Magical Elements in The Day We Were Dogs
The short story "The Day We Were Dogs", first published in 1993, was written by Elena Garro. She was born in Pueblo, Mexico, on December 15, 1920. I feel that the story definitely has to deal with magical realism. "The Day We Were Dogs" has too many magical elements that are treated as normal not to be magical realism. However, I also felt that the story has some unreal elements that are not treated as normal. Therefore, I feel that the story may also fit into the genre of fantastic literature, which creates questions about the unreal elements. Given this fact that the story hovers between magical realism and fantastic literature, it can not be absolutely defined as an example of magical realism.
After reading "The Day We Were Dogs", I felt that some things were treated as normal. One of the characteristics of magical realism is the fact that the girls might be dogs. To me, this is an obvious magical element. A human can not turn into a dog in any way, shape, or form. Also, a magical realist characteristic is when one of the girls touched a worm with her fingertip and it became a red ring (208). If she is a dog, I find myself asking: Why is he touching the worm with his fingertip? In addition, Eva rested her head on her fore paws and closed her eyes (209). The fact that the girls are switching from a human back to an animal seems magical to me. Most importantly, these magical elements are treated as normal by the characters, a necessary criteria for magical realism (Faris 172).
The sun beating down, the earth burned, and the dogs' food was heavy as bags of rocks (209), however, in my opinion, is an example of an unreal element that is questionable. Dog food is heavy, but I do not think that it is as heavy as rocks. I felt that it was somewhat an exaggeration. Therefore, I feel that it is a fantastic element, one that is questioned (Todorov), rather than an example of magical realism in which the unreal is treated as normal.
Grounding the magical elements in reality is also a characteristic of magical realism. I found some realistic elements in the story "The Day We Were Dogs" as well.
Whether or not "The Day We Were Dogs" (1993) is a magical realist story is questionable. Often stories are misidentified because of the closeness of literature such as magical realism, the fantastic, and the sublime. The story leaves a lot to one's imagination instead of presenting it in the text. Elena Garro blends two days and two completely different worlds together in this story.
Stories told to show the past are important because they make people remember the past so they don't repeat it. When there was a console to get the sickness out of Luo by wiping him with “two Branches, one from a peach tree, the other from a willow.” They said to Luo “Only these trees would do”(p34). This shows that they if they had been told that wiping wouldn’t help a sickness, then they mite not of beaten Luo. This also shows that they have lost some civility by not being able to learn form history. Another story told is used to invoke emotions.
Latin American author Elena Garro wrote works such as "Recuerdos del porvenir," "Andamos huyendo Lola," "Testimonios sobre Mariana," and "The Day We Were Dogs." The short story "The Day We Were Dogs" (1964) uses events that are questionable to the reader even though the characters do not question. Because these events are questioned by the reader, it is not a Magical Realist story. This story might have been miss identified because it was written by a Latin author.
If brain cells die or are damaged because of a stroke, symptoms of that damage start to show in the parts of the body controlled by those brain cells.
An essential difference, then, between realism and magical realism involves the intentionality implicit in the conventions of the two modes…realism intends its version of the world as a singular version, as an objective (hence ...
It goes without saying that everyone’s health is important and should be taken care carefully. Everyone has heard of strokes before but many people do not really know its meaning, types, and the number of individuals of that dies due to this issue. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), strokes kills an average of 130,000 people a year and it is one of the most common deaths that happen in the United States. An average of 800,000 of people die from cardiovascular disease and strokes and it is also a reason of long-term disability (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Strokes, which can also be called cerebrovascular accident or CVA happen when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted or the blood vessel going towards the brain burst. Then part of the brain dies or become seriously injured because the brain cells do not receive oxygen and they eventually die. People’s lifestyle may also impact seriously on their health and increase the possibility of having a stroke. Some of the risk that can severely increase the cause of stroke would be high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cigarette smoking, as well as strokes that
By 1980s it had become a well-established ‘label’ for some forms of fiction. It has been applied, for instance, to the work of Luis Borges (1899-1988), the Argentinian who in 1935 published his Historian universal de la infamies, regarded by many as the first work of magical realism. The Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez is also regarded as a notable exponent of this kind of fiction, especially his novel ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ (1967). The Cuban Alejo Carpenter is another writer described as a magic realist.’ ‘Experiments in magical realism affects and techniques’ are to be found in the fiction of Italo Calvino John Fowler, Gunter Grass, Emma Tennant, Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie and Ben
Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
Stroke is a serious medical condition that affects people of all ages specifically older adults. People suffer from a stroke when there is decreased blood flow to the brain. Blood supply decreases due to a blockage or a rupture of a blood vessel which then leads to brain tissues dying. The two types of stroke are ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. An ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot blocking the artery that brings oxygenated blood to the brain. On the other hand, a hemorrhagic stroke is when an artery in the brain leaks or ruptures (“About Stroke,” 2013). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of adult disability” (“About Stroke,” 2013). Stroke causes a number of disabilities and also leads to decreased mobility in over half of the victims that are 65 and older. The CDC lists several risk factors of stroke such as heredity, age, gender and ethnicity as well as medical conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and excessive weight gain that in...
Magical realism, by definition, is a literary style that addresses social concerns, but masks the...
Guenther, Irene. "Magical Realism in SpanishAmerican Literature" Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Duke University Press, Durham and London,1995.33-73.
Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 109-116.
Some people consider a book to be magical realism based on the author or the part of the world it was written in. Just because an author has written a book that is magical realism does not mean that all of the books that author writes will be magical realism. Though most magical realism stories are written by Latin American authors, a story is not necessarily magical realism if the author came from that region. Julio Cortazar is an Argentine writer who has published many short stories and novels. In 1956, he wrote a short story called "Axolotl". A careful reading of this work will reveal that it is not an example of magical realism.
I realized it was a stroke,” –Fred, a stroke survivor. Some of the most common symptoms indicating that a stroke is occurring include sudden numbness or loss of movement in the limbs on one side of your body or face, sudden vision changes, sudden trouble speaking, sudden confusion, a very intense headache, or sudden balance issues. Stroke is simply acquired when the blood supply to the brain is suspended, but to get to the roots of what causes it, a stroke is triggered by the slowly forming plaque buildup over time. The plaque is made up of calcium, fat, cholesterol, cellular waste, and fibrin, a material involved in blood clotting. The plaque existing in an artery can grow big enough to block the supply of blood to the brain, resulting in a stroke. A stroke can also be caused by high blood pressure breaking a blood vessel in the brain causing internal bleeding. Although there is no cure, as damage the brain is usually irreversible if not cared for quickly; there are different treatments available for both types of stroke. For an ischemic stroke, a tissue called plasminogen activator can be injected into an artery to break up
While there may be some debate as to whether the Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges was technically a Magical Realist, some may feel that his works definitely do have some of the characteristics of what is considered Magical Realistic literature. Among his various types of works are poetry, essays, fantasies, and short fictions. Often referred to in essays that discuss the history and theory of Magical Realism, "The Garden of Forking Paths" is probably Borges' most popular short story. Published in 1964 in a collection of Borges works entitled Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings, his short story "The Garden of Forking Paths" appears to have several of the elements of Magical Realism.