The short story, “Letters of Betrayed Love” by Isabel Allende impresses the theme that women can become empowered by becoming independent of oppressive men. Analía is obstinate by nature, and from a young age, she holds her uncle, Eugenio, in great contempt. When Eugenio attempts to lay her life plan before her, out of pure contrariness, Analía “informed her uncle that she was not inclined to follow it” (286). Analía lives in the company of only female adults for a very long time, and likely because of that she is distrustful of her uncle who wants to control her from a distance. She has very few interactions with her uncle, which is a result of him not wanting to pamper her. However, this leaves her somewhat of an outsider at her school, weakening
