Daughter Of Fortune

Through the character of Tao Chi’en, Allende introduces the concept of karma. Tao believes that his fate had already “been determined by the acts of his family before him” (5). In contrast, characters such as Paulina del Valle and, eventually, Eliza Sommers, take action believing that “what matters is what you do in this world, not how you come into it” (5). Unlike her passive sisters, Paulina del Valle decides early to escape her father’s dictates and family tradition, marrying outside of her social class to a newly rich man of uncertain origins. As a business visionary, Paulina continually succeeds by trying new things that have never been done, such as exporting Chilean produce preserved in glacier ice to the California market.

When Eliza initially encountered Joaquín, she “thought she had met her destiny: she would be his slave forever” (82). Mama Fresia and the Mapuche machi try various cures and spells, but they feel unable to change Eliza’s fate. After the devastating impact of the love affair with Joaquín on Eliza’s life, she concludes that she would never have been able to avoid this overwhelming passion, so “her fate had been determined since the beginning of time” (80). However, Eliza changes as a result of the influences of California and Tao. Californian society appeals to both Paulina and Eliza because of its focus on the possibility of self-invention and erasure of the past. Americans have a conviction that their children’s lives will be better than theirs. In the undeveloped landscape of the West, Eliza realizes that she can become the person she wants to be. Tao’s love for Eliza also teaches her “the magical formulas for untangling the knots of karma and freeing herself from forever repeating” the same tragic romantic fate (81).

Tao undergoes change as well in the New World environment. Originally, he viewed young Chinese prostitutes as products of their karma, paying for “offenses in former lives” (347). Tao perceived these females as awaiting “disaster in their cribs, exactly as a chicken in its coop in the market: that was their destiny” (347). Although Tao felt sad for them, “it never occurred to him that their fate might be modified” (347). Confronted by the horrors of these young women’s fates, Tao begins to investigate and intervene, thereby changing not only the singsong girls’ destiny, but also his own destiny. Tao does not return to China as he had once planned since he is engaged in this battle against evil and by his love for Eliza. Tao maintains, however, that his romantic relationship with Eliza “was predestined” (394). Allende offers a mixed philosophy: Mysterious circumstances help determine lives, but individuals have the freedom to respond to these events with choices.