The Use of Magic Realism in 100 Years of Solitude - Book Report/Review Example

The Use of Magic Realism in 100 Years of Solitude The coinage of the term "magic realism" owes allegiance to the German art critic Franz Roh in order to describe what he called "a magic insight into reality. Interestingly, for Roh, the term was synonymous with the genre of post expressionist painting as it revealed the mysterious elements hidden in everyday reality. The literary style, as we understand it today, was first developed by the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier in his 1949 essay "Lo maravilloso real”. Following Carpentier, the term is explained as a unique product of the Latin American condition, particularly its history of European colonialism, which resulted in a delicate affiliation between the contradictory yet concomitant forces of indigenous religion and myth and the powerful Catholic Church. Thus, the technique is a blend of distinct implausible, fairy-tale like and epic themes under lying political and ideological apparatuses. In Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude, Mocondo is a state of mind. It is the setting which blurs the important connection between the fantasy and the reality in the novel. In other words, it is the setting of Mocondo that confronts the reality of life with fantasy, because it experiences life as fantasy rather than as historical fact. In this regard, it is important to understand that Macondo is founded initially almost by accident. It just happens to be where the Buendian expedition decides to stop. Again, the fact that Mocondo has no sense of history makes it easier for Marquez to reflect on the past of his native country. Thus, he is able to render it as an expression of the imaginative desires of Jose Arcadio, who has sought to flee his past and is incapable, because of his overheated imagination, of creating a political future for his community. The author, like Arcadio can see through the flimsiness of his nation’s historical sense, beyond the apparent innocent and idyllic life of Mocondo, and so wants to carve a sense of nationality amongst his fellow beings. The fact that he is not able to do so, not only shows the absurdity of the Latin American situation, but also shows the reasons why such a nation should perish: Macondo never functions as an authentic participant in the political and economic processes of the nation. It is always marginal at best. Even after establishing his government position in Macondo, Moscote is nothing more than an "ornamental" authority, as he is described in the text. National politics are more a matter of disruption or confusion than an integral part of Macondo's life. After painting and repainting their homes the colors of both the Liberals and the Conservatives, Macondo's citizens eventually have houses of an undefined color, a sign of the failure, in effect, of both traditional parties. (Williams 85) The use of magic realism in the novel are may be the constant source of amusement, novelty, and delight. Their purpose, however, is dominated by a strong sense of irony and a commanding undertone of prevailing sorrow and tragic futility. Thus, Marquez shows Jose Arcadio as powerless in sorting out magic from knowledge. He knows nothing about geography and, although he has a sextant, a compass, and maps, he gets physically lost, defeated by the nature which surrounds them. His imagination is always racing ahead of the business at hand. Thus, he is continually defeated. His desires and talents are huge; he is, however, incapable of directing them purposefully with any firm sense of the reality of his situation. The use of the fantastic in the novel, thus, He illustrates how all the Arcadios suffer as victims of murder or disease; and how all the three Aurelianos succumb to a self-imposed exile in a solitude which can last for decades. Marquez seems to rue along with the people of Macondo and the Buendias, who inspite of their essential and comical present, are inept of grabbing control of their individual history. Their past is largely nameless to them, except as reminiscence, their present, if energetic, is fixated, and their future absent. In Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel uses the realm of magic realism to color the everyday world of a female-dominated household. The story Esquivel tells is that of Tita De la Garza, a young Mexican woman whose family's kitchen becomes her world after her mother stops her from marrying the man she loves. However, the use of magic realism in the novel is done in such a manner that Esquivel is not only able to narrate a female-centered cast of characters where men are physically present only occasionally, but also reflect upon the two most important cultural narratives of Mexico. The first is the Aztec myth describing the founding of Tenochitlan, which later became Mexico City. The second cultural narrative involves the Virgen de Guadalupe, who, according to legend, appeared to the indigenous man Juan Diego as a brown-skinned Madonna amidst a flurry of rose petals. In this way, Esquivel points out how Catholicism came to the conquered natives and how Virgen eventually became the patron saint of the country. The usage of these allusions within the tale provides a potent visual imagery which adds to the element of the fantastic in a remarkable way. The characters in Like Water for Chocolate are set against the milieu of the most significant modernizing energy in Mexican history, the Mexican Revolution of 1910-17. During this time, peasants and natives hooped together under the supervision of figures such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata to throw out the old order's despotism, renew a democratic state, and assert Mexico for the common man and woman. Esquivel uses the revolution to explore themes of masculinity and gender identity, and examine how individuals appropriate for themselves the revolution's goal of liberty. Interestingly, the novel does not find Esquivel offering her readers the vision of a utopian sisterhood. On the other hand, it provides an insight into the way women are limited by principles of communal decorum perpetuated by other women. In chronicling Tita's life from her teenage to middle-age years, as she submits to and eventually rebels against her mother's dominion, Esquivel is able to provide a compelling exploration of a woman's search for identity and fulfillment. The element of magic realism in the novel also allows for the imaginative mix of recipes, home remedies, and love story set in Mexico in the early part of the century. Thus, the author allows the trope of food to provide the character of Tita with an aura of eclectism. Tita is shown preparing most of the food in the novel. The metaphor of food, thus becomes, an instrument to express her emotions because her lowly cultural status affords her no other opportunity to do so: the nausea and resentment at Rosaura's wedding results from the guests eating the cake that bears Tita's tears. Similarly, the sexual passion that compels Gertrudis to leave the farm is occasioned by the diffusion of Tita's passion for Pedro into the dish she makes for dinner. These incidents suggest a simultaneous commodification and uncontrollability of emotion; food is a potent force in the world of the novel, and it lets Tita assert her identity. Thus, we see how the trope of magic realism in the two novels becomes the resonating factor in establishing the history of disseminated meanings of the two texts. Works Cited Williams, Raymond L. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Boston: Twayne, 1984. Read More