Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

The Stories of Eva Luna - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The story has multiple jumps forward and back in time, creating the feeling that the time in the story is fluid compared to the norm of chronological time.
        
        E.x. "...he has always loved me,' she declared when she was rescued...For a few weeks Amadeo had spent a lot of time in the cellar with her, ..." (Allende 128). The story goes from after she was rescued after years in the cellar to only after a few weeks of being in the cellar. This happens throughout the story as each jump forward in time gives a snippet of the characters response to her captivity.
        
        The change of the characters could only be seen due to the fact that the story had taken place over a number of years, even if the were not organized chronologically.
  - - - Hortensia
        
        At the beginning of the story and when she is newly imprisoned Hortensia is described as a young girl who "...had just turned fifteen; her body was tuned for its first embrace..." (Allende 125). After living in the cellar with no exposure to light her physical appearance became unsightly, "...scales sprouting from her skin, or the silkworms...her belly caving in, and a hump forming on her back." (Allende 132).
      - Amadeo
        
        Throughout most of the story Amadeo's lack of guilt is constant. Even after she is found he only offers "'Because I felt like it,' he calmly replied" (Allende 126) as justification for his actions, which is not a answer a remorseful person would give. The only time he is really portrayed with any sort of guilt is when his was during his time in prison where he sometimes "felt something like a stab of guilt." (Allende 139).
  - - - Hortensia is very unfortunate in the story, first she gets kidnapped by an older man, and since she was so impressionable at her young age she goes back to him. An other aspect of misfortune is the fact that she still sees herself as young and beautiful after the long period of time she spent in the cellar, as well as that she is disillusioned that Amadeo loves her.
  - - - The heavy elements of misfortune throughout the story along with the fluidity of time, makes this a magical realism story.
- - - - It's more so a boy meets girl, kills her father, rapes her/ boy leaves her and girl plots her revenge/ boy, after basically obsessing after her, finds girl, gonna marry her/ (I added another little step in the plot) boy loses girl forever after she kills herself.
  - - - For a girl to fall in love with the person who raped her and killed her father, because she was obsessing over her revenge on him for years is unrealistic. Even though it is said there's a fine line between love and hate, the line is not fine enough for her hate towards Tadeo to turn into any form of love.
    - - Dulce Rosa experiences very traumatic situations. Her father is killed in front of her and they she is raped by Tadeo who is the cause of her father's death (wither it be indirectly or directly). She becomes so determined to get her revenge on Tadeo, that when he eventually slithers his way back into her life, she sets her plan of revenge in action. However she falls in love with her father's murderer and her rapists, not being able to go through with her plan of revenge, along with the guilt she feels towards her father she kills herself days before her wedding to Tadeo.
        
        "She knew she would never be able to carry out the revenge she had planned, because she was in love with the assassin, but neither could she silence the Senator's ghost" (Allende 400)
        
        Unfortunately this set of events (only the murder of her father and her rape) exist in the world, and it is an awful and horrible thing to happen to anyone.
  - - - This story is magical realism because of the unfortunate and unrealistic events that take place as well as having the basic literary element of plot.
- - - - The Story starts a little before where the story ends, the beginning of the goes past goes past where it ends though, as it gives us the results of her actions and how some (basically irrelevant) characters react to her actions along with their speculations of what had happened.
  - - - The unrealistic nature of the story with a realistic setting along with the misfortunate events throughout the story makes this a magical realism story.
  - - - The amount of horrible events that take place in her life is for the most part unrealistic. While is may be possible to as a child to be hit by a train and survive or maybe to have your child pass away because a trunk closes on his neck, having both happen to on person in the same life time is pushing it. To add to that she starts a sexual relationship with a man just a little while after her son dies, and on the same ship he passed as well. Then the man leaves her after they run away together, and she somehow becomes a famous prostitute. This is the life of a person that could only exist in a book.
        
        The abundance of unfortunate events in her life contribute to the unrealism of this story.
        
        However it does have a realistic setting, unlike other unrealistic stories like 'Game of Thrones' or 'The Lord of the Rings'.
        
        It is not the events alone that are unrealistic, but the fact that the events occur during one lifetime that makes is unrealistic.
    - - Her life is a series of unfortunate events (which is a very good book series by Lemony Snicket aka Dan Handler) she has mental issues because she was hit by a train, she has to marry an older man and when she gets pregnant it seems like she had no idea what was going on, her husband dies, then her parents send her over seas and on that boat trip her son dies a horrible death, she than gets abandoned by the man she ran away with, become a prostitute, then loses her beauty, and becomes basically irrelevant in the world. This is an awful life to live and the fact that she has the mentality of a child throughout the story somehow makes it worse. This is a life that I would never wish upon why worst enemy, and one that could only exist in a fictional story like this.
- - - - The main character, Jaromir is outed an sentenced to death because of the fact that he is jewish, which in the time of 1939 was not socially acceptable, mostly due to the fact that Hitler's influence had become apparent throughout europe.
        
        Jaromir vs the Nazi brainwashed society
  - - - The Secret Miracle is an example of mise en abyme or 'a story within a story'. This is due to the fact that we read both the main character, Jaromir, story as well of that as his unfinished piece of literature The Enemies.
      - Fair warning mise en abyme is the art term for a story within a story (more so a image inside an image) I could not remember the literature term for it.
  - - - This whole story reeks of misfortune: he is being prosecuted for his religion, he will never be able to release his book to the public despite finishing it during the secret miracle, and the fact that he was not on the radar for being jewish until the fact somehow reached the authorities.
    - - The prosecution and the execution of Jews and other (what the Nazi's deemed as) 'less superior' races (Roma (Gypsies), disabled, homosexual, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.) is not what makes this story unrealistic. What to some people might be unrealistic, is the miracle given to him by G-d, some people might find this unrealistic, while others might not. Personally I do believe in the fact that G-d gives miracles, but for the fact that this is not unanimously agreed upon, I am considering this to be unrealistic.
  - - - This story is Magical Realism because of it's misfortunate elements and aspects of unrealistic events in otherwise real and historical situations.
    - - This story while having elements of what could be a magical realism, this story is not, due to the fact that the events are not unrealistic but that of faith.
- - - - Examples of the connection of two diffrent worlds.
        
        The entrance to the underworld is where the land of the dead and the land of the living meet in Greek Mythology.
        
        The leaky cauldron in Harry Potter is one of many places where the muggle world and the wizarding world meet.
        
        The tree Yggdrasil in Norse Mythology, which connects all of the nine realms.
  - - - How the story turns history into myth
        
        "...attribute the baby to the spirit of a lustful Indian." (Allende 425). The natives have become so skilled in evading outside influences, that they eventually had become a ghost story used to explain random occurrences. After Marcia stays at the Summer Palace, she and the palace both eventually become forgotten to the outside world, just like they had turned the natives into a myth.
  - - - This story is magical realism because of the 'supernatural' elements in the story, even if the supposed spirits in the story are in fact real. Another reason is the collision of the two different worlds, the fact that the supposed spiritual world collides with the 'real world' during the story is uniting both fantastical elements and realistic ones.
- - - - The concept of the past and the present
        
        The main characters knowledge/opinion on a character is all from past experiences. The narration switches from first-person present to first-person past frequently throughout the story.
  - - - The story is more reminiscent of a sorta gothic style literature, with the talk of death and the female damsel in distress like character, it does not fall into the magical realist genre. The book has no supernatural phenomenon ot fantastical elements, instead it is more of a psychological horror/thriller feel.
- - - - Domingo
        
        Does not share the same willingness to sacrifice money and other parts of his life to become part of the upper class as Abigail does.
        
        "'It was my father's name, and I don't intent to change it.'" (Allende 323)
        
        "'You'll be the ruin of us.'" (Allende 326)
      - Abigail
        
        Is portrayed as being obsessed with wealth and the idea of being at the peak of high society.
        
        "'No one is called Toro, that's a barroom name' ... 'In that case, we will have to convince the world that we are wealthy.'" (Allende 323)
        
        She is so intent on rising to the upper class that she wants her husband to change his name, because to her it is to 'barroom'. This shows that she has no qualms with sacrificing elements of her old life in her pursuit of being in the upper class.
        
        "'I know that they're classy. Everyone who is anyone has horses.'" (Allende 326)
        
        Abigail is so determined to rise to the upper class that she wants to buy things or animals due to the fact that it is an communally owned item (or animal) within the upper class. This portrays her as vain and shallow.
        
        "She had been selling clay pots...she had bought from the Goajiros and sold as archeological treasures to the gringos...she branched out into fake Colonial paintings produced by a student...behind the cathedral..." (Allende 322)
        
        Abigail is only concerned with her social status and is willing to do pretty much anything to become part of the upper class.
        
        She is willing to do anything to earn money and rise to the top, even faking historical objects.
  - - - There are two things that I find to be unrealistic about this story, the fact that Domingo is agreeing/putting up with Abigail's drastic efforts to become part of the upper class, along with how coincidental it is when she is trying to reach the top of the top, she gets kidnapped by the Red Pumas, pays the ransom, gets returned relatively unharmed, and due to her kidnapping becomes part of the upper upper class. No way is the perfect opportunity going to come around and kidnap you, and give you that boost, you were so desperately wanting, up into the peak of the upper class.
        
        "...accusing Abigail of arranging her own kidnapping..." (Allende 332)
        
        Even the characters are suspicious of the coincidental nature of the kidnapping.
        
        However the kidnapping could be completely realistic if she was the one to have planed it.
        
        There are real people who have faked their own kidnapping.
      - Not really unrealistic more just such an amazing coincidence.
  - - - The Proper Respect is not a magical realism story. There is no fantastical elements present. While some aspects could be considered unrealistic, when compared to how corrupt some people are when it comes to money, its not at all far fetched. Abigail's personality and dire want to be apart of the upper class is very realistic, in fact is reminiscent of many people I have meet living in South Florida.