Magical Realism In Where Is Here By Grandpa Barrett

Jacquelyn Barrett’s spookiest experience was, less than a year ago, she got a call from my oldest sister Hannah saying,”did you hear what happened to Grandpa Barrett?” For over two hours she was stuck inside of Citrus Valley Gym, playing with the boys volleyball team. Right after practice ended, her mom got a call from her dad and the next thing she remembers her mom saying “do you know? Grandpa Barrett passed away about a half an hour ago. “Right away on that day 3 April 2017 at 4:50 her life had changed forever. This scenario relates to Gothic literature and Magical realism because it was a very surreal moment. These genres are similar because both genres blend reality and magical moments in one. Gothic literature is a setting that begins with bleak setting and has an ambiguous ending. Also it has a scary and mysterious feeling and makes you wonder what's going to happen next. It impacts the reader by putting intelligent words and a gloomy setting. A example of gothic literature is in the story “Where is here”. In the story “Where is Here” a stranger appears at the family's house and the family reacted with curiosity and concern(69). Magical Realism is a literary genre, therefore there is a realistic narrative and natural techniques, combine with surreal elements of dream or fantasy. Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is a good example of Magical Realism because both the brother and sister started to hear “noises” coming from a part of the house, so they limited

Your imagination has no limits. What exactly is magic realism, you might be asking yourself. Well, if you have ever seen Godzilla you have seen magic realism. Magic Realism is a type of dream or fantasy that is mixed into the real world. How does magic realism make you feel? Why does magic realism occur? How does magic realism affect the world? These are just a few of the fascinating questions we will uncover using the short stories we have just read. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Light is Like Water by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and My Life with the Wave by Octavio Paz. Magic realism used in these short stories paints a vivid image into someone elses imaginary life, where the real world and the fantasy world

The short stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar are two well known works of literature that encompass unique literary styles. Poe utilizes Gothic literature in his story, a style of writing that incorporates elements of darkness, gloom, drama, and intense descriptions. On the other hand, Cortazar uses Magical Realism and its realistic characters, setting, and fantastic and unusual events to tell his tale. Despite the two being completely different genres, they share many similar traits, specifically relating to fear.

Both Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” have similar settings because both take place in a spooky large houses. However, in Poe’s story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,”the setting is different because it was dark,gloomy and old house in the middle of nowhere. By contrast, Cortazar’s “House Taken Over,”the house is a little more modern and bright, well taken care of and the environment is greener.Gothic Literature is literature that has bleak or remote setting, a gloomy or melancholy mood. Also, characters or sometime tormented in a physical or psychological way. Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the house of Usher” is a good example of gothic literature because the setting of the story is very bleak and dark,and the characters in them are tormented physically and psychologically . for example, in the story, it states ,”With the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit (13).” This sentence proves my claim because the quote is saying that the character’s spirit feels tormented when he starts to walk into the house. Therefore, “The Fall of the house of Usher” is gothic literature because it shows it shows characters in the story being tormented.

The title of this novel, Like Water for Chocolate, is also a simile for the burning passion Tita and Pedro had for each other. In Latin countries, “like water for chocolate” mean to boil water to the right temperature in order to make chocolate milk. Figuratively it is a metaphor for state of sexual arousal. Despite their true love for each other, Tita and Pedro had to restrain their feelings under the eyes of society. Their love is like the boiling point of water.

“Fear is not real. It is the product of thoughts you create. Danger is very real, but fear is only a choice.” Fear is not something that is always real, such as when Usher was scared but there was nothing to fear yet, but the danger at the end of the story, especially for Ushers friend, was something to fear for. In the Gothic Literature short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the setting is somber and creates an illusion of darkness. On the other hand, “House Taken Over” by Julio Cortazar, portrays the idea of magical realism in, which setting is more realistic and less gloomy. Although Gothic Literature and Magical Realism are similar, there are also many differences, especially in their settings.

Alex’s spookiest experience was when she was watching a t.v. show and it actually convinced her that a women could communicate with the dead. This is related to gothic literature because they both have supernatural elements. However, it's also related to magical realism because it was realistic but also contained surreal elements. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of The House of Usher” is an example of gothic literature because it resembles a dark and mysterious plot. While Julio Cotazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of magical realism because the house gets taken over by Nazi’s, but seems as if ghost’s took over.

One of Diana spookiest experiences of her life was when her cousins and Diana would hear weird sounds in the night. This scenario relates to the traits of Gothic Lit and Magical Realism because the sounds did happen so it's reality. Gothic Lit and Magical Realism are similar because they are both scary, mysterious, and are dramatic. Edgar Allen Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” is an example of Gothic Literature because it has a dark and gloomy setting in a large old mansion. While Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of Magical Realism because it has a mysterious ending.

The spookiest experience Kaylee ever had was the time she almost died at surf camp. She was trying to go where the water wasn't breaking into waves and as soon as she got just about there, a 3 foot wave came and was just about to crash and she was in the range to get hit so when it finally crashed it took her under the water and flipped her over about three times to the point where she couldn't breathe and she almost died. This scenario is related to the traits of gothic literature and magic realism because they both show life threatening situations. It is also different however, because Magical Realism is more relatable to a person with a normal life that has been interrupted with strange events, while in Gothic Literature one cannot

Gothic literature is a style characterized by multiple elements, such as fear, death, gloom, as well as romantic elements like nature, individuality, and high emotion. Magical realism, on the other hand, began as a painting style. It then evolved into the literary style associated with Latin America, which puts fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. One of the most important elements of these genres is the setting of the stories. In The Fall of the House of Usher and House Taken Over, the setting creates atmosphere, reflects genre, and reflects characters.

Gothic Literature is a writing style that has dark setting, it has an overall atmosphere of mystery, exoticism, death. A Gothic story will revolve around a large, ancient house or an obscure setting that conceals a terrible secret or that serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and threatening character

Like Water For Chocolate is one of the Laura Esquivel’s books. The uniqueness of this book is that it uses the cooking, or recipe, to tell a story. In the story, she uses the magic realism, which expresses a primarily realistic view of the real world while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, to reveal her familiar theme ‘love.’ To summarize the book, there is the family tradition that the last daughter needs to take care her mother until mother’s death without the marriage. The protagonist of this book, Tita, is the last daughter of her family, and therefore, she cannot marry with her love. So, there is the conflict between Mama Elena, who wants to keep the tradition, and Tita, who wants to marry with her love, Pedro, even if it forces family tradition. Esquivel utilizes magic realism to expose the passion to keep family tradition, family relationship, and the complexity of love.

In her novel So Far From God, author Ana Castillo tells a story which heavily relies on elements of magic realism. What I found to be particularly interesting in the way in which Castillo's novel works is the effect that her heavy focus on themes of magical realism has while working alongside with the style of narration which she chooses to use in her novel. While Castillo's narrative style can often times be confusing, as the focus of her story jumps around between the individual lives of Sofi, Fe, Esperanza, Caridad, and la Loca, as well as a result of the fact that the story is told in a back and forth combination of Spanish and English, Castillo's style of narration along with the constant theme of magical realism work well together in succeeding to make one of the points which it seems she is trying to make. Through her focus on magical realism in the lives of each of her characters, as well as the way in which she chooses to narrate her novel, Ana Castillo is able to successfully show the way in which the women of color which her novel revolves around are put at an incredible disadvantage in the world.

“ Where is Here” is a good example of modern Gothic literature, because the story takes place in an ordinary setting with ordinary characters. While the characters encounter something supernatural. For example. “... one November evening at dusk … the father went to answer it on his doorstep stood a man he had never seen before ..” (69). This quote is an example of modern Gothic literature because it has an ordinary setting with ordinary characters but a scary/supernatural events. Therefore, “Where is Here” is modern Gothic literature because the story has normal events but supernatural happenings. Although the modern Gothic literature includes many other events including magical realism. They are in the same area, but are different because Gothic literature describes more realistic events such as death or killings. On the other hand, magical realism includes more unreal events that are seen by the author’s style of writing. In “Where is Here” a stranger arrives at a family doorstep seeming friendly, but eventually leaving the family distraught. In “Fall of the House of the Usher” a character who real name is not revealed, but in the story known as the Narrator visits his old friend named the Usher while the Usher sister is dying. Throughout the story there are signs of sadness and spooky themes, but the Usher and the Narrator believe that the sister has died so, they put her in a casket when she is not dead. Nevertheless this leaves the brother scared and the sister comes

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.