“Aura” is a book that serves as an example the elements of Magical Realism by developing a cyclical setting and questioning the reader’s substance and existence. Some of the most important binaries throughout the novel are: past and present, real and imaginary, dark and light, old and young, life and death, heaven and hell, and the reader and the protagonist.
The author puts into question the boundaries between the past and the present when Felipe goes to the house that was listed on the newspaper to find out that there are very old and new buildings, with old and new numbers, symbolizing the old and new Mexico. The house represents the idea of Magical Realism by showing the relationship between light and dark. Felipe goes from living in a world full of light to a house where the only room with light is his own everything else is in complete dark. Every little thing in the house has some mystery that makes the reader wonder why is everything so unusual. This adjustment to one’s reality is another important characteristic of Magic Realism that is present in the novel. Moreover, other important example of this past/present binary is when almost at the end of the book Felipe finds out that he is the General Llorente or at least his reincarnation and again the cyclical timing comes to play.
The binary between youth and elderly is probably the most important one in the book relating specifically to Aura and Consuelo. Consuelo uses her niece, Aura, to reflect a younger version of her. The dividing line between past and present is destroyed at the end of the book because the old woman of 109 years of age is actually the same as the young niece. Felipe is tangled between his desire and need for Aura and his rejection towards Consuelo, the same person. The relationship of life and death is very particular, mainly because Consuelo has lost her desire to live as soon as her husband died. Consequently even though she is alive, she wants to die; however, my question is why is she so worried about her youth if what she wants is to be with her husband infinitely in time (heaven). By the same token, the binary of heaven and hell is present as well because despite that she prays to saints throughout the novel and wants to achieve saintliness; by doing magic spells to bring her younger version alive she is being evil and not of God.
At the beginning of the novel the author uses the word ‘’You’re’’ (Fuentes p.3), this was how the binary of reader and protagonist was created. It allowed the reader to imagine that he/she was Felipe, and even though this can get very confusing at times but it force the reader to adjust to the new reality. The idea that it takes only three days for all this history occur seems to be impossible because Felipe and Aura treated each other as if they had long been living together however this is an adjustment to the reality and part of magic realism that gets cleared up at the end of the novel.
Fuentes tries to highlight and expose the importance of religion in Latin America specifically in Mexico. Catholic honoring, worships and glorifications, are very important practices in Mexico before during and after the revolution. Conversely, because I am from Latin America I know that in these countries apart from the extreme religious practices there are also customs to use magic, specifically black magic. The author is making a binary comparison between religion and magic, good and evil in Mexico. Specifically, how a person can worship God and worship the devil. In our culture, it is very common to associate black cats with bad luck, that is to say that Mexico and other Latin American countries have a very superstitious society and Fuentes used cats throughout the book to give the reader a sense of ambiguity.
“Aura” is a book that serves as an example of the elements of Magical Realism by developing a cyclical setting and questioning the reader’s substance and existence.
ReplyDeleteSome of the most important binaries throughout the novel are: past and present, real and imaginary, dark and light, old and young, life and death, heaven and hell, and the reader and the protagonist.
The author puts into question the boundaries between the past and the present when Felipe goes to the house that was listed on the newspaper to find out that there are very old and new buildings, with old and new numbers, symbolizing the past and present of Mexico.
The house represents the binary of light and dark of Magical Realism. Felipe goes from living in a world full of light to a house where the only room with light is his own and everything else is in complete dark.
Every little thing in the house has some mystery that makes the reader wonder why is everything so unusual.
This adjustment to one’s reality is another important characteristic of Magic Realism that is present in the novel.
Moreover, an important example of the past/present binary is when almost at the end of the book Felipe finds out that he is the General Llorente or at least his reincarnation and again the cyclical timing comes to play.
The binary between youth and elderly is probably the most important one in the book relating specifically to Aura and Consuelo.
Consuelo uses her niece, Aura, to reflect a younger version of her. The dividing line between past and present is destroyed at the end of the book because the old woman of 109 years of age is actually the same as the young niece.
Felipe is tangled between his desire and need for Aura and his rejection towards Consuelo, the same person. The relationship of life and death is very particular, mainly because Consuelo has lost her desire to live as soon as her husband died. Consequently even though she is alive, she wants to die; however, my question is why is she so worried about her youth if what she wants is to be with her husband infinitely in time (heaven). By the same token, the binary of heaven and hell is present as well because despite that she prays to saints throughout the novel and wants to achieve saintliness; by doing magic spells to bring her younger version alive she is being evil and not of God.
At the beginning of the novel the author uses the word ‘’You’re’’ (Fuentes p.3), this was how the binary of reader and protagonist was created. It allowed the reader to imagine that he/she was Felipe, and even though this can get very confusing at times but it force the reader to adjust to the new reality. The idea that it takes only three days for all this history occur seems to be impossible because Felipe and Aura treated each other as if they had long been living together however this is an adjustment to the reality and part of magic realism that gets cleared up at the end of the novel.
Fuentes tries to highlight and expose the importance of religion in Latin America specifically in Mexico. Catholic honoring, worships and glorifications, are very important practices in Mexico before during and after the revolution. Conversely, because I am from Latin America I know that in these countries apart from the extreme religious practices there are also customs to use magic, specifically black magic. The author is making a binary comparison between religion and magic, good and evil in Mexico. Specifically, how a person can worship God and worship the devil. In our culture, it is very common to associate black cats with bad luck, that is to say that Mexico and other Latin American countries have a very superstitious society and Fuentes used cats throughout the book to give the reader a sense of ambiguity.