The German philosopher Friedrich Engels once said: “All history has been a history of class struggles between dominated classes at various stages of social development.” In all societies, each social class has unique characteristics and distinctions, especially in lifestyles and privileges within their respective cultures; however, when the differences between social classes become excessive, problems begin to arise. Despite the different settings of Allende's The House of the Spirits and Flaubert's Madame Bovary, the distinctions between social classes in each novel produce the same problematic results for the characters; the problematic findings demonstrate the negative effect of broad distinctions between social classes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Allende describes the differences between social classes well in The House of the Spirits through the interaction between the people of Tres Marias. Tres Marias contains two main social classes: the landowning class and the peasant class. The landowning class is made up of the Trueba family, as Esteban Trueba is the patron of the hacienda, while the peasant class is made up of the hacienda's workers, including the Garcia family. Allende presents the two classes as opposed to each other. While Allende portrays the wealth of the landowning class through their elegant clothes, he depicts the peasant class as poor through their dirty rags. From a relationship perspective, the landowning class has complete control over the peasant class; the Truebas have control over the happenings of the hacienda and the people who work there. While the farmers toil on the land, all the rewards go to the Truebas. The distinctions between the two social classes make them too different to coexist in harmony, causing major problems for the characters. Because of his title as the patron saint of the Tres Marias, Esteban Trueba feels superior to the peasants and expects the rest of his family to feel the same way. However, other family members' involvement with the lower social class causes tension within the family. To get around her father's ban, Blanca hides her relationship with Pedro Tercero. “Without anyone telling them, they realized that they couldn't act so freely in front of others… they started hiding when they wanted to play. They stopped walking hand in hand in front of the adults' eyes, and ignored each other so as not to attract attention” (Allende 147). Once Esteban Trueba discovers Blanca's secret, he becomes furious with her. Blanca's brothers Jaime and Nicolas also have interactions with the peasant class. Both feel supportive and charitable towards Tres Marias workers and other less fortunate people. Their involvement with the farmers causes tension between them and their father because Esteban Trueba does not want them to ruin the family's reputation by involving themselves with people beneath them. Due to the great differences between the two classes, jealousy arises. Esteban Garcia provides a perfect example; Esteban Garcia envies the Truebas' luxurious life and believes that if Esteban Trueba realizes and accepts that the Trueba blood also flows in his veins, he too will be able to live that life. However, Esteban Trueba fails to recognize Esteban Garcia as his illegitimate nephew, which results in growing hatred within Esteban Garcia. This hatred fuels Esteban Garcia's desire for revenge. In Flaubert's Madame Bovary, differences between social classes also cause problems for the characters. As a member of the bourgeoisie, the protagonistEmma Bovary finds herself bored with the lifestyle of her social class and longs for the elegant life of aristocrats. Emma uses her relationships with Rodolphe and the new and cosmopolitan Leon to feel part of a superior society. As the story continues, his desire to be accepted by the aristocrats loses control and his efforts fail to meet his expectations. Ironically, as Emma tries to work her way into a higher class, she ends up falling down a class. “The men were whispering in a corner, probably discussing expenses. There were an employee, two medical students and a sales assistant. What company for her! As for the women, Emma soon realized from their voices that almost all of them came from the dregs of society. Then he became frightened, pushed his chair back and lowered his eyes” (Flaubert 273). Flaubert uses irony to show how Emma realizes that she has failed to live the social lifestyle she originally imagined. The difference and isolation of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy push Emma to develop ideal visions of the life of aristocrats, which do not reflect reality. This leads Emma to try to fulfill her ideal expectations of the upper class, which ultimately leads to her death. The House of the Spirits and Madame Bovary incorporate the dangers of vast social class differences in similar ways. For example, both authors make social class cause tragedy in the plots of their novels. In The House of the Spirits, Esteban Garcia personifies the struggle involving social classes. As a child, Esteban Garcia aspired to become a recognized part of the Trueba family and the landowning class. However, his illegitimate grandfather fails to recognize him as part of the family, spurring hatred within Esteban Garcia that intensifies as he ages. This hatred fuels his desire for revenge against the Trueba family, which he releases on Alba Trueba, who he holds as a personal prisoner. In Madame Bovary, Emma's desire to change social class leads to her ultimate ruin. Wishing to improve his social class, he buys extravagant gifts for his lovers. Her expenses, however, push her deeper into debt. Following desperate measures to free himself from debt, he takes his own life. Furthermore, both Esteban Garcia and Emma Bovary, the characters involved in the tragedies caused by social classes, aspire to move up the social classes; in the end Esteban Garcia succeeds while Emma does not. Allende and Flaubert use different distinctions between the social classes of their cultures to create conflict in their respective novels. In The House of the Spirits, Allende describes the peasant class as less elegant than the landowners. In fact Allende describes them in a negative way. “They were really sorry. He saw several women of indecipherable age, with dry and chapped skin, some apparently pregnant, all barefoot and dressed in faded rags” (49). The landowning class, the Trueba family, owns large property, has a lot of power over the other class, and benefits from the work of the peasants. In Madame Bovary Flaubert exploits the protagonist's influence on the reader to characterize the two classes. Emma finds her bourgeois life boring and mediocre. The reader perceives the aristocratic class as superior because Emma believes so. Furthermore, the two novels have different settings. Allende's novel is set in a Latin American country while Flaubert's novel is set in France. The novels, which present similar conflicts revolving around distinctions between social classes, take place in different contexts, but still produce the same, tragic result. This shows that problems caused by differences in social classes can.