The House on the Lagoon Part VIII

The final section of this novel includes the climax of the story, Quintíns death. By this time Isabel had realized that Quintín had turned out just like his father and that she could no longer spend her life with him. The House on the Lagoon acts as a record of their lives together, as well as their families, and as hinted to in the beginning of the novel the changeless nature of an individual. A person will draw on the pasts and the histories of the family in order to determine what to do in the future. A quote at the beginning of the novel, spoken by Abby illustrates this; “…when people fall in love they should always look closely at what the family of the betrothed is like, because one never marrieds the bridegroom alone but also his parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and the whole dammed tangle of the ancestral line” (Ferré 3). This repetitive cycle in the book was shown through Quintíns actions and choices that mirrored his fathers, and Isabel’s actions and choices that mirrored the women in her life. This cycle of repeating history is show to not benefitting society, a family, or an individual. In order for a person to be successful in his or her life and benefit their own family and society one has to make their choices and follow their own beliefs and passions.

The House on the Lagoon Part VII

The discord in the Mendizabal family that was hinted in the last sections becomes very prevalent in this section. The section shows the slow, but permeant destruction of the Mendizabal family and the marriage of Isabel and Quintín. It all starts with the death of Buenaventura, which is fitting because he was the one who created the Mendizabal life in San Juan. The family business began to fail and this caused strained relationships within Quintín’s family and in his marriage. After the death of his mother, Rebecca, and the collapse of his business Quintín went to extreme measures in order to insure his own future and make himself and this made him more like his father than he wanted to be. Isabel recognized this and began to trust him less and less. With the addition of Manuel and Willie to the family things stabilized for a short while, but fueled by the political uncertainty in Puerto Rico the Monfort-Mendizabal family collapsed. As shown in the collapse of his own family Quintín shows that it is hard to break out of the pattern of history and the ways of ones family

The House on the Lagoon Part VI

This section outlines a period of turmoil in Isabel’s life as well as in the lives of the members of the Mendizabal family. After the death of Isabel’s mother, father, and grandmother, who was the most important person in Isabel’s life, Isabel was truly alone in the world save for Quintín. Isabel’s was forced to give herself over completely to the knowledge that now she relied on Quintín and the Mendizabal family. This was hard for Isabel because she had been taught to be independent by her grandmother Abby. However, just as Isabel was resigning herself to her fate she resolved to never give up her passions or identity. In the Mendizabal family Ignacio, Quintíns brother, was also making a vow of passion. He was resolved to marry one of Isabel’s old friends from ponce who did no agree without he standards of the Mendizabal house. Ignacio defied his parents and pushed himself to mental exhaustion, but in the end his love ended badly. This was the first sign of discord and weakness in the Mendizabal family and portentous event for the future. 

The House on the Lagoon Part V

This chapter provides a unique view into Isabel’s life throughout the lens of her ballet dancing. Isabel demonstrated her ability to love something unconditionally and passionately through her ballet dancing. Her commitment and dedication were also shown when describing her early life in dancing. Her ballet dancing also presented a pattern that became common in Isabel’s life; she would give all of her love and commitment to someone or something, and then it would disappoint her. Her relationship with Quintín proved to the tipping point in this pattern and later in their marriage Isabel came to trust things and people less. Isabel’s bad experience with ballet did not take away her ability to love deeply, but it did take away her naivety and trust in the world.

The House on the Lagoon Part IV

The manuscripts that Isabel is writing is a way for her to express her beliefs on anything from marriage to politics. She brings attention to Rebecca’s behavior in her marriage and her way of rebelling by being obedient. She also lets her political views slip through in her retelling of Arrigoitia’s story in a pro nationalistic way. On this issue and others Isabel and Quintín differ in their opinions and the manuscript is a way for them to communicate in a way that they could not in person. Quintín learns a lot about Isabel from her writing that he would not have known otherwise.

The House on the Lagoon Part III

This section Isabel focuses more on the female relatives in her life. All of Isabel’s grandmothers, both by blood and by marriage, demonstrated a strong presence and control in heir lives. Each one of them had their beliefs and knew what they wanted in life. None of them had easy lives, but they were able to make the best of their situations and eventually were able to succeed in life. Isabel uses  these women as role models in her life and uses them for inspiration for her own independence. When Quintín discovers this section of Isabel’s story he is upset that she has beard personal secrets about his family and hers without talking to him. It is because of this that Quintín decided to present is own version of Isabel’s story in a more historically manner. He tried to stick to the facts and not embellish as much as possible. This shows a difference in Quintín and Isabel’s personally, Quintín being more practical and Isabel being more of a romantic soul. 

The House on the Lagoon Part II

In this section of the book Buenaventura and Rebecca’s place of dwelling arises as a factor in their lives. At the beginning of their marriage Buenaventura owned a humble house that fit his station in life, but as his fortunes rose in importance he felt that his house should reflect his rise in power. The house that Buenaventura built reflected the conflicts that were starting to arise in his and Rebecca’s marriage. The couple both tried to uses the house for their own purposes, but they were so different that their passions were not compatible. Because of this both of them started to pay their attention two different people that supported their interests more, the eccentric Pavel and the mysterious Petra. However, once Buenaventura realized that he was losing Rebecca his solution was to tear down the house that Pavel had built for them and build a new one in order to start a new life. This shows the significance that their houses play in their lives. It is also in this section that Quintín discovered Isabel was writing a history of his family. He was shocked and amused by Isabel’s account of things, but at the same time he was concerned that Isabel was pulling Rebecca’s story into her own life and resolved to keep a close eye on her. In this section the reader starts to see the over lap between Quintín and Isabel’s lives and Quintín’s parents lives.