Amanda Character Analysis

Miguel’s sister and Nicolás’s girlfriend. Amanda is a smart and beautiful girl, who is first introduced to Nicolás by the Mora sisters. Amanda’s mother is dead, and she has taken responsibility for her younger brother, Miguel, who is just five years old when their characters are first introduced. Amanda, like Nicolás, is interested in Clara’s spiritualism, but she ultimately takes a job as a journalist. Unbeknownst to Nicolás or Amanda, Nicolás’s twin brother, Jaime, falls madly in love with Amanda, but his feelings are never realized out of respect for his brother and fear of rejection. Amanda becomes pregnant during her relationship with Nicolás, and they convince Jaime, who is just a medical student at the time, to perform an illegal abortion. Afterward, Amanda and Nicolás drift apart, but she reconnects with Jaime years later when his niece, Alba, falls in love with Miguel. Amanda’s difficult life of poverty and bad relationships leads to substance addiction, and Jaime helps her into a detox program. Afterward, Amanda falls in love with Jaime (although his own feelings have waned) and volunteers at his medical clinic after the military coup d’état. Amanda is ultimately killed during the coup; she is arrested and tortured by the police, but she refuses to give up any information about Miguel, a wanted revolutionary. Amanda is another example of a strong woman in Allende’s novel, dedicating her life to raising Miguel and keeping him safe, which also highlights the profound love between family members that is present throughout the novel.