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Theme Derived from Complex Emotion is the Core of Magical Realism ("…

- - - - "Abigail was not satisfied: she had learned that it is one thing to have all the comforts but something very different to be accepted in society (182)."
      - Resolution
        
        Abigail Toro is kidnapped by the Red Pumas and returned after her husband gives them an undisclosed amount of money. We are not directly told that this was manipulated by Abigail herself, but we can infer that the kidnapping was her doing in order to move higher up in the societal ranks.
        
        This unusual and unethical action is the direct effect of Abigail's greed for not only wealth, but for society to accept her and her husband as part of high class, contributing to the theme.
        
        "But all this speculation had established the Toros as the ultimate symbol of opulence...(186)"
        
        “...Domingo Toro had assumed an attitude of discreet gallantry, refusing to reveal how much he had paid, with the comment that his wife was beyond price (185).”
        
        Authorial reticence: The author does not reveal how much money Domingo pays the Red Pumas. This helps lead the town to respect his actions.
      - Abigail and Domingo Toro struggled to gain respectability in society.
    - - The kidnapping was an exaggerated act of evil and manipulation.
      - It was also orchestrated to frame the couple as heroic martyrs and catapult them into the upper class.
      - “No evil tongue could destroy the glorious result of the kidnapping (186)”
  - - - Later, Abigail is weighed down by jewelry and fancy corsets: her heavy, rich clothing contorts her appearance just like her need to be accepted by the upper class contorts her sense of morality.
      - The tattoo on Domingo’s arm and scar down Abigail’s back signify a disregard for the law.
    - - Abigail buys racehorses because she thinks they are considered classy.
      - Abigail tries convincing her husband to change their last name, Toro, to make it sound more respectable.
        
        "...Abigail's next plan was to found a dynasty, and she tried to convince Domingo of the need to have a good name (180)."
      - Abigail suggests that she and Domingo buy land for plantation crops, "as social snobs had done before them (181)."
      - The Toros hosted an annual party that displayed wealth and extravagance in hopes of attracting upper class members of society.
  - - - As explained in the resolution, we do not explicitly know how much Domingo pays to get his wife back from the extremist group. This could've definitely been an essential part of a predetermined plan that Abigail set up.
      - In addition, the author hints that the kidnapping could've been planned by the Toros, but Allende does not explicitly state that it wasn't a coincidence. This uncertainty allows the reader to interpret the story in different ways. It makes the short story more dynamic and interesting. If Abigail did plan the kidnapping, it would've been due to greed for respectability in society.
        
        "...public protests by students, who hung banners at the University accusing Abigail of arranging her own kidnapping...(186)"
- - - - Spirituality: In the world of "Walimai", there is an implicit belief in souls. Lines like “Her body died without a struggle (107)” and "...her spirit still resonated in her rib cage (107)” separate the physical body from the soul it contains. When the Ila girl dies, her soul is absorbed into the narrator's body. Just like he could fall in love with a tangible, physical person, he falls in love with the shadow of her soul.
      - Authorial Reticence: because the author is himself a victim in the story, he does not have all the details of his situation. We don't know his exact location, the exact goal and ethnicity of the colonizers, or what is going to happen to him after the story. All that we know are his observations about his immediate surroundings. Authorial reticence makes us focus on the narrator's internal perspective-- the love he feels for the Ila girl, his distrust toward the colonizers, the sweet sadness he feels when he kills the girl-- rather than the external plot.
  - - - Walimai directly approaches the topic of colonialism and is set much earlier in history than Allende's other stories. Because the story is overtly political, Allende might not feel like she has the right to approach it from her point of view.
      - The first person point of view allows the reader to understand the story in terms of personal emotions-- not in terms of plot. We understand the deep love and empathy the narrator has for the Ila girl, the sorrow of seeing her so abused, and his relief when her soul is freed from her body. There are magical, powerful forces that flow between every living thing in “Walimai”-- from the white men to the young girl’s soul to the jungle that surrounds them-- and through the first person point of view we understand the narrator’s spiritual worldview.
- - - - Inés even specifically states her reasoning for murder, a motif seen throughout the story. "'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth...(175)'"
  - - - This nonlinearity is a defining trait in the genre of magical realism and adds to the dreamlike or mysterious mood of the short stories.
      - This structure also helps focus the story on the events that portray the motif of "an eye for an eye." For example, the beginning of the story starts off with Inés explaining how she murdered a man. This acts as the primary event in which the rest of the story, going back in time, explains the reasons for this action. The man was the murderer of Inés son and Inés took justice into her own hands by killing him.
    - - There is a supernatural aspect in the story. It is too coincidental for a truck driver, who’s window was broken, to stop in the town where he murdered a boy so many years ago. There must be some form of fate or mysterious hand of a higher being that led to this event. This destined event allows Inés to get vengeance on her son's murderer.
      - The blend of supernatural events like fate and realistic events like murder not only makes the story more intriguing, but also add to the motif of taking justice into your own hands.
- - - - "...her legs, once graceful and firm, were growing twisted as they adjusted to moving in that confined space, to crawling, nor that her toenails were thickening like an animal's hooves, her bones changing into tubes of glass, her belly caving in, and a hump forming on her back (70)."
      - We can see the effects of Hortensia's solitary imprisonment through her physical changes. These effects create a depressing mood that surrounds her abandonment.
  - - - Amadeo ending up in prison is a literal reversal of their positions: he is now trapped, just like he trapped her for so many years. Just like Hortensia went insane being kept alone in the basement for so many years, Amadeo forgets his past and his memories when he is locked in solitary confinement.
  - - - "If You Touched My Heart" plays with the evolution of time in order to demonstrate how Hortensia has lost all sense of linear time, age, and who she is. When she is locked in the basement, the story flashes forward far into the future to when she is already an adult. About half a century goes by, but she still believes she is the 15 year old girl she was when Amadeo took her hostage.