Magical realism expresses human emotions and their connections to a fantastical version of our world while remaining grounded in characters that reflect humanity itself.
The Gold of Tomas Vargas
The Little Heidelberg
Letters of Betrayed Love
Of Clay We Are Created
Magical Realism
Elements of Literary Fiction
Magical Realism
Elements of Literary Fiction
The Road North
Obsession
Magical Realism
Elements of Literary Fiction
Characterization
Time
Magical Realism
Elements of Literary Fiction
Romance
Intersection Between Fantasy and Reality
Symbolism- Letters
Romance
Plot- Plot Twist
Theme- Full Circle
Historical Fiction
There are moments where an event or action, such as falling in love with someone without even speaking to them, that is fantastical yet a little believable.
“El Capitan and the woman nina Eloisa had danced together so many years that they had achieved perfection. Each could sense the other’s next movement, divine the exact instant of the next turn..." (p.137)
This story mirrors the case of Omayra Sánchez, who got trapped in mud after a volcano erupted in Armero, Colombia. They were able to get a pump, but to get her out they would have had to amputate her legs, so the doctors decided to let her die. The reporters at the scene interviewed her and took a picture that was seen all around the country. At the end her calmness desended into agony. She died 60 hours after the incident.
“El Capitan says he waited forty years to ask you, and that he could not wait until again comes someone who speaks his language.” (p.143)
The entire story is a love story between El Capitan and Nina Eloisa. This is an element of magical realism because love is an emotion that does feel like fantasy and is intense. Also, it's present in most stories.
“El Capitan took the hand of the gentle lady he had wordlessly loved for so many years and walked with her to the center of the room, where they began to dance…” (p.143)
There is no true love or intimacy between Analía and her husband- it is all a deception from the very beginning. The Romantic letters were merely a plot to deceive her into falling in love with a man she never could.
"...they moved with the precision of a couple used to making love and sleeping in a close embrace." (p.137)
Setting
Plot Twist
The story takes place in The Little Heidelberg and goes deep into a description of the atmosphere and the people. Yes, it was an old, out of place bar but it meant everything to these people.
“...besides good music and invigorating air, they offer a unique aphrodisiac stew made heady with a combination of spices, too heavy for the fiery climate of the region but in perfect harmony with the traditions…” (p.137)
“... when all present have enjoyed their servings of the aphrodisiac stew and abandoned themselves to the pleasure of the dance…” (p.139)
There is a plot twist at the end where Nina Eloisa disappears as she is dancing with El Capitan. This leaves the reader questioning whether the events of the story occurred or just curious as to why that was the ending.
"I often accompany you to the station and we watch the videos of Azucena again; you study them intently, looking for something you could have done to save her, something you did not think of in time" (pg 270).
“El Capitan danced on as nina Eloisa turned to lace, to froth, to mist, until she was but a show, then, finally, nothing but fair, and he found himself whirling, whirling, with empty arms, his only companion a faint aroma of chocolate.” (p.144)
“La Mexicana, her arrogance transformed into affection and tenderness, stood and walked quietly toward the trembling hands of El Capitan, to dance with him.” (p.144)
The term "full circle" expresses the idea of how the story begins and ends with the same place/person. We see this concept not only when Analía meets the man at the end of the story that she fell in love with in the beginning, but also when she finally inherits her hacienda, which she was never allowed to do as a teenager. This in turn corresponds to time, the element of magical realism that can be elaborated on above.
Magical Realism
Elements of Literary Fiction
The letters are symbolic because they represent her idea of true love. Her determination to make this fantasy real is what guides her life and maintains her sanity.
Karma
Characterization
Tomas Vargas is a horrible person and his actions is what drives the plot. Throughout the story, his actions do catch up to him. For example, him being unfaithful to his wife lands a girl pregnant and along with a few other internal links eventually leads to his death.
Throughout the story, Eva Luna sort of guides the reader to believe it is purely Romance, but contrarily as it goes on, Analía begins to despise her husband and her life. The plot twist occurs at the end of the story, when we find out her son's schoolteacher is the man she fell in love with.
To the schoolteacher "Now that I see you, I am absolutely sure, because it is you I have seen in my dreams since I was sixteen years old."
“Riad Halbabi told Vargas that he should be ashamed, that he was old enough to be the girl’s grandfather, and if he thought that people were going to forgive him his sins this time…” (p.53)
“...when the steely complicity of Antonia Sierra and Concha Diaz nipped his manly impulses in the bud, he turned toward gambling.” (p.58)
“He did not return that night, and two days later someone brought the news that his mutilated body had been found in the very ravine where he had hidden the treasure.” (p.62)
The basis for this story is the cruelty of Tomas Vargas to his wife and his children. Yet, that anger and vulgar sense of humanity is repaid to him by the Lieutenant while his wife and the girl he impregnates flip the tables and now live a good life instead of the abusive household they had with him.
“The man had no decency; he borrowed money with no intention of paying it back, and his children went hungry and his wife wore rags while he wore Panama hats and smoked expensive cigars.”(p.50)
“I swear Lieutenant, I don’t know anything about this; they stole it, they stole my treasure.” (p.61)
“Not long after the burial they bought hens, rabbits, and pigs; they rode the bus to the city and returned with clothes for all the family.” (p.62)
“Luis never mentioned the letters, and if she raised the subject he would close her lips with a quick kiss and some flippant observation about ‘romantic love being unsuited to married life’”
“Analía recovered from her shock and decided that if in her heart she had accepted a hunchback, she could love even more this elegant young man who kissed her on one cheek, leaving a lingering scent of lavender water.”
“There was no true intimacy between them”... “the aim of loving him out of sheer determination”
This element is predominant because the story is very episodic and Analía spends 11 years with a man she never fell in love with, yet her son with him guides her back to her past- the man who sent her the letters when she first fell in love.
“Radiance of spirit was all that really mattered; that was the only thing that survived the passage of time without deteriorating, the only thing that continued to grow with the years."
“She knew that she had fallen in love with a ghost and that she could never transfer her imaginary passion to the reality of marriage.”
“Guiltily weeping for the love she could never give him and for relief that now she would not have to keep praying for him to die”
God/Faith
Setting
Theme- Full Circle
Throughout the story, Jesús continuously repeats the idea of spirituality and God. In his art, painting, and the adoption of the child, he never lets go of his religion, the one attribute of his life that never fluctuates (unlike money and love)
“He believed that his talent was a gift in God’s service and that he was but the trustee.” (pg. 156)
Similar to "Letters of Betrayed Love," the idea of beginning and end meeting at one point in time is expressed. Just as Claveles' mother abandons her because she thinks she is unprepared to care for a child, Claveles' actions are the same when she accidentally gets pregnant gives up her son for adoption to an uninvestigated company.
In this story, setting is the predominant element because it drives the plot of the story. Their poverty, hunger, and desperate need of outside help for their deaf child is the reason why Claveles even considers giving up her son in the first place.
"She found her grandfather with no company but a pack of hungry dogs and a couple of bedraggled roosters in the patio." (pg. 160)
"He always said that his mother and father had taught him to respect the laws of Church and man, and that was worth more than having gone to school." (pg. 157)
"Any money won without sweat and hard labor was the work of the devil." (pg. 157)
"The only consolation for the sorrows of this world was to imagine that in heaven there was eternal celebration." (pg. 160)
"Together they flew above the vast swamp of corruption and laments." (pg 269)
This mirrors how at the time the Colombian government was very corrupt, and didn't actively try to protect its people
"Rolf Carlé interrupted to ask for a pump, and the president assured him that he personally would attend to the matter"(pg 268)
This is referring to the fact that before the volcano erupted in Colombia the government had the knowledge that it has recently become active, and that an eruption was imminent, but they did nothing to save the people from Armero.
Rolf's obsession with the girl becomes obvious when he doesn't leave her die for 3 days, but we get a glimpse of his true obsession when he keeps looking at the tapes over and over gain to see if he could have done something to save her, even though he had previously accepted that he could not save her.
Loss
"He understood then that all his exploits as a reporter, the feats that had won him such recognition and fame, were merely an attempt to keep his ancient fears at bay" (page 267)
His life Rolf is haunted by the loss of his sister, Katharina, and this defined him as he builds his whole life around it. Then after the girl trapped in the mud dies he is haunted by her death and the thought that he could have done something to save her, this becomes evident when he keeps watching the videos of Azucena looking for a way he could have saved her
Through the story, Rolf realizes that everything he had achieved during his career was to escape from what happened to him as a kid, and his inability to protect his sister haunted him. As Rolf realized all this he noticed that it wasn’t Azucena who was trapped, it was him, this also teaches us about Allende and her patients about the fact the Rolf was no longer the man she knew.
"'Don't cry. I don't hurt anymore. I'm fine,' Azucena said when dawn came. 'I'm crying for myself. I hurt all over" (pg 268)
“There was no true intimacy between them”... “the aim of loving him out of sheer determination”
"There, beside that hellhole of mud, it was impossible for Rolf to flee from himself any longer, and the visceral terror he had lived as a boy suddenly invaded him" (pg 266)
Throughout this stories, we can see that time and romance are the most important elements of magical realism because they often create, drive or resolve the conflict.
Metaficton
We know that the whole book is just a story about Eva Luna who is telling stories, but we don't know if the stories she is telling are real within her world or if she made them up to entertain people.
“Tell me a story you have never told anyone before. Make it up for me” (pg 2)
(And at this moment in her story, Scheherazade saw the first light of dawn, and discreetly fell silent" (pg 271)