Isabel Allende's 'Daughter of Fortune'

Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune tells the story of Eliza Sommers, an orphaned Chilean girl brought up by a rich Victorian spinster and her rigid brother. The novel centers on the quest for her identity and the search for her lover who has gone off to the American West-Coast to seek his fortune during the height of the gold rush.

Several points in this novel might be of interest to a feminist critic. The fact that this is a novel written by contemporary female author about a woman during a time of rigid social precepts and gender roles (The setting is the Americas in 1820-1849) lends itself to the discussion of those conditions and as to whether or not they exist in our own time.

One of the first things that would be of interest to any reader approaching this with a feminist lens is the conditions of Eliza’s birth, adoption and upbringing. Like many other orphans in fiction Eliza is literally left on the doorstep of Rose Sommers and her brother Jeremy. Since both are unmarried, there is some concern as to what to say when asked about the little girl’s origins. Rose insists people would just accept the truth but rumors swirl that the Eliza was the product of an elicit affair between Jeremy and a native Chilean. The idea that this rumor persists for quite some time and only manages to cause only minor embarrassment to Jeremy in social circles highlights the fact that a man (especially a man with some power and degree of respect) could have an illegitimate interracial child and not have to deal with anywhere near as much problems as a woman. Had Rose put on a bit of weight in the last year and Eliza been just a little lighter there’s no telling what sorts of problems could have followed her arrival. Interestingly enough, it is revealed that Rose’s other brother John was in fact Eliza’s father with a native Chilean woman. Though he John is presented in the novel as a “progressive” male he still has this failing. Even his “progressiveness” is seen as a factor or product his nature being counter to the social norms and therefore somehow wrong.

While Rose is saved from the ignominy of being branded a slut she still has an almost worse appellation: “spinster”. Everyone knows it; it’s even on the back of the book. Rose is in her early thirties when the book opens and it’s clear from the offset that the arrival of Eliza presents her with the first opportunity she’s ever truly had to be a mother of any sort. Motherhood as a conformation of womanhood is a major feminist issue; the idea that a woman isn’t really a woman on her own she’s only a woman if she bears offspring which in turn have to be conditioned to fit these pre-existing cultural molds. This is exactly what Rose intends to do; declaring from the offset to make Eliza a “proper English lady” even if it kills one or the both of them. This is knowledge that Eliza learns in the “light”, proper social actions that Rose and Mr. Sommers can show off and be proud of. The knowledge that she learns in the “dark” from Mama Fresia is knowledge that goes against this. Secret almost mystical knowledge that taps into an aspect of womanhood that doesn’t not fit in to the ideal codified notion of femininity espoused by the upper class world of the Sommers and their friends.

But this just scratches the surface. Rose’s own past of rebelling against these social norms paints Eliza’s own upbringing as an attempt to redeem herself for breaking code. And there is also Eliza’s time spent as a man, the comparison of the woman-run brothel and young prostitutes in Chinatown as well as Tao Chi’en’s relationship with his wife all lend themselves to feminist investigation as well.