Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem are familiar names that epitomize the feminist movement. Although these women exist in flesh and bone, literary figures are also able to capture feministic personalities. In the novels Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, self-actualization is achieved through the female character's development of independence, nonconformity, and courage. Given these attributes, a number of noteworthy women in both novels are able to overcome their antagonist.
             The stories begin during the characters youthful days, venture off as their development as adolescents surface, and further adjust, once their teenage skin sheds and their adulthood begins. Throughout these years, Allende's female characters Clara, Blanca, and Alba allow their lives to take its course with its share of ups and downs. Esquivel uses similar means in the introduction and maturity of her exemplary characters Tita and Gertrudis. The similarity between these influential women is simple and precise - their independence. Although conceived as an "elegant, discreet, and charming lady," Clara is anything but. Throughout her marriage with Esteban, she diverges herself from a crowd of shallow politicians and focuses on her own aspirations. After running everything under his own agenda, Esteban's ruling hand backfires when he realizes that Clara is not like an ignorant peasant from Tres Marias, but a truly talented and intelligent woman. It is not until the day of her death that he acknowledges her strength and importance, "...but when I lay down next to her on the bed, I saw that we were almost the same
             size" (Allende 293). Blanca and Alba demonstrate their independence equally yet unlike Clara. Opposite to their upbringing, Blanca and Alba understand love for what it really is, something felt within-love is blind. While Esteban learns the ways of the wealthy, plac...