Readers are quickly thrown into the story of Aura; literally, as the author uses second person narrative to merge the reader and the protagonist, Felipe Montero, into one entity in order to accurately portray the intense and truly unbelievable adventure that Felipe experiences with Señora Consuelo and Aura. Carlos Fuentes starts his novel right away in second person narrative using the word, “you’re,” which introduces the very first stop on the binary train of this book: real/imaginary. Fuentes is blending the real life reader and the fictional character of Felipe Montero to create an atmosphere in which the reader can genuinely believe the happenings of this unique story. Transgressing the boundaries of real and imaginary, Fuentes is exemplifying the idea of magical realism that people should experience the spirit of the object, in this case the literature, from the inside out and not from the outside in, which is the only way of creating new views of reality and evoking emotions. Instead of just simply reading the book from a third person, outside point of view, Fuentes has created a new and completely different way of reading.
When answering the advertisement to Señora Consuelo’s job offer, Fuentes uses his next binary of new and old as Felipe searches for the correct address. While walking down an old street, Felipe notices the “old colonial mansions, all of them converted into repair shops, jewelry shops, show stores, drugstores” (Fuentes, p. 9). Upon reaching the Señora’s house, he recognizes the sophistication and classiness of it as it sits on the second story, above “the cheap merchandise on sale along the street [that] doesn’t have any effect on [the] upper level” (Fuentes, p. 9) It is this binary of new and old, and perhaps above and below, that attracts Felipe to the Señora’s house; the binary puts emphasis on her house, making Felipe and the reader wonder what is so different about it.
Upon entering Señora Consuelo’s house and permanently leaving the bright outside world, Felipe finds himself in a world of darkness, shrouded with much mystery. Unable to see, he must rely on his other senses to distinguish everything around him as well as use unfamiliar methods to find his way around. Felipe is so accustomed to a world filled with light, where everyone and everything is easily seen and observed, that having to suddenly enter and adjust to this house of darkness puts Felipe in a challenging position. He is perplexed by what he sees or, more accurately, what he cannot see. In order to make his way around this dark and mysterious house, “you’ve got to learn it and re-learn it by touch” or “you count the stairs as you down: [a] custom you’ve got to learn in Señora Llorente’s house” (Fuentes, p.35). Felipe’s adjustment from light to darkness, experiencing the world in a completely different way in the process, demonstrates the very essence of magical realism, which is to alter one’s reality or perspective.
The main reason for Felipe’s presence in the house is his job to put together the memoirs of General Llorente, all of which are in French. Despite the setting being in Mexico and all of the characters belonging to Latin American origin, the language needed to perform this important task worth four thousand pesos a month is French. General Llorente’s memoirs document his life in France and other events involving the French. Felipe has studied French and must use it to perform this task. He states that after this project, he would continue his “great, inclusive work on the Spanish discoveries and conquests in the New World” (Fuentes, p. 65). Working on General’s Llorente’s French memoirs takes priority over working on his own Spanish focused work. Does this binary portray a relationship in which the French is superior to the Spaniards?
As the story progresses, religion seems to play an important role or theme within the story, which is not surprising considering Catholicism is very important within the Mexican culture. At one point, the Señora is kneeling and looking at her wall of religious objects with anger. She is looking at an image of “Christ, the Virgin, St. Sebastian, St. Lucia, the Archangel Michael, and the grinning demons in an old print, the only happy figures in the iconography of sorrow and wrath, happy because they’re jabbing their pitchforks into the flesh of the damned, pouring cauldrons of boiling water on them, violating the women, getting drunk, enjoying all the liberties forbidden to the saints” (Fuentes, p. 47). This image of Señora first introduces the binary of good and evil. It is interesting that the religious picture she passionately stares at portrays demons as enjoying themselves and happy. Does she consider this image as good instead of evil? Has she lost her faith in God, twisting her view of good and evil because she blames God for her old age and infertility? We learn that discovering she was unable to bore a child had caused Señora Consuelo to become mentally depressed and unstable. Her husband, General Llorente, in reference to his wife, said, “Even the devil was an angel once,” (Fuentes, p. 135) equating her with Lucifer, the angel who turned his back on God and tried to rebel. The once young, pure, innocent, and good Consuelo is no more as she has been tainted with insanity, succumbing to an evil, selfish state of mind. This binary is very important, illustrating a new reality of people twisting or blending their views of good and evil. It is also unique in the Mexican culture for someone to despise God since most Mexicans are strong Catholics, as mentioned before. Is Fuentes subtly trying to suggest that not everyone in Mexico need to be Catholic and strongly support God?
In continuing with this religious theme, in a later scene in which Felipe and Aura are about to become physically intimate with one another, Felipe notices her “naked arms, which are stretched out from one side of the bed to the other like the arms of the crucifix hanging on the wall, the black Christ with that scarlet silk wrapped around his thighs, his spread knees, his wounded side, his crown of thorns set on a tangled black wig with silver spangles” (Fuentes, p. 109) Essentially, Aura’s position resembles that of Jesus Christ while he was crucified. Is Fuentes using this male/female dynamic to prove that roles, even those of such religious importance, can be interchangeable? Is he implying that not only can a male can take on the role of savior or martyr but so can a female? Such a unique implication, especially one involving religion, would have a tremendous impact on the perspective of religion and the relationship of males and females.
Near the conclusion of the novel, Felipe receives an enormous revelation when looking at the photographs of General Llorente. He sees General Llorente sitting with Aura, who is actually a young Señora Consuelo, and Felipe discovers that he looks unusually similar to General Llorente, perhaps even his reincarnation. The past coupling of General Llorente and Señora Consuelo and the present Felipe Montero and Aura presents an interesting binary of past and present. Does this mean that love can transcend even time? The other main binary revealed throughout but most notably at the end of the book is that of age and youth. Señora Consuelo and Aura are the same entity with “the will of one depende[nt] on the existence of the other,” (Fuentes, p. 119) but they represent different ages, different versions of that entity. Señora Consuelo is very focused on growing old and her youth, so she projects a younger version of herself through Aura, thinking that age, youth, and vanity are of utmost importance. Despite her old age and appearance, Felipe still notices an innocence and child-like, youthful aura from her. When describing Señora Consuelo in her bed he says, “a tiny figure is almost lost in its immensity” (Fuentes, p. 15). While in her room he says, “you move aside so that the light from the candles and the reflections from the silver and crystal show you the silk coif that must cover a head of very white hair, and that frames a face so old it’s almost childlike” (Fuentes, p. 17). Lastly, while helping the Señora up after kneeling in front of the religious image, Felipe says, “you raise her by the elbow, and as you gently help her to the bed you’re surprised at her smallness: she’s almost a little girl” (Fuentes, p. 49). Felipe does not simply see age and the outer appearance but what is inside, which is why he stays with the elderly Señora Consuelo at the end. Like in magical realism, his perspective changed and he looked inside the spirit of Señora Consuelo instead of judging solely on the exterior appearance. Does this binary of age and youth between Señora Consuelo and Aura and Felipe Monetero prove that love transcends age? That age is not outside appearance but how one feels on the inside, the age of the soul?
Readers are quickly thrown into the story of Aura; literally, as the author uses second person narrative to merge the reader and the protagonist, Felipe Montero, into one entity in order to accurately portray the intense and truly unbelievable adventure that Felipe experiences with Señora Consuelo and Aura. Carlos Fuentes starts his novel right away in second person narrative using the word, “you’re,” which introduces the very first stop on the binary train of this book: real/imaginary. Fuentes is blending the real life reader and the fictional character of Felipe Montero to create an atmosphere in which the reader can genuinely believe the happenings of this unique story. Transgressing the boundaries of real and imaginary, Fuentes is exemplifying the idea of magical realism that people should experience the spirit of the object, in this case the literature, from the inside out and not from the outside in, which is the only way of creating new views of reality and evoking emotions. Instead of just simply reading the book from a third person, outside point of view, Fuentes has created a new and completely different way of reading.
ReplyDeleteWhen answering the advertisement to Señora Consuelo’s job offer, Fuentes uses his next binary of new and old as Felipe searches for the correct address. While walking down an old street, Felipe notices the “old colonial mansions, all of them converted into repair shops, jewelry shops, show stores, drugstores” (Fuentes, p. 9). Upon reaching the Señora’s house, he recognizes the sophistication and classiness of it as it sits on the second story, above “the cheap merchandise on sale along the street [that] doesn’t have any effect on [the] upper level” (Fuentes, p. 9) It is this binary of new and old and perhaps above and below, that attracts Felipe to the Señora’s house. The binary puts emphasis on her house, making Felipe and the reader wonder what is so different about it; her house is an anachronistic feature that attracts Felipe like that of a siren’s sweet song.
Upon entering Señora Consuelo’s house and permanently leaving the bright outside world, Felipe finds himself in a world of darkness, shrouded with much mystery. Unable to see, he must rely on his other senses to distinguish everything around him as well as use unfamiliar methods to find his way around. Felipe is so accustomed to a world filled with light, where everyone and everything is easily seen and observed, that having to suddenly enter and adjust to this house of darkness puts Felipe in a challenging position. He is perplexed by what he sees or, more accurately, what he cannot see. In order to make his way around this dark and mysterious house, “you’ve got to learn it and re-learn it by touch” or “you count the stairs as you down: [a] custom you’ve got to learn in Señora Llorente’s house” (Fuentes, p.35). Felipe’s adjustment from light to darkness, experiencing the world in a completely different way in the process, demonstrates the very essence of magical realism, which is to alter one’s reality or perspective.
The main reason for Felipe’s presence in the house is his job to put together the memoirs of General Llorente, all of which are in French. Despite the setting being in Mexico and all of the characters belonging to Latin American origin, the language needed to perform this important task worth four thousand pesos a month is French. General Llorente’s memoirs document his life in France and other events involving the French. Felipe has studied French and must use it to perform this task. He states that after this project, he would continue his “great, inclusive work on the Spanish discoveries and conquests in the New World” (Fuentes, p. 65). on General’s Llorente’s French memoirs takes priority over working on his own Spanish focused work. There is an obvious French dominance in the story. Does this binary portray a relationship in which the French is superior to the Spaniards? This relationship reflects history in which the French occupied and dominated over Mexico for many years as the French instilled a puppet government in Mexico. A binary is not really emphasized in this example; however, it shows the social emblem of class. The French are revealed to be of higher regard or class than the Spaniards.
ReplyDeleteAs the story progresses, religion seems to play an important role or theme within the story, which is not surprising considering Catholicism is very important within the Mexican culture. At one point, the Señora is kneeling and looking at her wall of religious objects with anger. She is looking at an image of “Christ, the Virgin, St. Sebastian, St. Lucia, the Archangel Michael, and the grinning demons in an old print, the only happy figures in the iconography of sorrow and wrath, happy because they’re jabbing their pitchforks into the flesh of the damned, pouring cauldrons of boiling water on them, violating the women, getting drunk, enjoying all the liberties forbidden to the saints” (Fuentes, p. 47). This image of Señora first introduces the binary of good and evil. It is interesting that the religious picture she passionately stares at portrays demons as enjoying themselves and happy. Does she consider this image as good instead of evil? Has she lost her faith in God, twisting her view of good and evil because she blames God for her old age and infertility? We learn that discovering she was unable to bore a child had caused Señora Consuelo to become mentally depressed and unstable. Her husband, General Llorente, in reference to his wife, said, “Even the devil was an angel once,” (Fuentes, p. 135) equating her with Lucifer, the angel who turned his back on God and tried to rebel, which is a great religious allusion that shows readers that even the devil, the epitome of evil and sin, was once an angel, which further distorts what is good and what is evil. The once young, pure, innocent, and good Consuelo is no more as she has been tainted with insanity, succumbing to an evil, selfish state of mind. This particular binary is very important as it illustrates a new reality of people twisting or blending their views of good and evil. It is also unique in the Mexican culture for someone to despise God since most Mexicans are strong Catholics, as mentioned before. Is Fuentes subtly trying to suggest that not everyone in Mexico need to be Catholic and strongly support God? Senora Consuelo’s view of good and evil is skewed and distorted, teaching readers that not everyone need to be Catholic and strongly support God, as Senora Consuelo is a prime example in which God has not helped her; she was an innocent, happy young girl, so is God to blame for her old age, infertility, and apparent madness? She seems to reject God or what societal standards have deemed “good,” and yet she is still alive and healthy, showing that God will not attack or smite those who do not worship.
In continuing with this religious theme, in a later scene in which Felipe and Aura are about to become physically intimate with one another, Felipe notices her “naked arms, which are stretched out from one side of the bed to the other like the arms of the crucifix hanging on the wall, the black Christ with that scarlet silk wrapped around his thighs, his spread knees, his wounded side, his crown of thorns set on a tangled black wig with silver spangles” (Fuentes, p. 109) Essentially, Aura’s position resembles that of Jesus Christ while he was crucified. Is Fuentes using this male/female dynamic to prove that roles, even those of such religious importance, can be interchangeable? In terms of social construct, is he trying to break the glass ceiling, so to speak, and imply that not only can a male can take on the role of savior or martyr but so can a female, effectively showing that males and females can be equal and perform the same tasks? Such a unique implication, especially one involving religion, would have a tremendous impact on the perspective of religion and the relationship of males and females.
ReplyDeleteNear the conclusion of the novel, Felipe receives an enormous revelation when looking at the photographs of General Llorente. He sees General Llorente sitting with Aura, who is actually a young Señora Consuelo, and Felipe discovers that he looks unusually similar to General Llorente, perhaps even his reincarnation. The past coupling of General Llorente and Señora Consuelo and the present Felipe Montero and Aura presents an interesting binary of past and present. Does this mean that love can transcend even time? The other main binary revealed throughout but most notably at the end of the book is that of age and youth. Señora Consuelo and Aura are the same entity with “the will of one depende[nt] on the existence of the other,” (Fuentes, p. 119) but they represent different ages, different versions of that entity. Señora Consuelo is very focused on growing old and her youth, so she projects a younger version of herself through Aura, thinking that age, youth, and vanity are of utmost importance. Despite her old age and appearance, Felipe still notices an innocence and child-like, youthful aura from her. When describing Señora Consuelo in her bed he says, “a tiny figure is almost lost in its immensity” (Fuentes, p. 15). While in her room he says, “you move aside so that the light from the candles and the reflections from the silver and crystal show you the silk coif that must cover a head of very white hair, and that frames a face so old it’s almost childlike” (Fuentes, p. 17). Lastly, while helping the Señora up after kneeling in front of the religious image, Felipe says, “you raise her by the elbow, and as you gently help her to the bed you’re surprised at her smallness: she’s almost a little girl” (Fuentes, p. 49). Felipe does not simply see age and the outer appearance but what is inside, which is why he stays with the elderly Señora Consuelo at the end. Like in magical realism, his perspective changed and he looked inside the spirit of Señora Consuelo instead of judging solely on the exterior appearance. Does this binary of age and youth between Señora Consuelo and Aura and Felipe Monetero prove that love transcends age? That age is not outside appearance but how one feels on the inside, the age of the soul?