And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende

Theme

Isabel Allende isael aende born August 2 1942 is a ChileanAmerican writer Allende whose works sometimes contain aspects of the magic realist tr. Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean-American novelist. Allende, who writes in the 'magic realism' tradition, is considered one of the first successful women novelists in Latin America. She has written novels based in part on her own experiences, often focusing on the experiences of women, weaving myth and realism together.

In “Death Constant Beyond Love” by Gabriel García Marquez there is a theme of death, while in the stories “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabel Allende and “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges there is a common theme of choice.

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende Short Story

Gabriel Garcia-Marquez’s story “Death Constant Beyond Love” is the first story I will be analyzing the theme in. The main character in the story is Senator Onésimo Sánchez who “had six months and eleven days to go before his death when he found the woman of his life” (1653). It is ironic for someone to meet the love of their life before they are about to die. He was told he would be dead by the next Christmas. The Senator does not tell anyone about his death and keeps it a secret, the only people who know are his doctors.

Isabel Allende’s short story, “And of Clay Are We Created” has the theme of choice. The story takes place from the aftermath of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, which was a volcano eruption in Colombia. Rolfe Carlé, one of the main characters in the story, is a reporter who is covering the mudpit, while he is covering the mudpit he sees a girl, Azucena, trapped in the mud. Carlé’s reporting job kept him busy from remembering his past, which is his time spent in Europe at the concentration camps. Isabel Allende used Azucena to help Rolfe Carlé remember that he will not be able to face his past/fears until he accepts them. Choice can be seen in this line “But he had come face to face with the moment of truth; he could not continue to escape his past. He was Azucena; he was buried in the clayey mud; his terror was not the distant emotion of an almost forgotten childhood, it was a claw sunk in his throat” (1241). Carle finally made the decision to be face to face with reality, and he knew he could no longer escape his past.

Choice in“The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges can be seen throughout the story, but I want to point out choice towards the end of the story. In Borges’ short story, he uses alternate universes, “to read one of Borges’s stories is to enter a new reality, imagined with great concreteness as an extension of our own world yet bearing distinctive features of the universes of fantasy and science fiction (1336). He “portrays the universe as a series of alternative versions of experience” (1337) because the story starts as a regular spy story, but then changes. “The Garden of Forking Paths’ was the chaotic novel; the phrase ‘the various futures (not to all)’ suggested to me the forking in time, not in space,” (1342). Yu T’sun finds out“The Garden of Forking Paths” is actually a book about Fang who has a choice to kill an intruder or not to kill him. This made me think of Yu T’sun who had the gun and had the choice to kill or not to kill Madden.

Literary Devices

Jorge Luis Borges uses magical realism in “The Garden of Forking Paths.” Yu Tsun, the main character in the story, is a German spy during World War I. With Yu Tsun being a German spy during this time period, this shows the realism in the story. Yu Tsun seems as though he is weaving his way through a path. Yu Tsun asked for help to navigate his way to Stephen Albert’s house, and the men tell him to turn left at every crossroad.Yu Tsun thought, “The road descended and forked among the now confused meadows,” (1340). The labyrinth represents magical realism. Borges incorporated information about Yu Tsun’s ancestor, Ts’ui Pen, and his labyrinth into the story. Labyrinth’s usually always guides a person to take left turns, which is what Yu Tsun does in the story. It is almost as though Yu Tsun is bringing a story to life because he is literally walking the labyrinth, which is the magical realism in the story. Future writers should re-read “Death Constant Beyond Love” and look for the magical realism in that story.

“Death Constant Beyond Love” uses symbolism in the story. The “rose” symbolizes love or even romance, “Even its name was a kind of joke, because the only rose in that village was being worn by Senator Onésimo Sánchez himself on the same afternoon when he met Laura Farina,” (1653). One can assume that the Senator was looking for love. He obviously believed in love because he was wearing a rose. If you haven’t read the story, you will see the romance between the Senator and Ms. Farina. Symbolism is great in a story. I think of it like a “word search” because symbolism does not always stand out at first, and in some stories or poems you have to find it. Including symbolism in your writing allows for an object or a thing to have a meaning to it. Symbolism adds meaning to a story. I suggest re-reading “Death Beyond Constant Love” and see if you can find any more symbols in the story.

The story “And of Clay Are We Created” uses imagery. One can see imagery in the first sentence of the story, “They discovered the girl’s head protruding from the mudpit, eyes wide open, calling soundlessly.” The use of imagery in this sentence is great because it makes it so easy for the reader to imagine this scene. I love how Isabel Allende chose to start her story this way. It engages and grabs the attention of the reader. I suggest those who are writers to do this. When you start your story with something interesting, your reader will be more interested in reading the story, and he/she will want to read more. This article actually gives 14 books one can read that use imagery. While reading the books, you can figure out exactly how you want to use imagery in your writings.

And of clay are we created by isabel allende

Works Cited

Allende, Isabel. “And of Clay Are We Created.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, et al., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 1735-1742.

Borges, Jorge Luis. “The Garden of Forking Paths.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, et al., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 1337-1344.

“Clay Center of St. Petersburg.” n.d. https://www.groupon.com/deals/clay-center-of-st-petersburg-1

Davis, Anthony M. “Magical Maze.” 2014. https://scribbledartsfromtheheart.com/2014/07/30/magical-maze/

“Deep Mud Pit.” 2015. http://www.heromud.com/deep-mud-pit/

“Fifty Flowers.” n.d. https://www.fiftyflowers.com/product/xxl-extra-extra-long-stemmed-freedom-red-rose.htm

Marquez, Gabriel-Garcia. “Death Constant Beyond Love.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner et al., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp.1653-1658.




IsabelAllende

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende Summary

CHILE
IsabelAllende was born in Peru in an upper-middle class Chilean family.Allende and her family relocated to Venezuela in 1975 after apolitical upheaval. She began to write TheHouse of the Spirits(1985) as a way to capture the memories of her grandparents andespecially the important women of her family and earned internationalfame through it. Her later fictions include OfLove and Shadows (1986), Eva Luna (1988) andTheStories of Eva Luna (1991). Sheis a practitioner of a unique narrative focus created by LatinAmerican writers, often termed as “magical realism”, in whichrealistic events are interwoven with fantastic or incredibleelements. “Fantastic things happen in Latin America,” she hassaid “- it's not that we make them up.”
Likeher fictional characters, Allende possesses the gift of reinvention,and like them she carries within herself the powerful ghosts of thepast.
Meaningsof Difficult Words:
  1. Subterranean: underground.
  2. Avalanche: falling large mass, sudden rush of large quantity.
  3. Telluric: earthly.
  4. Putrefy: rot, decay.
  5. Presentiments: intuitive feeling or foreboding about the future.
  6. Tenacity: diligence, stubbornness.
  7. Fortitude: strength of mind, bravery.
  8. Pandemonium: commotion, anarchy, bedlam.
  9. Accentuated: focusing attention on.
  10. Frenzy: uncontrolled state or situation, agitation.
  11. Wrest: snatch.
  12. Torrent: heavy flow, cascade.
  13. Armoire: an ornate or antique cupboard/wardrobe.
FewImportant Lines:
  1. Geologists had set up their seismographs weeks before and knew that the mountain had awakened again. For some time they predicted that the heat of the eruption could detach the eternal ice from the slopes of the volcano, but no one heeded their warnings; they sounded like the tales of frightened old women.
  2. When I knew him better, I came to realize that his fictive distance seemed to protect him from his own emotions.
  3. He had completely forgotten the camera; he could not look at the girl through a lens any longer.
  4. He was Azucena; he was buried in the clayey mud; his terror was not the distant emotion of an almost forgotten childhood, it was a claw sunk in his throat.
  5. Rolf had wanted to console her, but it was Azucena who had given him consolation.

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende Narration Scripts

Lifeis very unpredictable, you can never tell what might happen.
Thestory is more about Rolf than Azucena. A reporter going into thefield for an assignment should be courageous, calm and avoid panic.The image of reporters is created larger than life when they are seenon television amid the fighting and chaos or any calamity. They seemto fear nothing, they seem unmoved by the various situations aroundthem. Rolf Carle was no different. But the only reason he took upthis job was to learn to be courageous and hide something from hisown self. These natural calamities and dangerous situationsstrengthened him. It is ironic how Rolf took up this assignment tokeep his emotions and his horrifying past at bay, as usual, but thisprofession instead of protecting him from his past took him by thehand and showed him a mirror to his past. Everything reversed forhim. He was required to avoid any attachments or intimate interactionwith the victims of the avalanche but instead his heart turned toAzucena. He was unable to maintain a distance from the scene. Hebelieved that helping her would be his contribution as an aid to thepeople in this disaster. He became attached to Azucena. He had leftthat professionalism behind and he turned into a simple man trying tosave a little girl's life.
Thecold-hearted journalists and reporters are shown in the story. Allthey cared about was getting to the scene first simply in order tobecome the first channel to record the massive destruction. They werenot there with the aim of helping the people. They wanted to be aheadof each other in the mad race for fame and power. For the reporterstheir fame is more important and above everything else. Rolfinitially came to the site for this same reason.

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende
Thenarrator is a lover of Rolf Carle and is very dedicated to him. Shenoticed a change in Rolf through watching his footage. She loved hima lot and always stood by him. She was impressed by him and cared forhim. She felt she could only show support to him by going to thestation and watching his videos. She wanted to feel what washappening to him, what change was brewing in his heart and to stayconnected with him. Her futile attempts to reach out to him acrossthe massive distance left her frustrated and agitated. She wished tolet him know she was there for him at every moment and she was neverleaving his side. The station received unfiltered and raw footagewhich she saw to feel somehow closer to him. She was fascinated byhis newly discovered emotional side. It is a first person narrative.
RolfCarle finally broke down and confronted his fears. All the while hisprofession helped him hide his emotions, something that he did notwant the world let alone himself to see. He was escaping from hispast but this profession ended up revealing everything. He was ableto reconcile with his past. He finally let out his emotions and criedfor himself, he found an outlet, a catharsis for himself throughAzucena. Ironically, Rolf wanted to console Azucena's pain but it wasshe who consoled him.

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende Summary

Rolffelt like the little girl was his family. In the end he abandoned hisprofession but the narrator is waiting for him to find himselfpatiently. She wants him to return to life. The narrator is willng togive everything for him but he did not realize her love for him.
Lifegoes on. Nothing is permanent and human beings are transient. Thenarrator, Rolf and Azucena were all helpless and limited by nature.The narrator was limited by distance, Rolf was limited by resources,and Azucena was limited by the fragility of her body and life. But itis in human nature to get over the pain he has faced, time heals allwounds. An accident or a death always brings your most inner selfoutside. We all realize that we are very vulnerable. We have toaccept life the way it is and reconcile with our situation. Thereporter's larger than life image shattered in the end. We pity himand sympathize with his lover because their intentions were good.Human beings have to realize that life ends and we have to take asmuch as we can from it.
Thetitle of the story suggests malleability of human beings, the abilitythat we all have to transform and be transformed by the experienceswe endure throughout life. We can mold ourselves like clay.
Pointof view is handled in an unusual way in ‘‘And of Clay Are WeCreated.’’ The narrator tells most of the story in the firstperson, and yet most readers would say that she operates only on theedges of the action—she is an observer more than she is an actor.While it is common for a narrator to relate events she has witnessed,rather than participated in, it is unusual to have a narrator whoreports what she has seen on television.
http://davidhwiki.wetpaint.com/page/And+Of+Clay+We+Are+Created+(Group4)
MainThemes:
And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende
  • Human beings are fragile and impermanent.
  • Memory and Reminiscence
Questions:
  1. Who is the central character of this story: Rolf Carle, Azucena or the narrator? How is Rolf Carle changed by his involvement with Azucena?
  2. What does the story suggest about the relationship between human tragedy or catastrophe and media reportage? Does the presence of the journalist Rolf Carle alter the situation in which Azucena is trapped? If so, how?
  3. Why does Azucena die, despite the sustained human efforts and technological assistance enlisted on her behalf? What does the story suggest about the relationships between a developing country's response to a natural disaster, the international media's response to it, and the human costs?
  4. What is the irony associated with Rolf Carle and Azucena? Explain the religious elements in the story.
  5. Why do you think the local population gave no heed to the warnings of the geologists before the eruption?
Credit-Muneeza Rafiq