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Example research essay topic: Magical Realism In The House Of Spirits - 1,749 words

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In The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, the story of three generations of a family is told. The story begins with Clara del Valle as a girl who eventually marries Esteban Trueba. They have a daughter, Blanca, who gives birth to her own daughter, Alba. All of the women are found to have unusual abilities and strength. Clara is able to interact with spirits and demonstrates a growing proficiency for telekinesis throughout her life. Blanca inherited some of her mothers clairvoyant abilities and was able to see the spirits, although she never spoke with them.

Alba too was able to call upon the spirits, although she generally did not interact with them. Pedro Garca, however, also had unusual abilities to set a skeleton of bones while blind and to rid the hacienda of a plague of ants. Throughout the novel, Allende describes both the magical aspects and harsh realities of the lives of the Trueba family as the country shifts from a stable oligarchy ruled by rich conservatives to a chaotic dictatorship ruled by the military. Interweaving of the actual and the supernatural, bizarre and the commonplace, and improbable and exaggerated characterization and psychologically motivated behavior all exemplify how Allende was able to establish magical realism throughout the tale.

The actual and the supernatural were very prevalent in the story. One instance of an actual problem the hacienda faced is when ants began to overrun the hacienda. The ants had completely infested the hacienda and were eating everything. To resolve the problem, Esteban Trueba called an agricultural technician to help him exterminate the ants. ants quickly became a dark shadow that glided everywhere, devouring everything in its path&# 61630; the corn, the wheat, the alfalfa, and the marigolds Esteban introduced him as Mr.

Brown an agricultural technician specializing in insecticides Unfortunately, the agricultural technician said he would be unable to exterminate the ants in less than a month, at which point Pedro Segundo Garca suggested they call his father, Pedro Garca, who might be able to produce a more magical solution in less time. Pedro Garca picked up some of the ants and began speaking to them. He told them they were a nuisance at the hacienda and had to go. He then showed them the way to the highway. he had led the ants to the edge of the highway the next morning there were no ants Tell them to go, that theyre a nuisance here.

They understand Much later in the novel, Alba found herself in the nightmarish situation of being trapped in what the military called the doghouse. She had been placed in the doghouse simply because Esteban Garca was alarmed by the fact that his desire to hurt her had been waning. Having been beaten, raped, and tortured for weeks, she was ready to die. The doghouse was a small, sealed cell she gave up, deciding to end this torture once and for all and began eagerly to await her death. However, during this situation Clara's spirit appeared to her. She told her not to give up on life because death was sure to come eventually.

Clara suggested that Alba memorize everything that happened in order to let others know what happened someday. her Grandmother Clara appeared with the novel idea that since death came anyway to survive and to write a testimony that might one day call attention to the terrible secret she was living through, so that the world would know about this horror that was taking place The actual and the supernatural came together in many situations in order to add a magical twist to the often unsavory realism expressed in the novel. The bizarre and commonplace were also blended to create magical realism. One of the first instances of the bizarre was exemplified through Barrabs. Barrabs was a large dog who grew to enormous proportions. He continued to grow in size until the day he walked into the room with a knife in his back.

The dog had a seemingly unlimited capacity for growth at the end of a year he was as big as a colt if a butchers cruelty had not put an end to his existence, he would have reached the size of a came. However unusual Barrabs appearance may have been, he continued to be a loyal companion as most dogs were. He acted like other dogs in that he followed his human companion around the house and slept in the room with her. He also had a tendency to knock things over, as a typical dog may do. he was running everywhere, devouring drape fringes, Oriental rugs, and all the table legs he slept by Clara's side and later on the floor beside her Another example of the bizarre was Mustaf's lead teeth.

Mustaf had a full set of lead teeth, which was unusual for anyone. Ultimately it helped contribute to the uniqueness of the Christopher Columbus at which he worked. a huge Negro so black that he looked blue, dressed in baggy carrot-colored silk trousers, a vest, a purple lam turban, and Turkish slippers when he smiled, we saw that all his teeth were made of lead. Mustaf was a Negro in the employment of the establishment.

It was not uncommon for a brothel to have someone pretending to be a Negro, as Negroes were a commodity in the region. They brought interest to the establishment. This is the only whorehouse in the country with its own authentic Negro. You might have seen others, but theyre all painted.

But you can rub Mustaf with sandpaper and hell still be black. The bizarre and the commonplace were blended together to produce a magical aspect to the reality of the story. Improbable and exaggerated characterization and psychologically motivated behavior were intertwined to create a mystical aspect to the realistic situations of the novel as well. After seeing an autopsy performed on her sister, Clara remained silent for nine years.

It is unlikely that a person would remain silent for such a long period of time if the ability to speak were still retained. Nevertheless, Clara went into a state of silence, which she later reverted back into from time to time. Silence filled her utterly. She did not speak again until nine years later, when she opened her mouth to announce that she was planning to be married. The experience of seeing ones sister cut open and examined from the inside out would be rather traumatizing, especially at the young age Clara was. Her silence may have been a mental refuge to draw away from that which disturbed her.

Although it may be improbable, it is possible that she was traumatized enough to force her into silence for an extended period of time. Stock-still on her wooden box, Clara could not keep from watching until the very end she could not move until the first lights of dawn appeared. Only then did she slide back into her bed, feeling within her the silence of the entire world. After she was married, Clara was always having additions made to the big house on the corner.

Whenever a new guest arrived at the house, Clara had a new room built for them to stay in. It is improbable that someone would have new rooms built for every guest that arrived. Such actions would be costly and potentially unnecessary, as guests may come and go. Every time a new guest arrived, she would have another room built in another part of the house Clara was a kind and generous person.

She would not turn away anyone in need. She extended her household to people of all roads of life, from starving artists to other clairvoyants. Within a few days her spiritualist friends, the Rosicrucians, the Theosophists, the acupuncturists, the telepathists, the rainmakers, the peripatetics, the Seventh-day Adventists, and the hungry or otherwise needy artists began to appear all those who had habitually been part of Clara's court. After Clara's death, Blanca used the extra rooms in the back of the house to stockpile food.

She began to buy all the food she could find on the market, regardless of its usefulness. She quickly hid the unmarked crates of food from Tres Maras in the locked rooms at the back of the house. She refused to share any of the perishable food with anyone and preferred to let it go to waste rather than give, trade, or sell it to those who could use it. Crates of food were delivered regularly from Tres Maras, and Blanca promptly hid them. The first time, almost everything rotted Jaime suggested to his sister that she either donate, trade, or sell any perishable items, but Blanca refused to share her treasures like the two barrels of soy sauce she bought from a Chinese immigrant. The market had become relatively empty.

It was difficult to obtain anything, especially food. Blanca wanted to make sure her family would have enough to eat and would not lower her standard of living, even during the times when finances became difficult and goods had to be obtained through the black market. Blanca had organized a network for obtaining provisions through the black-market and held to the theory that, whatever happened, one should not lower ones standard of living, which she used to justify the time she spent in her smugglers ploys. Allende used improbable and exaggerated characterization mixed with psychologically motivated behavior to enhance the magical realism created throughout the novel. Allende styled The House of the Spirits as magically realistic by intertwining the actual with the supernatural, the bizarre with the commonplace, and the improbable and exaggerated characterization with psychologically motivated behavior. Each of the women in the family had certain unusual qualities about them.

Their qualities allowed for the magical twist on the harsh realism expressed in the story. The reality of life as it existed in South America were often unpleasant. Oligarchies controlled the government, preventing the voice of the people from being expressed. Military dictatorships were instated, rescinding the rights of the citizens. Atrocities were committed against the citizens of nations as torture, beatings, and rape became common practice. The magical aspect of these peoples beliefs and possibly even of these peoples lives may be what helped them to get through their plights and free themselves of the restraints that had been placed upon them by the tyrannical government.

It is the magical aspect of life that may bring everyone through its unforgiving realities.


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Research essay sample on Magical Realism In The House Of Spirits

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