Captain Davidson, the old Conquisatador

Going off of class discussion today, there was heavy criticism against Captain Davidson’s character for embodying ideas of patriarchy and old beliefs that the world revolves around humans (the world is made for the exploitation of humans) etc. There are valid reasons and support to attest to this, but I also found his character interesting and still having likeable traits. I suppose it is because of the way he is so transparent, how fervently set he is in his ways, and full of flaws...which makes him so human. It is engaging to dive into a character having traits of strength, patriotism and integrity, but is also so wrong in his thinking. He sees himself as a “...a world tamer. He wasn’t a boastful man, but he knew his own size” (15). He later describes himself as “a patriotic man” (32). In both examples, Ursula Le Guin ends with “it just happened to be the way he was made…” This illustrates Davidson's belief of a kind of inevitable destiny that he has. This could be applied to his overall view of humans being conquerors of land and other creatures: “it’s Man that wins, every time. The old Conquistador” (19). It seems to me that he is unembarrassingly aware of himself, and the nature and the roles that “humans” play within the worlds because that's just the way it is.

Le Guin’s choice of placing the readers in Captain Davidson’s perspective first was an effective because it allows the reader to not place any negative judgment on his character at first. The reader goes into the novel with expectations that the protagonist would be a relatable, neutral or well-intentioned character. Instead, we are forced to deal with a character we start to dislike more and more, which shows Le Guin’s skill for character development. I feel allowed like having the contrasts between perspectives developed the later characters (Selver and Lyubov) in the story more profoundly.

*page numbers are taken from the E-book version. 

The Word for World is Forest

In the book “ The Word for World is Forest”, the author makes many references to slavery, in order to expose the flaws of slavery as a system. The references are not direct but instead the author describes a circumstance in which a group of future humans creates a “voluntary” workforce out of a less evolved human group. One of the characters justified the workforce with the argument, “ ‘… but this isn’t slavery, Ok baby. Slaves are humans. When you raise cows, you call that slavery? No. And it Works.’” (18).  Slavery is justified in the future human society because the enslaved people are considered less than humans, and therefore do not deserve the same rights privileged to humans. This argument mirrors the argument that was made by pro-slavery advocates during the 19^th century. African Americans were considered less than human, and therefore slavery was justified in the eyes of some individuals. The parallels that are made between slavery in US history and slavery in the futuristic society highlight the flaws of the argument that were made in support of slavery and further demonstrate the appalling nature of the slavery system. 

The Word for World is Forest

In this book I thought that the contrast between the social structures of the two societies was interesting. In the yumen society the men were defiantly the dominant rulers. They were the ones who did all the work, fighting, and made the important decisions. Women were alive simply for breeding and for sexual pleasure. However, in the Athshean society there was more of a balance of power between men and women. The men made decisions, but the women were the ones who ruled the villages and actually made the decisions be put into practice. The men and women equally needed each other. The women were not treated as simply a pleasure, they were treated like human beings. We see this when Selver grieves for his wife who was murdered. The author seems to be making a statement about today's society. Since the yumen were originally from Earth perhaps she was exploring an extremely exaggerated version of today's society, and the Athshean's society is the ideal society.

The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher, in my interpretation, fits perfectly into Todorov's description of the Fantastic.  Mounting tension plays a key role in developing the real and supernatural duality throughout the story.  The "timely" collapse of the house at the end of the story seems very supernatural, however, Poe set up a real explanation with his description of the fissure in the wall at the beginning of the story. Other dualities that enforced the Fantastic in the story involved the narrators reading of Mad Trist.  The sounds heard during the reading were quite unnatural and arguably supernatural.  However, the text offered a literal real explanation for the sounds as Lady Madeline escaped from her coffin and out of her cell.  One could also interpret the sounds heard to be a reflection of the narrators weakening mind and his thoughts and imagination overpowering his sense of reality.  He became quickly engulfed in the story in his weakened state and truly believed he heard the sounds.  When Lady Madeline came to kill Usher, he truly lost his mind along with Usher in the home.  There are many parallelisms n the text as well.  Most notably is the parallel between Usher, his family line, and the house.  The house seems to reflect Ushers mental state in its appearance and radiance.  They are so similar throughout the text, and develop side by side to such an extent that one could conclude they are in fact two manifestations of the same entity.  The parallelism ends at the end of the story, when Usher dies and the house collapses at the same time.

Beauty is only skin deep

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Aura. It was not a difficult read and the imagery was very vivid without being overzealous. It was easy to picture each seen, and I felt as though I was there through the second person narration. Strangely, this story reminded me a little bit of the novel 1984, when the protagonist goes to a brothel, and discovers at the end of his visit that the woman he was with is actually extremely old and has no teeth. Both Fillipe and Winston do not see reality as it is, however Winston does come to see who he really was with, while Fillipe will forever be under the influence Casuelo's witchcraft. Another interesting element of this story was Casuelo's need for eternal youth and beauty. This reminded me of the recent retelling of Snow White, starring Kirsten Stewert and Charlize Theoron,  where Charlene Theoron's character sucks the life out of beautiful young women in order to forever remain the most beautiful and lively women. All of these works demonstrate the importance of youth and beauty to society, whether it is a fantastic world or a dystopian one.

Aura's Dreamworld

One thing that struck me about the style of Aura and its "magical realism" was that the entire story seems to run largely on the same kind of style and logic experienced in dreams. As was discussed in class, when the protagonist encounters something bizarre, he often wonders briefly about it, then calmly goes back to whatever he was previously doing, which is exactly the kind of thing that I find happens a lot in dreams. The second-person narration also contributes to this effect, so that the reader is given the impression of having a strange dream about being a guy called Felipe Montero. The dream motif is also expressed more directly when Montero explicitly dreams (dreams within dreams?) about things that seem to blend into his “waking” life, suggesting that there's not much separation between his dreams and his life. I'm not sure how much of this is intentional, but the effect seems quite pronounced to me regardless.

Sensory Overload - Carlos Fuentes' Aura

Ironically, though I found myself particularly entranced by Carlos Fuentes’ Aura for the depth of its aestheticism and heavy use of symbolic imagery, I felt as if those very aspects of the story distracted too much from my ability to process them as a composite whole (though I realize this is likely the intention of the author, with one of the chief ideals of magical-realism being a recognition of reality as “all out of proportion” – not everything has to have a profound meaning or rational connection). That being said, the novel is absolutely spouting with allusions to a reluctance to part with life – the noted viscosity of the red “wine” the narrator drinks at his first supper in the home of Consuelo (insinuating blood), the repeated serving of liver (the organ responsible for blood-filtration, no less) at meals, the “scarlet silk wrapped around [the wooden Christ’s] thighs,” and the repetition of all things green (a color either signifying new, budding life, or, in the case of rot or disease, the process of decay) in association with Aura. The reappearance of Consuelo’s rabbit “familiar” also caught my attention – “Saga,” as the rabbit is called, is also the name of a goddess with whom the Norse god of warfare and shamanism converses regarding matters of history and the occult.

Hopefully further discussion in section will prompt something a bit more analytical from me…

Katagiri and Worm

     In the Haruki Murakami readings, we see each story unified by an event – the earthquake. In “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” Mr. Katagiri, the narrator, who has lived quite a thankless life, is confronted by a giant frog who tells him he is needed to save Tokyo from a second earthquake. In actuality, the second earthquake is a more personal upheaval – most likely a violent lashing out by Katagiri. Frog presents us with an entity known as Worm, who he says “goes on sleeping for years – decades – in the warmth and darkness underground” (97). Frog continues, saying that Worm feels “every little rumble and reverberation that comes his way... and then, through some kind of chemical process, he replaces most of them with rage” (97-98). If we examine Worm in relation to Katagiri, we'll see that Katagiri has a reputation for being unflappable. He seems to display little to no emotion. We can thus surmise that similarly, as his other emotions are repressed, so too is his temper – his anger. We're also told that he is perfect for his job as a collector, because he has no familial ties – nobody will mourn him. Even his own brother and sister have “shown [him] no respect and acted with the most callous disregard” (99). With this in mind, Katagiri becomes an unloved, undervalued man. He has neither a future nor a present to look forward to – a situation that is bound to cause quite a level of anger, even rage. To loop it back to Worm, Worm is normally dormant, until the day that the shakes and tremors – difficulties of life – eventually become too much and he awakens in a rage to destroy. We can thus connect Katagiri to Worm, with Worm being the manifestation of Katagiri's anger at his life situation, and Super-Frog's mission becomes an attempt to stop Katagiri from trying something that will inevitably harm many people.

The Role of Cats in Aura

A recurring element in Carlos Fuentes's novel Aura, is the cat. When Felipe first moves in and is exploring his new room he hears cries and discovers, after opening a window in his skylight, "five, six, seven cats--you can't count them, can't hold yourself up there for than a second--are all twined together, all writhing in flames and giving off a dense smoke that reeks of burnt fur." Later on in the novel Felipe discovers how, when Consuelo was a young girl, her husband found her torturing a cat. The meaning of the theme of harming cats is somewhat hard to decipher, but an argument can be made that it adds to the oddity of Consuelo's character.

Aura-Consuelo:Crazy Old Bat or Resourceful Oppressed Woman?

In Aura, the character Consuelo is often painted in an unfavorable light, but in reality she was just reacting to the pressures her society placed on women of the time. Aura is set in 1960 Mexico. At this particular time and place society dictated that women should be fertile, beautiful, and productive in the home. When Consuelo found that she was unable to provide children she felt as if she'd failed at completing the tasks society had designated her gender and felt she needed to resort to black magic and the torturing of cats to accomplish these impossible tasks. It became even more difficult for Consuelo to keep up with society's demands of women as she grew older. With the loss of her beauty and her strength Consuelo was unable to measure up to any of society's standards for women. In the end Consuelo was forced to summon her youth again through questionable means if she wished to be accepted into her society. If this novel has a villain it is society, not the helpless old woman.

Honey Pie

In, Honey Pie, by Haruki Murakami, there was repetition of the word “OK” where the protagonist, Junpei, was addressed by others on situations that will affect his life.  This word “OK” emphasizes his acceptance of the reality in which he is placed.  It is repeated when an event would occur that would affect his life such as the relationship between Sayoko and Takatsuki.  This word appeared to force him into submission into a life he had no control over.  It emphasized the idea that his life was dictated by others and that he should conform to these decisions.  Junpei conformed and accepted the decisions by others, giving him a sense of a lack of control in his life.  This can be seen as a political statement made by Murakami which is common characteristic of the magical realism genre.  Murakami’s use of the word “OK” is to convey to readers the idea that they like Junpei adhere to decisions made by others and do not question the effect it will have on their own life.  This is a common concern in political and social spheres that individuals will conform to decisions made by others without questioning the affect it can have.

Aura

Aura by Carlos Fuentes was an interesting read especially surrounding the romance between the General, his wife, Aura and Felipe. It was very strange in a non-romantic way for me personally. Constantly, they were shrouded in darkness and in olden times, the only time lovers could be lovers were when it was time to sleep. I think it might be an allusion to the idea that lovers can only meet in the dark, hidden away from the judging eyes of society and that when light breaks, they must part. For that reason, the house must be covered in darkness in order to meet the one they desire the most. I feel that Felipe is not the General, but rather a puppet to be used in order to have this “forever” that the general and his wife have in mind. After all, the last line was “She’ll come back, Felipe. We’ll bring her back together. Let me recover my strength and I’ll bring her back…” (145). I feel as though this is an acknowledgement that they are two separate entities. And should Felipe realize the truth of his predicament, the eternal darkness of the house will cease to exist for he would be enlightened.

UFO in Kushiro

"UFO in Kushiro" by Haruki Murakami puzzled me. It's unlike any of the short stories we have read in this course so far and seems irrelevant to the supernatural. Komura, recently divorced, takes a week off from work to travel to Hokkaido/Kushiro, partly to get away from his divorce and partly to deliver a friend's package. The contents of this short story is very realistic and seems to be a simple excerpt from an ordinary man's life. I can't place what exactly Murakami's intentions are with this story, but I can guess that he is trying to emphasize how short and fleeting life is. His compilation of short stories in After the Quake are all tied to the 1995 Kobe earthquakes in Japan, and "UFO in Kushiro" cements how simple events can change the entire course of our lives, such as the divorce and one quotation from Shimao that stuck to me: "think about it: tomorrow there could be an earthquake; you could be kidnapped by aliens; you could be eaten by a bear. Nobody knows what's going to happen" (Murakami 20).

Aura

I honestly found the way Carlos Fuentes wrote this story, as in which person, was extremely interesting. By choosing to write it in the second person, he successfully breaks the "4th wall"
and brings the reader into the story. This technique actually made it more intense for me because
I felt more affected by the events happening in the story. It is also interesting that he somehow
manages to mesh the audience and the main protagonist into one being. It also adds the eerie,
creepy, confused feeling we , as readers, have of the situation, the house and the characters. If
he would have chosen to write this story in a less direct way, it would be easy for the reader to
be distant and unaffected by the events of the story.

Aura- poem by Jules Michelet

This poem embodies the magical realism of the portrayal of women. In many novels, women have the power to persuade and seduce men in a magical way- in aura, consuelo is able to persuade Felipe to stay at the house with the influence of Aura. In the poem, it states how woman have a second sight and wings that enables her to fly to the infinite of desire and imagination. This line is depicted throughout the novel in how Felipe is moved  by consuelo although there wasn't any forceful demands. Felipe was willingly in every task; the novel mentioned that although he didn't really like the situation, he still continued working for Aura. The next line: "the gods are like men: they are born and they did on a woman's breast." Men, although seemingly powerful still falls under the control of women.. To a certain extent, one can even assume that this is saying that men are driven by their sexual desire, and they have their ends when they fall into their sexual desires.

Aura

In Aura, the idea of relating what Consuelo was doing to a communion and later on the rebirth or resurrection of Jesus Christ was far beyond anything I could have grasped or related to my first time going through the story. All the things that are part of a regular communion in a church were there in the story of Aura: the bread and the wine, which when ingested in a regular communion symbolized the person taking in Christ and accepting him. The same thing was done in Aura, only far less holy things were happening. The topic of the rebirth of Christ also takes center-stage when essentially Consuelo becomes reborn as Aura, in a strange twist of events and witchcraft, just like Christ was three days after he was crucified on the cross. This juxtaposition between Consuelo and Christ was something I could not perceive or imagine before it was brought to light during lecture, and was something that I definitely found interesting.

Aura: eyes

There is much repetition in the significance of eyes in this story. In literature, eyes often symbolize windows into the soul. They represent identity, wisdom, and insight. On page 23, a detailed description of Senora Consuelo’s eyes are provided, “…they’re clear, liquid, enormous, almost the same color as the yellowish whites around them, so that only the black dots of the pupils mar the clarity. It’s lost a moment later in the heavy folds of her eyelids.” The fact that we rarely see Consuelo’s eyes, and when we do, we see her pupils as merely dots, indicates that she is not an open book. It is much more difficult to read her person; you cannot be sure what lies within. Then when Felipe first is introduced to Aura on page 27, again there is a detailed description of the eyes. “…those eyes do surge, do change, as if offering you a landscape that only you can see and desire.” This description alone reflects the immediate connection between Felipe and Aura. He describes the image in her eyes as something only he can see and desire, suggesting that they have a deeper connection in the past. On page 43, we once again see Felipe’s infatuation with Aura’s eyes, “…the dizziness brought on by those shining, clear green eyes.”  This supports the notion that eyes symbolize the pathway into a person’s soul. It is as if Felipe is under a trance, under a spell from Aura’s eyes. Eyes hold a power to connect the souls of individuals.

Uses of Time in Aura

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In Aura, there is a distinct blending between times among the era in the novel. The references to the past in this “present” date and time are almost overwhelming, and help to blur the lines between the love story of Conseulo and General Llorente or Aura and Felipe. Felipe is a historian, and seems uninterested in his current life and the situation of the outside world. When traveling to Donceles 815, he glances back, and “… you give one last look over your shoulder, frowning at the long line of stalled cars that growl, honk, and belch out unhealthy fumes of their impatience,” thus proving his distaste for the present day for him (9). He goes to the street with the colonial houses, which effectively is like traveling back in time for him, with the entrance into Donceles 815, as being the portal from which he does not return. Furthermore, the use of the strange herbs and potions Conseulo uses is also a contrast to the norm of the rest of the developing world which again offers insight into the “old world” of the old colonial mansion. The use of the memoirs and the actual historical data found within them also help to push along this sense that we have traveled back in time to witness the reunion of the couple.

Aura--

The book Aura is different from the other pieces we have read so far. One thing I noticed was the perspective was rather strange. The story is told as though us, the readers. The story is told as though the reader is the Felipe. When read it seems as though the reader is experiencing what is happening to Felipe first hand. "You eat in silence. You drink that thick wine." (41).  This gives the story an eerie feeling because it seems like the reader is the one who is experiencing the creepy old house, the old lady, and the passion for Aura.
Another interesting aspect of the book is the presence of the various animals. The rabbit in the bedroom with the red eyes seems to be representation of the old woman. Rabbits are supposed to bring images of comfort and harmlessness to mind. Elderly people are also supposed to be harmless, yet this particular rabbit has red eyes and that causes the reader to feel rather spooked because it is not quite normal. Similarly the old woman seems to be frail and sick to the point of being quite harmless, yet when Felipe looks into her eyes they are clear and strange. (23). This is an example of the cliff that we discussed in class. When something appears to be normal yet has a subtle indicator that it is not quite right it causes us fear, anxiety, or mistrust. The old woman and the rabbit seem to be normal, but when Felipe (and the reader) takes a closer look these inconsistencies cause us to feel insecure.

Aura

Elements of the uncanny are apparent throughout Aura. The manner by which the narrator describes the interactions between Senora and Aura highlight the uncanny nature of their partnership. Aura is often describes as being almost controlled in a puppet-like manner by her aunt. Aura’s motions seem lifeless and unplanned which gives the reader an uneasy feeling of Aura being only an object that seems human. “ … Aura hasn’t said a word and is eating with a sort of mechanical fatality, as if she is waiting for some outside impulse before picking up her knife and fork...but at that moment the Senora become motionless, and at the same moment Aura puts her knife on her plate and also becomes motionless, and you remember that the Senora put down her knife only a fraction of a second earlier.”(69). This interaction is uncanny because it is not apparent whether the aunt is actually in control of Aura because their motions are not synchronous, but at the same time the reader is lead to believe that Aura is not in control because she seems to copy the actions of her aunt with a certain time lag. This uncertainty in the level of human awareness that Aura possess leaves the reader with an uneasy feeling that is characteristic of the uncanny.