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Pedro Tercero García
Pancha García and Esteban Trueba’s grandson. Esteban García grows up as a peasant at Tres Marías, and he is never acknowledged by Esteban Trueba (the owner of the hacienda) as his biological grandson. Pancha teaches Esteban García from a young age that Esteban Trueba’s blood runs in his veins, and she tells him that had he been born in place of Blanca, Jaime, or Nicolás (whom Esteban Trueba accepts as his legitimate children), he would inherit Tres Marías and maybe even be President of the Republic. Regardless, Esteban García seems to have inherited his grandfather’s violent streak and exhibits sadistic tendencies from an early age: as a child, he drives nails into the eyes of chickens. When Blanca and Pedro Tercero are caught in their forbidden affair, Esteban García leads Esteban Trueba to Pedro Tercero’s hiding place, where Esteban Trueba assaults Pedro and severs three fingers from his right hand. Esteban García later visits Esteban Trueba at the big house on the corner and asks him for a recommendation to become a police officer. Esteban Trueba writes the recommendation, as he owes Esteban García an award for finding Pedro Tercero, but Esteban never realizes the young man is his grandson. Esteban García grows up resenting Esteban Trueba and his biological family, especially Alba, whom he encounters multiple times throughout the book. When he visits Esteban Trueba to ask for the recommendation letter, Esteban García has erotic fantasies about strangling six-year-old Alba and sexually assaults her. Later, when Alba turns 14, Esteban García (now a police officer) forcibly kisses Alba in the garden, humiliating and scaring her. By the time of the military coup d’état, Esteban Garcia is a colonel, and he plays a significant role in torturing Alba after she is arrested. He rapes her repeatedly, and even electrocutes her before she is finally released. Esteban García is the personification of violence—especially against women—but Alba’s anger at Esteban García doesn’t last long. She knows that Esteban is the way he is for a reason: Esteban Trueba’s violent rape of Pancha, Esteban García’s grandmother, decades earlier. Esteban García is consumed with the desire for revenge, and Alba vows to “break that terrible chain.”
Esteban García Quotes in The House of the Spirits
The The House of the Spirits quotes below are all either spoken by Esteban García or refer to Esteban García. 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 2 Quotes
Esteban did not remove his clothes. He attacked her savagely, thrusting himself into her without preamble, with unnecessary brutality. He realized too late, from the blood spattered on her dress, that the young girl was a virgin, but neither Pancha’s humble origin nor the pressing demands of his desire allowed him to reconsider. Pancha García made no attempt to defend herself. She did not complain, nor did she shut her eyes. She lay on her back, staring at the sky with terror, until she felt the man drop to the ground beside her with a moan. She began to whimper softly. Before her, her mother—and before her, her grandmother—had suffered the same animal fate.
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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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Epilogue Quotes
The day my grandfather tumbled his grandmother, Pancha García, among the rushes of the riverbank, he added another link to the chain of events that had to complete itself. Afterward the grandson of the woman who was raped repeats the gesture with the granddaughter of the rapist, and perhaps forty years from now my grandson will knock García’s granddaughter down among the rushes, and so on down through the centuries in an unending tale of sorrow, blood, and love.
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Esteban García Character Timeline in The House of the Spirits
The timeline below shows where the character Esteban García 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
...wife, even if only for a little while. Pancha leaves behind Esteban’s son and grandson, Esteban García , who both carry Esteban’s name but not his surname. Old Pedro tells Blanca and...
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Chapter 6: Revenge
...He sat each night on the porch, feeling the sun go down, with his great-grandson Esteban García at his feet. Esteban García and his father are the only “bastard offspring” to share...
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Esteban García is 10 years old and in the habit of driving nails through the eyes of...
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...can’t stop crying and blames Pedro Tercero for everything. One day, a peasant boy named Esteban García tells Esteban that he knows where Pedro Tercero is. He asks Esteban Trueba if he...
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...his right hand, severing three fingers. Pedro runs, leaving behind a trail of blood, and Esteban García picks up the fingers. Esteban Trueba vomits on the ground and tells the boy to...
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...killed many men—but Esteban swears this isn’t true. “I’ve never killed anyone,” Esteban says. When Esteban García asks about a reward, Esteban Trueba tells him he doesn’t reward traitors and slaps him...
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Chapter 9: Little Alba
Alba is six years old the first time she meets Esteban García . She probably saw him before that at Tres Marías—Esteban Trueba takes her there frequently...
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Esteban García sits down in a leather chair and pulls Alba into his lap. Without knowing it,...
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Esteban García jumps from the chair just as Esteban Trueba enters the room. The Senator remembers Esteban...
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Chapter 11: The Awakening
...is pointed directly at Alba’s face, and she finds herself looking into the eyes of Esteban García .
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Esteban García laughs. “I see it’s Senator Trueba’s granddaughter!” he says. He asks Alba what is wrong...
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...in bed for two days, and the student protest is resolved peacefully. She thinks about Esteban García . She remembers the incident with him in the library, but her most vivid memory...
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Alba told Esteban García that it was her 14th birthday, and he said he had a present for her....
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Chapter 13: The Terror
...Trueba’s granddaughter. “So I see,” a voice says, and Alba immediately recognizes the voice of Esteban García .
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Chapter 14: The Hour of Truth
...opens, and Alba is led to a room where she again recognizes the voice of Esteban García . He asks her where Miguel is, but Alba refuses to talk. A violent slap...
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The third time Alba is taken to Esteban García , she is more prepared. Esteban orders her to strip, and when she refuses, the...
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Alba is held by Esteban García for a long time. She comes to understand that Esteban’s treatment of her has more...
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Epilogue
...waiting for curfew to pass. That night, Alba understood that the evil of men like Esteban García can’t destroy the spirit of such remarkable women.
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In the doghouse, Alba dreamed of seeking revenge on Esteban García for all he had done to her, but now her anger has softened. The day...
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