Story: and of Clay Are We Created Essay

This book report discusses the plot, significant characters, setting (e.g., time of the story took place, historical background), problems and resolutions, themes or messages of the story. A reflection of the author’s writing style will be presented followed by a conclusion.

Rolf Carlé is a newscaster called to report on a girl trapped from the shoulders down in mud from a volcano’s eruption. In the mere three days that Carlé is with Azucena, she tells him stories that trigger Rolf’s forgotten memories and emotions. By the time he has to let Azucena go and accept that she is beyond saving, Carlé is a changed man. Throughout an emotionally exhausting three days, Rolf Carlé is ushered through a journey of memories from his past.

There was only water and bare, empty land. In the center of this nothingness was a great mountain. This mountain stood tall and proud and it reached all the way into the heavens. At the very top of this mountain lived a pair of every kind of animal. In the center of this heaven grew a tree. This tree was not just any tree, it was the sacred tree of life, and it was not to be harmed in any way.

Last Tuesday, I attempted to unplug myself from the world of media and see how it affected my everyday life. After trying to disconnect myself from everything that involves media, I realized how much I rely on it to get me through each day. I was never this aware of its presence in today’s society until disconnecting myself. Without media to rely on, I found myself having to readjust my whole normal routine just to get through the day.

The media has intensely affected society, an effect so immense that people don’t notice its presence sometimes. Individuals become solely

This essay will explore the function of the narrative which helps the readers to perceive the meaning of the narrative. It will do so in terms of the point of view, narrative voice as well as the structure of the narrative. Furthermore, the setting of the story will be another focus which exploits the generic convention which reflects the social anxiety behind the story at the time. I

In this volume of poems, she vividly describes the chaotic situations and the terror faced by people and children in the midst of terrorist violence and disorder. She insists that language is a powerful medium to voice her opinions and she uses her poems for this purpose. She dwells upon the impact of public decisions and interventions in the form of war and other calamities which disrupt the lives of innocent victims and she holds everyone concerned accountable for this upheaval and unrest. But she inspires her readers to hope for a better future even in the most deplorable conditions.

The text, “And of Clay We Are Created” by Isabel Allende and “Girl, Trapped in Water For 55 Hours, Dies Despite Rescue Attempts” by Julia Preston. Both portray a somber situation but undergo different experiences and even emotional growth. Azucena in “And of Clay We Are Created” unlike Omaria of “Girl, Trapped in Water for 55 hours…” had emotional reassurance from Rolf Carle a reporter. Rolf was with Azucena to the very end. Omaria, however had to wait alone barely clinging to life as the freezing flood waters tried to rapidly and harshly claim her life.

Omar N. Bradley, a senior officer of the United States Army once stated, “Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.” In other words, our world understands warfare more than harmony. Having ethical responsibility can contribute a major part in increasing peace around us. In the short story, “And of Clay Are We Created” the author, Isabelle Allende described the way Rolf Carle’s act of ethical responsibility effected a little girl's death in a way that she could die in peace instead of frustration and fear, knowing that an effort was made to live again, but it was in her fate to move on. Ethical responsibility, according to “www.smallbusiness.chron.com”, can be defined as “the duty to follow a morally correct path. In your personal life, you might feel the greatest sense of ethical responsibility to your family and close friends.

“How media is presented truly interferes with the way we understand text and ideas [that are] struggling to be

The only person that was able to break through that barricade was Azucena. When Rolfe Carle and azucena speak to each other she begins to remind him about his sister. That’s what makes him cry and say that he is cry because all the pain he has gone through emotionally and physically. She then lets him

At times, the strong bond of family can shackle some people, emotionally crippling them. Isabel Allende’s And of Clay We are Created implies this concept through the painful memories of its protagonist’s significant other, which are brought into light as a result of a catastrophic event. Rolf Carle, a T.V news reporter, was first on scene to deliver live footage of the aftermath of a deadly volcanic eruption which swept a small village in 1985 Colombia. He, after discovering a thirteen-year-old girl named Azucena who is buried up to her neck in “clay, stones, and water,” quickly finds the story which he will broadcast to the world(). However, as he begins to form a connection with the young girl, memories of his past, which he had worked hard

In "And of Clay Are We Created", an earthquake causes a mudslide that devastates a community. A newscaster, Rolf Carle, is sent to cover the story and discovers a trapped young girl named Azucena, which mean Lilly. Rolf is determined to saved Azucena and does everything in his power to free her and make her comfortable while she is trapped. Rolf finds a friend in Azucena as they spend the next few days together, Rolf unable to pry Azucena from the mix of mud and clay. As the hours passed, Azucena gained more popularity for her cause, but still Rolf was powerless to save her. In the end, Azucena passes away, but not before Rolf reveals his deepest secrets to her. The relationship changed Rolf and he learned more about himself from the encounter.

Through the use of flashbacks, the audience is able to conclude why the main characters are doing such a selfless act. In the short story, “And of Clay We Are Created,” Rolfe Carle, on the second night he spent with Azucena, the exhaustion began to break him down and caused him to dig through his frightful childhood. When Carle was about the age of Azucena and younger, he had to endure living with an abusive father and constant fear. At one point, he describes how “He was once again in the armoire where his father locked him to punish him for imagined misbehavior . . . huddled like a cornered animal” (Allende 256). He withstood this for years and was also the source of protection for his “sweet, retarded” sister Katharina, who also spent her childhood hiding from a monster they called a father (Allende 256). Two children and a mother, unable to live life like any normal family, were abused, traumatized, and emotionally tainted. The flashback ends with Azucena finding Carle flooded in his own tears and memories, everything completely unfolded before him. Through the use of this powerful, heart-wrenching flashback, the audience is able to make a connection as to why Rolfe Carle is laying down beside Azucena, protecting and distracting her from her own possibly discouraging thoughts. As for the film Bella, the scene begins with Nina and Jose, Nina’s co-worker and friend, sitting in his old car

In the story “And of Clay We Are Created”, the title adds an additional figurative meaning to the story, and it is more than just a title. Clay is formed out of many different substances, whereas people are formed by the experiences that they have had in their lifetime. In the text, Rolf reveals that he has had a traumatic childhood, and these events have shaped him to be the person that he is. “He understood then that all his exploits as a reporter, the feats that had won him so much recognition and fame, were merely in an attempt to keep his most ancient fears at bay.” Rolf’s defense mechanism for dealing with the pain of his torturous past is to report all the other suffering that is happening in the world. Perhaps, if he had not gone through