they refuse. When Esteban goes to Jaime and tells him they must steal Rosa’s body, Jaime isn’t surprised. “If they won’t give...
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...of hens, foxes, and of revolution, and Esteban has no idea that the singer is Jaime’s best friend, or that Blanca frequently takes Alba to see him.
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After Esteban and Jaime successfully move Rosa into Clara’s mausoleum, Esteban begins to feel better. He keeps Clara’s room...
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Chapter 11: The Awakening
...Alba home. When she arrives, Blanca begins to scream, and she doesn’t calm down until Jaime assures her that Alba is fine.
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...of Esteban García is from her 14th birthday. Alba was in the garden waiting for Jaime, who was taking her shopping for a present, and she could see Esteban García talking...
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Jaime believes that after so many years of struggle, the Socialist Party is finally going to...
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Jaime, however, knows for a fact that the Socialist Party will win. He knows this because...
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Jaime is not involved at all in politics and talk of a violent revolution makes him...
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One day, Alba comes to Jaime and begs him to talk to Miguel. His sister is sick, and she hopes that...
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Chapter 12: The Conspiracy
...a padlock and carries the keys on a ring she keeps clipped to her waist. Jaime tries to convince Blanca to share her goods, especially perishable goods, but Blanca refuses. Alba...
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...is stockpiling goods, too—specifically, guns. Alba is the first to notice this, and she tells Jaime, who is hesitant to believe her. Alba cuts another hole in the wall and finds...
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...school’s buildings have been taken over by students. When Alba isn’t with Miguel, she helps Jaime, who, along with a handful of other doctors, is still working in this clinic despite...
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Amanda volunteers at the clinic, too. Jaime is happy she is there, and he wishes terribly that he still loved her. The...
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Chapter 13: The Terror
The first day of the coup d’état, Jaime wakes at dawn to a call from the President’s secretary. The President isn’t ill, she...
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Jaime quickly calls Alba, warns her not to leave the house, and tells her to call...
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Soon, the bombing begins. As Jaime takes cover, he can’t believe it has come to this. He always thought that the...
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Outside, the soldiers fire guns into the air, and one of them punches Jaime in the stomach so hard that he soils himself. “Make way, we’re going to run...
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Jaime’s interrogators know that he doesn’t have anything to do with politics or what is happening,...
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...kind solider goes to the big house on the corner and tells Blanca all about Jaime’s death. Blanca calls for Esteban so he can hear, too, but Esteban doesn’t believe him....
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...Esteban for everything, and she believes he is the reason why she will never see Jaime or Miguel again. However, when Alba sees her grandfather slumped in a chair, calling out...
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...and hold each other for days. She tells him about the weapons she buried with Jaime and offers to take him there. Miguel tells Alba that her grandfather is a “bastard.”...
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...revolutionaries hiding in the house, but the police trash the house and burn all of Jaime’s books, the contents of Marcos’s trunks, and various papers and pamphlets in a massive bonfire...
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