The portrayal of women in the novels One Hundred years of Solitude and The House of the Spirits differs greatly. In One Hundred Years of Solitude empowerment comes only through age, for instance Ursula Iguaran, the matriarch of the Buendia family and to some extent Macondo, or through strength of sexuality, for instance Pilara Tenera the 'sexual matriarch' of Macondo. This is in contrast with The House of the Spirits where empowerment comes also through …showed first 75 words of 1447 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1447 total…novels. Through close analysis of the female characters in The House of the Spirits and One hundred years of solitude one can see Marquez seemingly seeks merely to reflect the reality of the role of women in South America, whereas Allende preaches her own brand of feminism whereby: '...feminism should mean that you do everything that men do, but without sacrificing everything that makes it so wonderful to be a woman.' WORD COUNT 1450