Light is Like Water as Magical Realism Essay

earth was without form and void. God said, "let there be light," and there was

These two are air and fire. The other two, more tangible elements represent the old seaman, earth and water. The author also uses the symbolism of light to show the way in which Andrina brightens his life. This use of symbolism heightens the reader's enjoyment by appealing to the senses.

The lighthouse is the physical representation of Beowulf’s light. The reason for this is because when Beowulf died they made a beacon for him at the top of the lighthouse, the conspiracy was that the light was to protect all the sailors from danger. What the beacon also did was give light to the sailors to see where they going and to guide them to there destination.

Magical realism is a type of writing where two views of reality come together. There are numerous of ways magical realism is expressed in Latin American writing. A very common one amongst stories is open-ended conclusion in which we the readers just have to accept it. Usually magical realism is used as a metaphor for something more meaningful. One story that conveys a lot of magical realism is The Third Bank of The River by João Guimarães Rosa. The story is about the narrator's dad who was quite the quiet man, who one day bought a boat fit for one. He entered the river and never spoke a word to another soul again. The son is the only one who stays at the house in case of the father's return. He leaves food out for him so that he will survive, until one day he makes an offer to his father, and ends up fleeing in terror.

Both of the works discuss how the world is experienced. In “This is Water” David Foster Wallace presents that you are at the center of every experience in your life. “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe”, “Think about it: there is no experience you’ve had that you were not at the absolute center of.” (Wallace 10, 13). According to Wallace, in our daily lives, everything we do revolves around us. Every action that we do every single day has a direct impact on us. Wallace believes that it is human nature for people to assume that they are the most important person in their lives. Their own priorities are placed ahead of others, regardless of the situation. Other people may talk to us

the light is his way of saying he knows God is with him. In his reference of fate, he says

Magical Realism: “John interrupted these memories by bursting into the room, alarmed by the stream that was running down the stairs. When he realized it was just Tita's tears, John blessed Chencha and her ox-tail soup for having accomplished what none of his medicines had been able to do- making Tita weep” (Esquivel 207).

Latin American literature is perhaps best known for its use of magical realism, a literary mode where the fantastical is seamlessly blended with the ordinary, creating a sort of enhanced reality. Though magical realism is practiced by authors from other cultures, the works of authors Salman Rushdie and Toni Morrison, for example, are notable examples of non-Latin works in which magical realism has been used to both great effect and great celebration, it is in the works of Latin American authors where the style has flourished and made its mark on the literary world. Yet even in Latin American works we can find many different kinds of magical realism, all used to achieve a different end. In the works of the Cuban poet and novelist

Magical realism is a genre that portrays both reality and fantasy. As defined by Faris (2004) in Ordinary enchantments, magical realism is a genre of writing that includes an irreducible element of magic and details that suggest phenomenon (Faris, 2004, p. 7). He describes the irreducible element as: “…something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as they have been formulated in Western empirically based discourse…” (Faris, 2004, p. 7). In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, The handsomest drowned man in the world, the facets of magical realism are rife. He uses magical realism to enchant the reader. The story is of a small cliff-side and coastal community

The almost impossible underwater animation requires many elements, which Pixar was able to bring to life. The animation consist of beautiful images that represent the ocean in varying degrees of light and darkness, stillness and turbulence, clarity and obscurity, and in ways that high light the myriad colors possessed by underwater life (Yuping, 2016). The use of different lighting was crucial in this movie, allowing the audience to appreciate the vivid and realistic look to the film. The use of low-key lighting, high-key lighting and three-point lighting created the adequate mood to each scene. One scene that demonstrates low-key lighting is the scene with the light bulb. In this scene Marlin and Dory are attempting to make their way out of the dark when they notice a bright light getting closer and closer. As Marlin and Dory follow the light, they come face to face with a terrifying fish. The type of lighting shows the features of the huge fish that tries to eat them. If this scene had used another type of lighting, it would have not created the same suspenseful impact.

Imagine, every morning you wake up to the sound of the rooster singing. Not to the normal crow a rooster makes, but to a beautiful sonata that wakes your soul up from a deep slumber. It may not sound too realistic in our real word, but to a writer, this can bring special emphases to the story’s meaning. This literary practice is called magical realism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines magical realism, or magic realism as they put it; 1) painting in a meticulously realistic style of imaginary or fantastic scenes or images; and 2) a literary genre or style associated especially with Latin America that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. It is the second definition that author Laura Esquivel, incorporates magical realism into her book, Like Water for Chocolate. Many of the themes and emotions in the book are emphasized with the use of Magical realism.

     Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a master of magical realism, twist our minds eye in the story A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS. Our perspectives are disoriented as we are enchanted with beautiful prose and appaled by people’s actions.

The controversy surrounding Magical Realism makes the classification of what is and what is not Magical Realism very difficult. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a famous Latin American author, has written many pieces of what is generally conceived to be Magical Realism. Marqez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" fulfills every characteristic of Magical Realism..

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water – Loren Eisely, The Immense Journey

Magic realism is a writing style in which mythical elements are put into a realistic story but it does not break the narrative flow; rather it helps a reader get a deeper understanding of the reality. Often time’s Latin-American writers utilize this writing technique. It has been speculated by many critics that magic realism appears most often in the literature of countries with long histories of both mythological stories and social turmoil, such as those in Central and South America. Like many Latin-American writers, Gabriel Garcia Marquez used this approach of magic realism, in his book “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, in which he reveals the history of Macondo through the seven generations of the