While reading through Aura, it is difficult not to notice the number of magic realist devices woven into the text. Clearly, the concept of time as a cycle and another dimension of time is a key device. While senora Consuelo is very old, she seems to have a connection with Aura. It is almost implied that they may be the same person in fact. In parts of the book, they seem to mimique eachothers motions and Consuelo seems to know things that Aura has observed. Also, towards the end of the book as Felipe finds older photos of Consuelo and determines that she looks just like Aura and Felipe looks just like the old general, the distinction between different time periods becomes blurry and the concept of time disappears.
Another device that we can see from Felipe's interactions with Consuelo is the concept of parallel worlds. While Felipe sees the house as having a beautiful garden and patio, Consuelo denies that such a place still exists. Consuelo insists that the garden and patio were destroyed years ago. This could be an attempted commentary on development and evolution in a civilization.
The third obvious magic realist device is the concept of dreams versus reality. It is difficult to tell in the book at times what is real and what Felipe is dreaming. As he at times has encounters with Aura- some of them fairly intimate- and then wakes up in his bed alone with his pillow.
Fuentes could have been trying to make several commentaries on Mexican society. First, the concept of development as shown by the disappearance of Senora Consuelo's patio might be emphasizing the modernization of mexico. Also, the importance of the church in society is evident by the mentions of crucifixes and religious paraphanalia in Consuelo's house. In addition, the quote "even the devil was an angel once" might indicate some deeper message.
While reading through Aura, it is difficult not to notice the number of magic realist devices woven into the text. Clearly, the concept of time as a cycle and another dimension of time is a key device. While senora Consuelo is very old, she seems to have a connection with Aura. It is almost implied that they may be the same person in fact. In parts of the book, they seem to mimique eachothers motions and Consuelo seems to know things that Aura has observed. Also, towards the end of the book as Felipe finds older photos of Consuelo and determines that she looks just like Aura and Felipe looks just like the old general, the distinction between different time periods becomes blurry and the concept of time disappears. The final death blow to our concept of time is when Felipe views Aura in bed next to him as a withered old woman and himself as an old man and finally realizes that time is one as are Aura and Consuelo.
ReplyDeleteAnother device that we can see from Felipe's interactions with Consuelo is the concept of parallel worlds. While Felipe sees the house as having a beautiful garden and patio, Consuelo denies that such a place still exists. Consuelo insists that the garden and patio were destroyed years ago. This could be an attempted commentary on development and evolution in a civilization.
The third obvious magic realist device is the concept of dreams versus reality. It is difficult to tell in the book at times what is real and what Felipe is dreaming. As he at times has encounters with Aura- some of them fairly intimate- and then wakes up in his bed alone with his pillow.
Fuentes could have been trying to make several commentaries on Mexican society. First, the concept of development as shown by the disappearance of Senora Consuelo's patio might be emphasizing the modernization of Mexico. Also, the importance of the church in society is evident by the mentions of crucifixes and religious paraphanalia in Consuelo's house. In addition, the quote "even the devil was an angel once" might indicate some deeper message.