Magic
realism is by definition "a genre where magic elements are a natural part
in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment." Recently, we have read
two magic realism short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Handsomest Drown Man in the World and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Both deal with somewhat remote
town by the sea, where the townspeople encounter an objectively supernatural
phenomenon without any surprise. Apparently, to the readers, including myself,
the happenings are quite incomprehensible. People treat an old man with a pair
of giant feathery wings like a zoo animal. Women seem to have a fetish for a
dead giant. Still, the rest of the setting is realistic and natural, probably
why the two novellas fall into the categories of magic realism.
Honestly, I have no definite idea
about what "magic realism" really is. What exactly is the boundary
between fantasy and magic realism? Take for example, if a thunderbolt-shooting
rodent suddenly appeared in the middle of Tokyo and everybody just naturally
treated it as a wild animal, would that be a magic realism? There is no sharp
answer to the question, but I believe magic realism is more of a strategy than
a genre. Magic realism is not a limiting genre of literature, but a device used
by the author to effectively convey his or her message through the story.
In such sense, The Handsomest Drown Man in the World and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings use magic realism pretty well. The
situations present in the story induce a light laugh from the audience - they
are absurd as well as strangely understandable. The absurdity comes from the
fantasy elements and the comprehension comes from the fact that they stories
actually reflect the human lives. Through the combination of both
characteristics, Gabriel Garcia Marquez assigned satirical tone to the stories.
In A Very Old Ma with Enormous Wings, there are several fantasy
elements. The main one is the old man with wings, who townspeople assume to be
an angel. There are also patients with unrealistic diseases, such as the
"poor woman who since childhood has been counting her heartbeats and had
run out of numbers," the "Portuguese man who couldn't sleep because
the noise of stars disturbed him," and the "sleepwalker who got up at
night to undo the things he had done while awake." There is also the spider woman, doomed for her
immature acts. When the angel came, Pelayo and Elisenda both treated the angel
as a show animal kept in a cage. People flocked to see the angel as if he was a
zoo animal, and patients came to have their ailments cured. However, when the
angel did not meet the expectations of the viewers, they moved to see the
spider woman. All these happenings are unexpected in the real life, but readers
can understand the happening with a help of their imagination, because the
fantasy elements act like metaphors of reality. The angel represent a deviational
characteristic, something others pay attention to. People take interest as long
as that characteristic is fascinating, but at once another appears -such as the
spider woman- they instantly change their attention. This is quite true for the
human society. People care for something as long as they are interested or that
something gives benefits. When it no longer gives interest or benefit, the
object is ignored.
The
Handsomest Drown Man in the World too have fantasy elements. First, there
is the corpse of a handsome giant and second, the women with seemingly
necrophilia tendency. Esteban symbolizes the superficiality of the human
society, and the women, and eventually men, are members of the society. The
townspeople do not have any basic knowledge about Esteban, yet they are
attracted to him and even change the appearance of the whole town in memorial
of Esteban. Only through the unnatural appearances, people assume and decide
who Esteban is, and treat him god-like. Actually, for majority of times, people
judge others on the base of outward appearances, and sometimes such judgments
actually take place as a fad. Images are important for every members of the
society, and especially the celebrities have their images tagged behind them
all the time. The appearance can actually have significant influence on many
people and even the person.
What takes place in both stories
depict the real life with the help of metaphorical fantasy elements; both
stories use magic realism. While some parts of the story is far from being
realistic, as a whole, the overall image of the story is a realistic mirror.
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References:
Wikipedia
"Magic Realism"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism
Wikipedia
"Gabriel Garcia Marquez"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez#Realism_and_Magical_Realism
