Blance Varela's Writing Style

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Blanca Varela receives several prestigious awards as a result of her work being considered as surrealistic and radical, a recurring hem with many poets from Peru at the time. It is this unique form of expression that earns her the exposure making her one of the leading voices of Lain America. The style in which she writers offers both a literal message to be read and comprehended easily, as well as, a figurative message which can imply a number of different things. Moreover, she paints specific pictures to help the reader truly conceptualize what she is trying to say. “Secreto de Familia” or “Family Secret” by Blanca Varela demonstrates her use of several meaningful and insightful poetic elements in order to voice an opinion or convey a message she has. There are a few things left for the imagination and for the reader to interpret. For instance, the title “Family secret” engages the reader as if the poem would present something secretive while reading it. The poem doesn’t quite tell the reader directly what the secret may be however, yet edges the reader on to find out the secret. The reader is befuddled with more questions by the end of the first stanza. The narrator of this stanza is recalling a dream that she has had about a skinned dog in the darkness of a butcher shop. A lot seems unclear because at this point the narrator herself is confused and wondering where she is. Her voice and questions seems to be unheard at first and silenced by the darkness that engulfs her. Blanca Varela is known for using an innocent perspective in her writing to convey a more surreal and emotional message by the narrator. Yet, in order to understand what is truly happening, she puts another narrator who understands the situation and perceive... ... middle of paper ... ... supposedly, does in fact either know the truth, although the mutt won’t bark of it. The light only dwells in the crust when the dog or dreamer is waking up to the light, out of the dark ambiguity of her dream that clouds her vision, is slightly gone. However when the dreamer dreams and the light turn off, she skins her “fore-legged tongue” at the butcher shop every night. The family secret can be felt or slightly seen by the dreamer after the haze of her dream, but not as well grasped because even in her dreams she is restricted from fully comprehending the secret, the same way the oppressed people in Peru feel the effect of the governmental secret, yet have no idea what it could be except for the secret power taking away their voices. Thus, she remains the skinned dog singing and whistling, rather than becoming the flower that barks, every night in her sleep.

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