Magical Realism deals with parallelism and the idea of two of the same things existing at the same time. On pg. 119, Felipe talks about the existence of Aura and Senor depending on each other. Senora and Aura are the same person. They are both a medieval sculpture (pg. 47) and a little girl (pg. 49).
On pg. 83, the old lady talks about people wanting her to live in solitude, because it is the only way to achieve saintliness (where you die and go to Heaven), but she says that people forget that in solitude the temptation is even greater to achieve it. Meaning, you are alone so much that all you think about is death and you want it that much more, because you are surrounded by nothing like in death. This deals with magical realism, because magical realism is about binaries and life and death. Senora is alive, but she wants to achieve saintliness and die.
On page 135 the old lady is talking about a garden and I think she was referring to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was a place that offered beauty and sustained life and Senora was telling her husband that her youth and beauty have returned to her. When she says , “Even the devil was an angel once,” I think she was comparing herself to the devil because of her old age and unattractive appearance and now she is an angel, because she feels beautiful and young again. Her horns are gone and her wings are back for her to fly and flourish like she did in her younger days. Senora is talking about a creation in the garden. Similarly, in magical realism, Roh talks about magical realism being created and not copied. Although, Aura and Senora are like a copy of each other, it is not a copy, but a creation. Roh states, “Painting now seems to feel the reality of the object and of space, not like copies of nature but like another creation.”
On page 145, Felipe watches Aura turn into Senora and now he knows for sure that Aura and Senora are one person. They both need each other to survive. I think that their life is like that of a fire. On the first day, Fuentes removes a purple ribbon (pg. 51). On that day, Aura was strong and full of life. Similarly, a fire has this purple and dark color at the bottom that makes the fire hot and strong. On the second day, Fuentes removes a blue ribbon (pg. 79). On that day, Aura seemed older and weaker. Like a fire, the blue color is still hot and strong, but it is weaker than the dark purple color at the bottom. On the third day, Fuentes removes a red ribbon (pg. 129) and on that day, Aura was so weak that she turned into Senora and collapsed. The red color of a fire is the weakest part of a fire, and it is not as strong as the other deeper and darker colors on the bottom. In magical realism the writer tries to confront reality by untangling it to discover the mysteries behind life and human acts. Similarly Felipe untangles ribbons to confront the reality of this old woman and try to figure out why she acts the way she does and why Aura and her aunt seem so connected. Moreover, the three day period and three ribbon colors have to do with magical realism. Roh states, “Art tries over and over again to picture the whole volume of space, making it felt through its division into three dimensions.” In this book, Felipe travels through three dimensions and goes through a different dimension over a three day period in order to feel and understand the whole picture.
“How it employs various techniques inherited from the previous period, techniques that endow all things with a deeper meaning and reveal mysteries that always threaten the secure tranquility of simple and ingenious things.” Meaning, everything in magical realism has a deeper meaning and history that defines what is that you are looking at before you. This quote by Roh from the magical realism packet pertains to the following observations that I made of both present and past.
On page 135 Felipe is looking at a picture of Aura where she is surrounded by a landscape of a Lorelei in the Rhine. The Lorelei is the name of a rock in the eastern bank of the Rhine. There is a legend that there was a beautiful, young maiden who committed suicide by jumping off this rock on account of an unfaithful lover and her name was Lorelei. She then became a siren, part woman and part bird and with her seduction and her beautiful charm, she hypnotized men with her hypnotizing voice. Similarly, Aura is also a beautiful young maiden who has this power over Felipe who sings to him on page 107 before they make love. Aura’s aunt is also similar to Lorelei, because on page 67 Felipe describes Senora’s voice as bird-like chirping, so Senora like Lorelei is part bird and part human.
On page 85, he reads in one of the memoirs that the old woman had a cat clasped between her legs and she was torturing it. This made me think of the burning bush which was on fire in a place called Mount Horeb. Mount Horeb is place that is unknown and does not exist like the garden where the cats are located. The cats are yowling on account of being tortured by this woman and like the burning bush, these cats are burning and are on fire, but they are not consumed by the flames.
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ReplyDeleteThe fusion of past and present can be seen. The problem with the address of Senora's home in the beginning of the book is due to all the numbers being blurred which represents a fusion of time from the past and the present. We are unsure if we are in the past or if we are in contemporary Mexico. On page 49, Senora talks about sounding the trumpet which can signal the start of war and she is crying for death and for the world to die. Senora is in this warlike state of mind and surrounds herself with death and darkness. I feel like she is trying to take the General inside of her and pretend that she is fighting in the battles of Mexico like he did. Similarly, the combining of both male and female into one is part of magical realism. When the General was exiled away from Mexico, he went away to another world. Ever since his exile, I believe that Senora has exiled herself away from the world like what the people did to her husband. She remains in this world of darkness where she places herself there to rot in exile like her husband. With all of this said, the Mexican history is a subtext for this novel.
ReplyDeleteThe chief binary in this case is realism versus imagination which can be seen throughout the story. On page 85, he reads in one of the memoirs that the old woman had a cat clasped between her legs and she was torturing it. This made me think of the burning bush which was on fire in a place called Mount Horeb. Mount Horeb is a place that is unknown and does not exist like the garden where the cats are located. The cats are yowling on account of being tortured by this woman and like the burning bush, these cats are burning and are on fire, but they are not consumed by the flames. On page 135 Felipe is looking at a picture of Aura where she is surrounded by a landscape of a Lorelei in the Rhine. Lorelei is the name of a rock in the eastern bank of the Rhine. There is a legend that there was a beautiful, young maiden who committed suicide by jumping off this rock on account of an unfaithful lover and her name was Lorelei. She then became a siren, part woman and part bird and with her seduction and her beautiful charm, she hypnotized men with her hypnotizing voice. Similarly, Aura is also a beautiful young maiden who has this power over Felipe, and she sings to him on page 107 before they make love. Aura’s aunt is also similar to Lorelei, because on page 67 Felipe describes Senora’s voice as bird-like chirping, so Senora like Lorelei is part bird and part human. On page 135 the old lady is talking about a garden and I think she was referring to the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was a place that offered beauty and sustained life and Senora was telling her husband that her youth and beauty have returned to her. When she says , “Even the devil was an angel once,” I think she was comparing herself to the devil because of her old age and unattractive appearance and now she is an angel, because she feels beautiful and young again. Her horns are gone and her wings are back for her to fly and flourish like she did in her younger days. Senora is talking about a creation in the garden.
On pg. 83, the old lady talks about people wanting her to live in solitude, because it is the only way to achieve saintliness (where you die and go to Heaven), but she says that people forget that in solitude the temptation is even greater to achieve it. Meaning, you are alone so much that all you think about is death and you want it that much more, because you are surrounded by nothing like in death. This deals with magical realism, because magical realism is about binaries and life and death. Senora is alive, but she wants to achieve saintliness and die.
ReplyDeleteThe Christianity religion is portrayed in this book when Felipe and Aura are engaging in sexual intercourse. On page 109, Aura and Felipe are making love and the way Aura is spread out on the bed, she looks like Christ on the cross and there is a breaking of bread. He says that she resembles the Black Christ which is interesting, because there is a carved statue of Jesus of Nazareth which because of the dark wood from which it was made is known as the Black Christ. This statue is inside a church called the church of San Felipe, and the young scholar’s name is Felipe. Meaning, the Black Christ is inside the church of San Felipe like Aura is inside Felipe as they make love.
The first quote of the book, "No it isn't necessary," which is said by Senora sets the mood for the book. It means that Senora has the power over Felipe and she controls him. No is always stronger than yes, because it holds more power than saying, "yes" and adhering to something. When Felipe wants to leave the house or take off his clothes Senora or Aura say, "No."
Mexico can be seen as a subtext for this story in the view that Senora's husband, the General was a Mexican, but his writing was in French. This is Fuentes way of criticizing his country for not remaining faithful to itself and not valuing the European way. In addition, Fuentes criticizes his country for not remaining faithful to itself in regard to the fact that the writing is in French.
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