Magic+Realism

MAGIC REALISM "A form of literature that incorporates fantasy elements or supernatural occurrences into the narrative and accepts them as truth."
 * __Definition:__**
 * Source:[|www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ssfs_0000_0023_0/ssfs_0000_0023_0_00026.html]**


 * __Key Features of magic Realism:__**


 * Real Setting, Extraordinary Events
 * Influenced by myths, fairytales
 * Strong Element of Spirituality and Religion
 * Time Shifts and Complicated Plots
 * Elements of Surprise and Shock
 * Time is of a cyclical nature and is not linear
 * Importance of Omens, dreams and prophecies.
 * Common themes are family histories, relationships, life and death
 * The setting refers to a specific and cultural context.
 * Terror - Authoritarian Figures, Tortures, Murders, political upheavals.


 * __The House of Spirits as a Magic Realist Text:__**


 * The setting of the common del Valle household is witness to the eccentric activities of Clara's Clairvoyance and dwelling of Barrabas, an exaggerated creature, adopted as the pet of the del Valle Family.
 * Ferula's Spirituality and emphasis on religion.
 * From the first reading of the book, we see a large numbers of characters being introduced. The plot is complicated and entangles the lives of all these characters.
 * There are constant time shidfts as the sub heading below shows.
 * Time is seen as cyclical as the theme of lineage shows how certain aspects are repeated time and again, from one generation to the other.
 * Clara's Clairvoyance is a source that she uses to forsee the omens and prophecies the future.
 * The themes like life and death, family dynamics and relationships are often stressed through the knowledge.
 * The setting is more or less that of a Latin American Household.
 * Esteban - Patron - authoritarian!


 * __Time Shifts__** **__(Chapter 1-3)__**

In the novel, time is quite erratic and does not follow a fixed structure. Often, few years can pass with the elapse of a few sentences; the focus of the narrator can shift back a few years and recount anecdotes from the past (such as when Esterban Trueba recounts the first time he saw Rosa on page 22); the author winds the clock back a few years (chapter 3 starts at around the same time chapter 2 starts). This aids in the readers understanding of the events and in appreciating the significance of events, such as Clara’s decision to become mute and stay so for 9 years.


 * The time shifts can be seen in the following order.
 * The arrival of Barrabas by sea (p.1),
 * The day at the church (p.1),
 * Rosa's Birth (p.4)
 * The description of an adult Rosa (p.4)
 * The church again (p.7)
 * Clara's Eccentricities (p.8)
 * Uncle Marcos (p.9)
 * Arrival of Barrabas (p.18)
 * Esteban and The courting between Esteban and Rosa (p. 20)
 * Rosa's Death (p. 26)
 * Esteban and Three Marias (p.46)
 * 10 year old Clara's Silence (p.73)
 * Clara's adolescence (p.78)
 * Esteban and the death of his mother (p.85)
 * Esteban and Clara (p.88)
 * Clara's pregnancy (p.97)

In the novel, time is presented as a fluid concept with constant references to the past and present to the make ordinary events seem more dramatic. This is evident mainly in two forms: when the omniscient narrator directly addresses the reader, giving the impression that it is a voice from the future or past, to make the reader understand the significance of certain events and the impact they had on the characters. Examples include: · (page 1) the reference that the novel is written by referring to Clara’s diaries to help the author in understanding the structure of the novel and highlighting the use of free indirect speech. This parallels Esperanza’s daughters’ reconstruction of events through Tita’s cook book in Like Water For Chocolate, and how the narrator in Chronicles of a Death Foretold pieces the events preceding the death of the protagonist Santiago Nasar by talking to various eye witnesses. Also, another similarity between all 3 texts is that the story has already happened in the past and is now being recounted to the reader. · (page 39, chapter 1, last line): Clara’s decision to become mute lasts for 9 years, shows the impact that Clara’s prediction of Rosa’s death had on her, and creates anticipation in the reader, since it is said that she will speak again when she plans to get married. · (pg 52, chapter 2, 3rd last line)The reference to the earthquake which occurs in a following chapter [‘the proof is that it took an earthquake to destroy the furniture’. Tres Marias was once a prosperous estate, which fell into disorder until it was resurrected by Esterban Trueba. After the earthquake, it once again needs revitalization, which shows the cyclic nature of time in the novel. · (page 53, chapter 2) description of “proper cemetery” which is build is used to indicate the drastic development that will take place in the estate. · (page 53, last lines) mention of Pedro Garcia’s lineage [‘his grandfather had fought in the ranks of the patriots who kicked the Spaniards out of America’] gives a clue to the reader of the political backdrop of the setting. · (page 97, 2nd stanza) how Clara forgets about Barrabas and her Uncle Marcos’s books [‘where it rested moths...generations’] emphasizes her forgetful nature and foreshadows the transition that will follow in Clara since these books and Barrabas were so important to her before.
 * References to past and present by author ****(Chapter 1-3)**

The second form is Clara’s prediction of events. Examples include: · (pg 25) Clara’s prediction of Rosa’s death: foreshadows tragedy that will follow and entices the reader since he/she wishes to continue in order to uncover the identity of the victim. · (pg 100) Clara predicts that her child is a girl This technique of referring to the future, though entices the reader by raising questions in his/her mind, removes the suspense from the novel and is not appealing to readers who enjoy books that keep you guessing since you have no clue what will happen next. For example, the reader already anticipates Rosa’s death before it occurs, since Rosa falls ill in the stanza after Clara predicts that a death shall occur in the family. For this same reason, the novel “Chronicles of a Death foretold” is quite unexciting as the reader already has an idea of what is going to happen and what path the characters shall take.


 * __ Cyclic Nature of Time __****__(Chapter 1-3)__**

As mentioned before, time follows a cyclic pattern, which means that what happened once is bound to happen again. This feature is far less prevalent in this novel than in Like Water for Chocolate. However, the repetition of the names Pedro and Esteban and repetition of certain events, such as the resurrection of Tres Marias, Esterban gets engaged to Rosa and then, the ‘barbarous tradition’ of men climbing the tree to prove their masculinity (pg 80-81) are used to show the cyclic nature of human tradition. The narrator breaks tradition as she has the tree felled to ensure her sons do not have to climb it. Also, the cyclic nature of time is also shown by the cyclic descriptions of how cities are constructed and deconstructed in cycles (‘knocking down trees...to plan trees’: pg 83), to show the cyclic nature of human tradition.

__**Characterization**__ __(Chapter 1-3)__ There are several characters in the novel that seem eccentric and unusual with their unheard of abilities. Clara’s clairvoyance (Chapter 3), Rosa’s beauty and Uncle Marcos’ travel stories (Chapter 1) are all examples of magic realism in the novel. The descriptions make unrealistic events very real as the characters in the novel are well acquainted with them, we as readers too believe in the events to hold true. The characters are aware of the strange qualities that they possess and are indifferent or ‘used to’ the unnatural powers of the co characters. Rosa's green hair, yellow eyes and transparent skin are magically real. The magical qualities of her colouring emphasize her unique beauty in a much more effective way than simple comparisons. All of the eccentric or magical elements of the story are described in simple sentences and vocabulary. The straightforward presentation adds to the believable, or real, quality of outlandish attributes or events. For e.g The description of Barrabas and how he lives his life with the del Valle family makes us believe that he is an exaggerated version of a dog and thus makes it easy for us to believe his existence. Most characters seem indifferent to Clara’s clairvoyance even when she predicts Rosa’s death.(Chapter 1)

Magical Realism plays a significant part in developing some of the characters, especially the women such as Rosa the Beautiful and Clara the Clairvoyant. It is also important evident in the description of minor characters such as Barrabas.

Clara’s ability to read dreams, sense other people’s feelings (she senses Ferula’s desire to live with Esterban and Clara), converse with spirits and move objects seen throughout the novel are presented in an ordinary manner as if there is nothing unusual about it. This ordinary description is used to force the reader to accept that he/she is being taken out of his/her ordinary world and transported into a different one, one which cannot be viewed from his/her perspective of reality since the same rules and same notions do not hold true here, as they do in real life. Hence the author effectively trivializes these incidents to emphasize on their normality in the world constructed by magical realist authors. At the same time, events which are not magical, such as a caesarean birth are presented in a supernatural way (pg 100). Magic realism is also used in the first few chapters (when Clara was a young girl) to emphasize on her imaginative nature and her innocence, such as when she compares Dr. Cuevas to a vampire (pg 37) as he performed the autopsy on Rosa. Always Clara’s mental unrest manifests in her sleep walking, such as after she foresees Rosa’s death and after Uncle Marcos leaves. This shows how different Clara is from the others and how hard she is to relate to for them as she expresses herself through sleep walking, a form which other characters do not comprehend. Clara is often described as floating through the world. At times, this refers to her literally levitating, at others it shows the way she is able to ignore much of what she does not want to deal with. Clara's temper is extremely calm. Although she can see it in advance, Clara never fights her destiny. She is not, however, passive. When she faces a situation that she does not like, she proceeds to change it in quiet, subtle ways, such as adding little rooms to the big house on the corner bit by bit (pg 93) until, although it looks the same on the outside and is completely transformed. This transformation of the house is also used to symbolize the differences between Esterban Trueba and Clara and how they are ill suited for each other. It is unclear why she chooses to marry Esterban and “summons him with the power of her thought (pg 90) even though she “sees her own destiny” and probably also how their marriage falls apart. This breaks the gender notions forced on people by tradition in the novel since here the women chooses the man and not vice versa. Clara's character barely changes in these 3 chapters as she grows from a girl into a young women: she is rarely aware of the material world and is more interested in communicating with spirits.
 * Clara **

Rosa is described to have a ‘strange and unearthly beauty’ as if she were an ‘inhabitant of the sea’ and was ‘the most beautiful creature to be born’ (pg 4). Her unnatural beauty gives her power over most other men, as they are overwhelmed by her beauty, which she is barely aware of and is ‘immune’ to. She is so beautiful that Esterban is tortured by dreams of her whenever he feels lonely.
 * Rosa **

He is a ‘dog’ whole grew at a rapid rate and to an enormous size (pg 19), larger than any dog in the real world. His death (pg 91), which occurs on the day of Clara and Esterban’s wedding, serves as an ill omen for their ill-suited marriage. Upon reaching adulthood, his unnatural growth and sexuality is described with an element of morbid humour (eg: ‘he would return with the poor dog suspended in mid air, impaled on his immense masculinity: pg 78).
 * Barrabas **

 **__Dreams and Prophecies__**  In the book, House of Spirits, it is seen that dreams play a significant role: · Esteban’s dream – Esteban dreams of Rosa carrying a baby girl who calls him ‘**Papa**’ (p.71). Till this point in the book, Esteban has been running away from responsibility and his duty towards his family. He thought by sending his sister and mother money and materialistic things, he was fulfilling his duty. He considered his mother an ‘**invalid**’ (p.65) and thought he ‘**had no time to waste on an invalid**’ (p.65). However he gets this dream, which probably foreshadowed his duty “calling out” to him. The next day he gets a letter from his sister telling him about his mother’s illness. Thus he decides to go back to his family and fulfill his duty as a son. · **Alternatively**, the dream could also signify his responsibility towards building his own family. He had been having sexual relations with most of the village girls, but denied accepting the resulting children as his own. However, in his dream, Rosa, the woman he truly loved was holding his child – his own child. Thus it could signify how he finally had to form his own family, marrying someone and having legal children. · Nivea dreams of Rosa before Rosa is actually born. Because of this dream, she thinks that her daughter has been sent from the heavens and doesn’t belong to the world.  Thus these dreams play a significant role in the beliefs of people. Further, the middle and lower class people believe that their dreams have a certain symbolic meaning to them and are actually messages. This can be seen when the gardener tells Clara of his dream and she interprets it for him.  Clara has the ability to predict the future – · Her family doesn’t consider this abnormal, but become accustomed to it and use it to their advantage. For instance, when she announced there were going to be earthquakes, it ‘**gave them a chance to lock up the good dishes and place their slippers within reach**.’ (p.8) · The family doesn’t really pay heed to these prophecies as in the case of Severo and his partner. Although Clara warns him, he doesn’t do anything about it and ultimately his partner cheats him. · Clara doesn’t understand her ability completely initially. When she prophesizes her sister Rosa’s death which comes true, she feels it is her fault as she was the one who spoke of the death and conveyed the message. · Thus it can be seen that Clara doesn’t use this ability for her own needs and ambitions, but for others and their benefit. · She accepts this ability as fate – she prophesizes, but cannot do anything about it. This could be seen as passive. Alternatively, it can be said that she isn’t really passive as she chooses to tell the people concerned, leaving it upto them to decide what they want to do about it.

**MAGIC REALISM** · Esteban Trueba’s tyrannical character:
 * CHAPTERS 4-6**

Trueba appears to be a tryrinnical charcter in the novel, inflicting terror on the peasants at Tres Marias who ‘hated him’ (Pg 182). Pedro Tercero Garcia’s Marxist ideologies and urge to overthrow the oligarchic government throw light on the domination of Trueba, which leads the peasants to ‘be so afraid of him that they can’t organize’ (Pg 172). Thus, the idea of terror overwhelms the possibility of rejuvenation. Moreover, the political upheaval and fear of the patron is depicted when the peasant fear that ‘if the patron find out, we’re done for’ (Pg 191). The reality of revolution, hence, reflects the Magic Realism that Allende effectively incorporates in the novel.

· Cyclical nature of the novel

The idea of inheritance is depicted when Blanca ‘added imaginary animals, gluing half an animal to half a crocodile, without realizing that she was doing in clay what her Aunt Rosa, whom she never known, had done with thread on her enormous tablecloth’ (Pg 174). Blanca inherits this trait from her Aunt Rosa, emphasising the idea of lineage. The cyclical rather than linear nature of time is hence, shown, allowing Allende to adopt this important Magic Realism feature.

· Incorporation of time shifts

The sixth chapter starts with the narration of the tale from Esteban Trueba’s viewpoint. This important shift in viewpoint allows the readers to view the scenario from another perspective. The time shifts are further highlighted when Allende uses digression to reveal how ‘Nicolas later used to treat rheumatism and other miner pains’ (Pg 188) ‘that was all much later’ (Pg 188). Hence, Allende makes use of complicated plots and time shits in order to illustrate the Magic Realism features prevalent within the novel.

· Dreams of Rosa

The dreams that Esteban Trueba has of Rosa are crucial to understanding the complexity of the novel at that particular point. When Treuba maltreats Clara, he ‘dreamt that I was beating her the way I had Clara, and that her teeth also fell out on the floor’ (Pg 203). These dreams reflect Trueba’s mental state, as he ‘was depressed’ (Pg 203) and lonely after he beat Clara. The idea of dreams hence, acts as a physical manifestation of the pent-up emotions within characters.