Exploring Magical Realism: Lessons from Time Travel

1028 Words3 Pages

This writer has learned that the author of this book never explains the logic of the time travel, which fits within the magical realist journey. Instead, what matters are the lessons he learns through his transformations. The book works almost like a fairy-tale, in that a mystical or supernatural situation occurs in order to teach the character something. It is important to note, however, that there is evidence that the transformations were more than simply hallucinations. One could argue that Zits, an imaginative and troubled narrator, might have tricked himself into believing his own stories, except that his disappearance from the tape remains unexplained.
Most important is that Zits is given a second chance. Even in the bank, we see that he has learned something from the way he looks at the young boy and his mother. The moment is significant for two reasons. First, the little boy represents all that Zits wishes he had had in life as a child. The boy is well loved, well clothed, and white. He fulfills Zit 's ideal of beauty, and moreover remains innocent, untouched by pain. However, the boy also symbolizes new hope for Zits. Where such people inspired hatred from Zits in the first chapters, they now make him wish he could trade places. Instead …show more content…

His desire came from his attempt to burn the boyfriend, suggesting that he sees fire as a type of salvation. Therefore, throughout his troubled youth, he is a self-described pyromaniac, which aligns with his emotional distance and characteristic hatred. He is most comfortable when he burns everything down, when nothing remains. Robert, as a firefighter, serves as a strong symbol of what has changed in Zit 's life. He is going to learn to embrace his life, betrayals and all, because only then can be grow emotionally. Perhaps Zits can learn to quash his inner fire, to focus on love rather than on

Open Document