The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert both express the destructive nature of greed and fantasy over reality. One would expect reality to dominate the two novels; however, both The House of Spirits and Madame Bovary emphasize idealistic visions and focus on illusionistic concepts of greed and fantasy. Both greed and fantasy share a common factor; in the way of acting as exploitative factors for some characters in each novel such as Esteban Trueba in The House of the Spirits and Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary. However, both greed and fantasy show their use in different ways. While greed tends to show its effect on characters through emotional desires and beliefs, fantasy attempts to influence characters through psychological and factual meaning. The exposure of greed and fantasy, and the discovery of how these influence the novels, leads to cutting threads of reality too badly damaged to be repaired. The greed expressed by Esteban Trueba and Emma Bovary, fuels the desire for wealth and influence on others, while also being responsible for a negative perception of the world. In Esteban's case, the desire for political success and respect influences his life to the point that he finally discovers his deceitful ways. Over the course of his fine political career, Esteban established himself as a highly respected figure in politics. However, the reality of his success is overshadowed by his hatred of the socialist system and utopian ideals. “Charity, like socialism, is an invention of the weak to exploit the strong and bring them to their knees” (Allende 297). Esteban believes that if socialism were to take over his country, then the undeserving of the country would... middle of paper... marry an eccentric and produce three good-for-nothing lunatics who were ruining his life. (Allende 221) Esteban has rigid ideas about what a family and society should be, and he constantly tries to fit his family and society into that mold. His anger is probably the only area that gets in the way of his goal and makes him lose that fantasy. He needs to realize that, in reality, no one will have a perfect family or society. These two novels do a great job of giving a good idea of ​​what is reality and what isn't. In both novels there are themes that the author uses to show the fantasy that the characters live in and how they choose it over the reality that no one wants to face. It was through the twin themes of greed and fantasy that novels were able to exploit reality and demonstrate that there is no such thing as a perfect life.