Escaping Reality through Magic Realism

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Literature is used to advocate rights, record history, express feelings, and educate students. However it has special meaning to those who lived in the twentieth century. The twentieth century was a time for literary, political, and cultural focus; and thus influenced Julio Cortázar, John Steinbeck, and Raul Dahl to use magic realism in order to give their readers an escape from society’s problems.

The century of 1901-2000 is considered to be the twentieth century. During this time period, the world was hardly recovering from four brutal years of the First World War. Many people did not want to enter the Second World War so closely after the First World War had ended. However for several unfortunate reasons, World War II followed not too far behind. For many, bloodshed did not end there. Trouble grew between the Allies; Communist Soviet Union and Capitalist United States of America fought in what is now known as “The Cold War.”

War was not taken lightly by the public. This is because over sixty million people—friends, family members, and neighbors– died as a result of the war. The nuclear bombings and genocide in World War II immensely impacted society. As a result, terror and fear hovered in all places of the world. People searched for a distraction from all the destruction that went on, and literature gave it to them.

There was a change of course in literature during the twentieth century. An important period of time now referred to as the “Latin American Boom” could be described as a literary movement specifically recognizing Latin writers of the 1960s and 1970s. Writers of the Latin American Boom are praised for speaking out about political points and social action. These writers were acknowledged throughout the whole wo...

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...under our very noses. What you think, Jack?’

And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.”

Magic realism often uses a mentally insane perspective; and thus creates an unbelievable reality. In Lamb to the Slaughter, Mary Maloney cooked the frozen leg of lamb used to kill her husband. When the policemen went to the scene of the crime for investigation, she served them the lamb. Little did they know they were consuming the murder weapon.

For all the reasons previously stated, it is concluded that magic realism played a huge role in society during the 20th century. It gave authors the ability to channel negative emotions in fictional writing. Although the three pieces of writing used magic realism differently, the three authors Julio Cortázar, John Steinbeck, and Raul Dahl were still able to give readers an escape from reality through use of magic realism.

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