Powerful Words: Literary Analysis of “Two Words” by Isabel Allende

The short story “Two Words” by Isabel Allende uses strategic descriptions and magical realism to convey the power of words. Readers are left with many questions, but this causes them to engage with the material more than if everything had been explained. The main character’s real name is never mentioned, beginning the story with an air of mystery. “She went by the name of Belisa Crepusculario, not because she had been baptized with that name or given it by her mother, but because she herself had searched until she found the poetry of ‘beauty’ and ‘twilight’ and cloaked herself in it.” (Allende 83) From the first sentence Allende is showing her audience the power of words. Belisa gives herself a new identity centered around the beauty and power of language. Allende describes a war-hardened country Belisa wanders “from the high cold mountains to the burning coasts” selling words that bring wonder, happiness, and information to the people (Allende 83). Belisa is widely known and draws a crowd wherever she goes.

Part of the magic of Belisa’s trade is that she has built up a reputation for herself so people completely trust the power of her words. She was well known throughout the country and her visits were very popular. “Some people waited for her from one year to the next, and when she appeared in the village with her bundle beneath her arm, they would form a line in front of her stall,” (Allende 83). People rely Belisa as a source of news, entertainment, advice, and help. “Wherever she went a small crowd gathered around to listen as she began to speak, and that was how they learned about each other’s doings, about distant relatives, about what was happening in the civil war,” (Allende 83). This demonstrates the well-known tradition of story-telling as more than just entertainment. Before written word, telling and remembering stories was the only way to keep a culture alive. Even though Belisa and a few other people in the country are educated enough to read, many people must rely on spoken words for news and communication. If someone wants other towns to know about something, they can pay Belisa to “add a line or two: our son was born, so-and-so died, our children got married, the crops burned in the field,” (Allende 83). Customers knew that Belisa did not skip a word, so paying to add their stories to this verbal history ensured that the rest of the country would eventually hear about them, giving their families a measure of importance.

With this kind of popularity, Belisa could easily raise her prices for the highly valued commodity of words, but she keeps very low prices. Her wares are intriguing: “For five centavos she delivered verses from memory, for seven she improved the quality of dreams, for nine she wrote love letters, for twelve she invented insults for irreconcilable enemies,” (Allende 83). Allende came up with some very interesting uses of words, some that are not feasible, as befits magical realism. Readers may wonder how Belisa can possibly improve the quality of dreams with words. Magical realism does not require logic, but a type of verbal dream-catcher in this story is one way to convey the conventional knowledge that words have power. Asking Belisa to write a love letter would probably guarantee impressing the letter’s recipient.  Belisa does not just use her creativity for good, but also uses it for insults. Inventing insults for enemies could be quite profitable, as most people think of good insults and replies long after they would have liked to use them. (This frustrating experience of only thinking of perfect replies after a conversation is called esprit de l’escalier or “staircase wit” in French.) It would be very useful to have insults ready to use when interacting with an enemy, because having the last word in an argument is very satisfying. Belisa proves the strength of her insults when El Mulato “was stopped by an avalanche of words he had never heard before; believing them to be an irrevocable curse” and turning him from an admirer of Belisa into a deadly enemy (Allende 86). Belisa’s words have power, and can be wielded to effect great benefit or harm.

Allende draws her audience in with the concept of secret words that can “drive away melancholy,” words that are unique to each person (Allende 83). If Belisa really does give a unique word to each person who pays 50 centavos, eventually she must run out of poetic words and resort to commonplace words like “potato” or “shoe.” A possible way around running out of words would be to learn another language. Allende does not reveal how Belisa chooses these secret words and only writes that “Each person received his or her own word, with the assurance that no one else would use it that way in this universe or the Beyond,” (Allende 83). Perhaps she invents her own nonsensical words without giving definitions and still inspires customers with magical sounding syllables strung together with authority. If Belisa were less honest, she could give the same handful of inspirational words to customers, since they never shared their words. However, she is very careful to create original content for her customers, and she even throws away her dictionary to make sure she does not “defraud her customers with packaged words” (Allende 84). The concept of mysterious secret words stirs the imagination of readers, and Allende gains audience reactions by keeping those words secret. “Two Words” never reveals the two secret words given to the Colonel. His soldiers want to know them, because those pesky words are driving him to distraction. The Colonel repeats the words to himself “more and more obsessively” at all times of day and night (Allende 86). The Colonel does not notice his own political successes and popularity from Belisa’s speech because he is too busy repeating the secret words she had whispered to him. His men are very concerned about the Colonel because at this rate “he might die before he ever sat in the presidential chair,” (Allende 87). Belisa’s gift of two secret words to the Colonel is not helpful or useful to him, but instead overtook his every waking thought and became his obsession. If those words had been revealed, the mystery would be solved, and the readers’ curiosity sated, but it is more intriguing to try to figure it out. Allende crafts her story well, and leaving this unanswered question keeps the story alive in the minds of her audience long after reading this short story.

Based on the descriptions of people eagerly crowding around and lining up at Belisa’s stall, she is doing very well for herself. The people are also becoming more aware of current events and developing wider vocabularies, so this is good for the whole country. If Belisa were a less honest person, she could make even more money by agreeing to spread misinformation and propaganda regarding the civil war or other disputes. She gives legal advice, so if she wanted she could be a successful lawyer. She is “selling legal arguments” in a market when El Mulato snatched her to write a campaign speech for the Colonel (Allende 84). She is adept at public speaking and recites long stories without missing a word. If Belisa wanted to, she could easily beat anyone in court, in a debate, or in a political campaign. Instead, she shares the magic of words through her whole country, bringing back some of the joys of life that people lost after the civil war.

Allende leaves many things unsaid including the real name of the main character, merely saying she comes from “a family so poor they did not even have names to give their children,” (Allende 83). Allende managed to get away with not explaining quite a lot by implying that words have power. Readers never get to learn what Belisa’s secret words are, or how they make such impact on people who hear them. By not giving away this information, Allende catches the attention and imagination of her audience. The magical secret words given to the Colonel are so potent that his men want to “undo the witchcraft of those accursed words,” but the mysterious words whispered to him had taken hold of his mind (Allende 87). Similarly, the unknown secret words take hold of the mind of the readers who want to know which two words could compel a powerful man to become so obsessed. Isabel Allende’s choices on what to describe and what to leave up to the reader give credence to her underlying theme of the power of words.

Works Cited:

Allende, Isabel. “Two Words.” The Stories of Eva Luna, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden, Simon and Schuster, 1991, New York, pp. 7-20.