Aura

Carlos Fuentes “Aura” is a fantastic novel that exemplifies the elements of magical realism by creating a somewhat timeless and cyclical setting, filled with thoughts that challenge the reader’s true sense of reality. Fuentes engages the reader by challenging common binaries and blurring the lines that separate such parallel concepts like heaven and hell, private and open, and past versus present. This causes the entire novel to be entrancing and have a surreal wave throughout, forcing the reader to attempt to distinguish between realities and dreams.

Aura most clearly challenges the borders between past versus present. Felipe Montero, the young historian who is hired to edit the memoirs of a deceased General, finds the job advertisement in the newspaper. It is so specific and detailed yet it matches every one of his own skills and qualities to a tee. That is because the advertisement is for the General. Fuentes blurs the lines between past and present by bringing older elements within the story up to match the current events. When Felipe first attempts to find Senora Consuelo’s house, he is deterred by the address numbers on the buildings. There are old and new buildings, some of which have the traditional numbering system while others have adopted a new, modern numbering system. This just shows the fusion of time between past and present that Fuentes is trying to uncover. The audience doesn’t know when the story takes place, because there is such a huge derailment of time. The old Senora Consuelo uses her niece, Aura, to reflect a younger version of herself in order to resurrect youth and a child. While reading the General’s memoirs, Felipe discovers that the Senora was obsessed with having a child though she was infertile. She was slightly delirious and felt the need to be young again. Like on page 133, “She cried, ‘Yes, yes, yes, I’ve done it, I’ve re-created her! I can invoke her, I can give her life with my own life!” When the General confronted her, she stated, “Don’t stop me…I’m going toward my youth, and my youth is coming toward me…” The Senora wants to recapture her youth, and the beautiful, young niece is only a projection of the 109-year-old Senora, waiting for her General husband to love her infinitely in time. The dividing line between past and present is destroyed because the old, incapable Senora is actually the same as the young, beautiful niece. The senora’s actions even parallel that of Aura. For example, when Aura is downstairs in the kitchen skinning an animal for dinner, the senora is upstairs mimicking her actions. Past and present events are shown at the same time to blend the two concepts into less concrete ideas.

The borders between privacy and openness are also obscured. Everything seems to have a key, but nothing is actually locked. The doors have no locks and are always swinging open or shut, the Senora’s trunk is locked but the key is available, and Felipe’s belongings from his house are fetched by the supposed ‘servant’ with no key. On page 31, Felipe explains, “…Aura opens the door to your bedroom – another door without a latch-…” It’s almost as though each room is meant to be private but it is inherently unlocked and open to everyone. The Senora’s trunk is full of her old treasures and the General’s memoirs, though she gives the key to Felipe and states “no, no, you can keep the key. I trust you” on the very first day that she meets him and allows him to stay in her house. Even physical privacy when Aura and Felipe embrace each other is shattered by the Senora, who was sitting in the corner the entire time. There seems to be no privacy, yet it is full of solitude. Each character is almost always alone, in darkness and isolation, yet there are no locks and barriers separating them.

In this story of reality versus imagination, everything crosses the filament. Fuentes also incorporates religion, as it is important in Mexican culture. Consuelo is always worshipping the saints, praying, and then when Aura and Felipe finally embrace, she first washes his feet and then breaks a wafer between his legs. This clearly is reflective of Christian practices and goes along with the other carvings in the house. Fuentes is trying to expose the origin of the strong Catholic practices in Mexico.

Other binaries like dark and light, old and young, privacy and openness; all reflect elements in the history of Mexico itself. The history is a bloody, dark one, especially in the years before and during the Mexican Revolution. During this era, it was violent with no seeming escape from imposing forces and the entire society structure was biased towards the rich. The binaries Fuentes includes in the novel also reflect the tones of the Mexican Revolution. Fuentes is trying to convey the shape-shifting that occurs between the characters and his own country. Throughout the novel, certain colors are emphasized like green, red, and white. For example, Aura’s eyes are not just green; they are surging, powerful green. In the house, there was “an easy chair covered in red velvet, an old walnut desk with a green leather top…” Fuentes may be asking what it is to be Mexican and what their identity is. The past is full of history and of so many leaders, languages, and governments. War time is a chaotic time where borders and identities are shifting, and people are displaced from what they thought was their identity. The first word of dialogue in the story is “no”. This shows that Felipe is under the Senora’s control and must obey her words. No is a stronger word than yes, and it is also more negative than yes. Like the book as a whole, this could relate to the Mexican people as a whole. Throughout history they have been conquered, and re-conquered over and over again so there is a large negative and overpowering aspect that clouds their past. This has led to major instability. Fuentes is addressing how Mexico has “died” so many times and been reborn, each time with a new shape.