Magical realism is a wondrous way to interpret the world through magic and reality. It gives readers a deeper understanding of the author’s voice and the text. It makes the readers see topics in a new light and way that they may have never thought of before; with magic.
The reality section of magical realism may remind readers of a familiar place or situation, but the magical section- it is what really just makes the reality pop!Magical realism is a different way of thinking, comparing subjects, intertwining creativity and reality, going out of the box, and suspending notions of reality make magical realism easier to understand. Like playing a video game, getting tangled into the reading with magical realism is what really makes it a plethora of fun. Magical realism is nothing more than a metaphor swirled with a genuine life subject along with two or three pinches of magic.Metaphors describe subjects referencing other subjects; magical realism describes them by referencing a subject along with a magical contribution to make it that much more mind boggling in. In Like Water for Chocolate page 6, Laura Esquirel refers to Tita being born into an agonizing life by writing- “Tita was literally washed into this world on a great tide of tears that spilled over the edge of the table and flooded across the kitchen floor. This quote is comparing the birth of Tita to the ocean and crying, which indicates pain and unhappiness right from the beginning of a life.
This quote is also portraying magical realism in many ways such as: a human cannot physically cry as many tears to flood the kitchen floor or flow over the entire counter space and when a newborn comes into this world, expecting a dreadful life for the child not only isn’t a common occurrence with anyone, but it isn’t indicated by being inducted into tears. Newborns are usually inducted into the world with a thankful, grateful mother. [T]he women who had been changed into a spider for disobeying her parents…[s]he was a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the head of a sad maiden” (A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings p. 2 Gabriel Garcia Marques) is a prime example of how magical realism is a metaphor.The quote is magical realism because women can’t be transformed into a spider but if readers inflect in between the lines they will find that the author was comparing the ugliness of a spider to the situation of the ugly person the women has been accused of eing because of disobeying her parents.
Looking into the deeper meaning of the author’s context helps us understand that even though unordinary objects are being analyzed, in depth, simpler subjects are being compared and metaphors are being used; in a more non-direct way. Literal and metaphoric are total opposites, but their relationship to form magical realism is astounding. To know what any part of the text symbolizes we have to know both the literal and metaphoric meaning of what the quote is containing.The literal meaning of something is similar to looking at the deeper meaning in magical realism; with literal, embellishment is not used.
In the direct quote, “keep it like a warm coat, when winter comes to cover you… I love you” (I am offering this Poem line 3, 4, pg 7 Jimmy Santiago Baca) the literal meaning is that love is warm, but we interpret that from the metaphoric meaning- comparing a warm coat in a cold, lonely time to the feeling of love. To know that the poem is referencing to love the reader has to understand the deeper meaning of the metaphor and to use their everyday knowledge to their advantage.The quote , “ he found so much whistling in the heart and so many sounds in his kidneys that it seemed Impossible for him to be alive” (A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings pg. 3 Gabriel Garcia Marquez) signifies both literal language and metaphoric language. It assumes the readers know that the symbol of a heart represents love and happiness.
The action of whistling symbolizes peace and happiness. With that known the reader can conclude that the comparison is occurring between whistling in the heart and a great deal of happiness within the angels life that his soul is singing!This comparison forms magical realism because the reader knows that it isn’t logical for a heart to whistle or kidneys to make so much noise. The metaphor “empty plates glowed like the eyes of the spellbound” (What Could It Be Julia Alvarez) compares the glow of the newly licked empty plates to the eyes of the spellbound. To digest and understand the meaning of this readers have to know the literal meaning of licking a plate so clean that seeing that shine glowing off of it is normal.
They also have to know the literal meaning of a glossy eyeball, which is considered an everyday life event. Readers need both of these writing styles-literal and metaphor to comprehend the genre magical realism. Even when apprehending the relationship between literal and metaphoric in magical realism, in some cases of hard core quotes of the genre, it is difficult to grasp the symbolism without the assistance of an alienated mind. To fully take hold of the meaning of the context in magical realism, suspending notions of reality is very accommodating.This is exactly what thinking outside of the box refers to! In the quote “Tita stopped bearing the cake and took the egg in her hand. The sound was quite clear; she could hear a baby chick peeping inside the shell.
She held the egg closer to her ear and the peeping got louder” (Like Water for Chocolate p. 28 Laura Esquirel) the reader really has to take a step back, outside of the text, and think about Tita’s emotions and the situation she is placed in. The baby chick isn’t just a baby chick. It is Tita’s vulnerable, helpless self crying out for help just as it is.This quote isn’t explaining how insane Tita is becoming because of the decision her mother, sister and one true love made, it is showing the reader that even though Tita can’t weep at the moment, her whole body and organs are crying out for help and being torn apart.
It is expressing her pain and hardships. Through a magical way, therefore the reader further understands her feelings. For the reader to have come to that interpretation they had to think to themselves and further into the story. They would have thought Tita was going brainsick with depression.If readers hadn’t suspended their notations of reality to get the dead on target meaning of the magical realism used they wouldn’t have commentated the deeper meaning of the quote. To interpret the meaning of the quote “[e]veryone who witnessed the moment agreed that it was almost eight o’clock at night when Ferula appeared without the slightest warning.
They all saw her in her starched blouse, with her ring of keys at her waist and her old maid’s bun, exactly as they had always seen her in the house… It had been six years since they last saw her and she looked very pale and a great deal older” (The House of the Spirits p. 48 Isabel Allende) readers have to be on the inside looking in also. When reading this all we think is that everyone who witnessed it saw the ghost of Ferula, but in deeper meaning is that even though she was wearing the exact same thing, as if it was the day she passed away, time and the sadness of being without her family had aged her. Readers have to know both the assumption that ghost don’t grow of age or physically and that depression ages a person to say she was so heavyhearted that she aged from it.
She was still the same person within, but her past and old life haunted her to be upset and she came back out of nowhere, not to scare er family, but because she missed them and wanted to be reminded of them once again.Being introduced to the fact that Ferula is a ghost and the situation, suspending notions of reality makes it painless to understand it and the magical realism. After all, it is something magical and out of this world reader sometimes have to deal with, having a mind that adjusts to that is prosperous. Magical realism might be a totally new, fascinating, absurd genre of reading for readers; they might have to learn how to interpret it by their own creative minds or by suspending their notions of reality.Whatever works- it’s a majestic way of writing and lets the reader feel like they are in the story plot itself.
By using knowledge we already have such as metaphor and literal, magical realism may be a easier subject to understand. Looking into the deeper meaning of these short stories is a enormous part of magical realism, but once apprehended correctly it makes readers want to analyze everything using magical realism, deeper thinking, and metaphors!
