Identifying The Day We Were Dogs
Whether or not "The Day We Were Dogs" (1993) is a magical realist story is questionable. Often stories are misidentified because of the closeness of literature such as magical realism, the fantastic, and the sublime. The story leaves a lot to one's imagination instead of presenting it in the text. Elena Garro blends two days and two completely different worlds together in this story.
The magical elements depend on how one uses his or her imagination throughout this story. The girls could either be pretending to be dogs or they could have actually become dogs. If they are in fact real dogs, they are able to talk, and their dog Toni also talks. Also, magic numbers are used throughout the story. The main magical element is the blending of the two days. The story jumps back and forth between the two and never distinguishes between them.
The realistic elements include Toni's actions. He shows how dogs spend their days lying under a tree and eating all day. Another realistic element depends on how one accepted the events that happened within the two parallel days. If the girls were not actually turned in to dogs but were just pretending, then this fact is another realistic element. Children often pretend they are animals, expecially dogs.
In magical realism, "the text contains something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as we know them" (Faris 167) and the "descriptions detail a stong presence of the phenomenal world" (Faris 169). These quotes explain why one might think that this story is magical realism due to the two different worlds that are going on at the same time. Also, one "experience[s] the closeness or near-merging of two realms, two worlds" (Fari...
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...l Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 249-263.
Garro, Elena. "The Day We Were Dogs." Latin American Writers: Thirty Stories. Ed. Gabriells Ibieta. New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1993. 206-212.
Faris, Wendy B. "Scherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995.
Sandner, David. "Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-Century Children's Fantasy Literature." The Fantastic Sublime. Westport, C.T.: Greenwood Press. 45-65, 142-147.
Theim, Jon. "The Textualization of the Reader in Magical Realist Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 235-247.
In the book Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, magical realism plays a large roll in the book. Magical Realism blends realistic elements with magical elements to create ‘magical realism.’ As a matter of fact, magical realism is used for a graphical explanation to access a better comprehension of reality; therefore, the readers can understand the connection from primeval or magical. In other words, fictional realism emphasis the elements of everyday life. Laura Esquivel effectively uses a fictional style to voice magical elements such as, Tita’s breast milk, the quail with rose pedals in the soup and the death of Pedro and Tita.
Six months ago, she stood in front of her mirror, examining her body closely. Her stomach was flat and smooth, her waistline was to die for, and her friends and even complete strangers wished they had her shape in her size five jeans. She never had to work out, never played any sports, and she did not know what a squat was. She was happy and confident as her scale read 120 pounds. She smiled at the reflection of herself. She proudly wore her Seton Hall tank top and loved the feel of it. Six months later, she examines herself again. Her stomach has a little bulge and her hips spread slightly. Her skin hangs over her jeans, enticing her friends and family to laugh and pinch at it. The button on those size five jeans always comes undone when she sits down, consequently causing an open fly to embarrass her whenever she leaves class. She had to buy six new pairs of jeans, all of which were size sevens and nines. The Seton Hall tank top that she proudly wore before now has a tear on one of the straps and a hole in the back stitching. Her scale reads an unthinkable 130 pounds; she walks around shell shocked, for the rest of the day.
Justinian’s position of carrying the bowl with the bread of Eucharist can be seen as a tribute. This tribute or nod is to the True King who appears in the neighboring apse
"The Day We Were Dogs" is a short story written by an author born in Puebla, Mexico, in 1993. Elena Garro's major themes revolve around the concepts of time and memory. I do not believe this story is a true example of magical realism; however I do see the sublime and the fantastic used in this story.
Dewey Dell’s conflict Dewey Dell is the fourth child, and the only daughter, of Anse and Addie Bundren in As I Lay Dying. “Dewey Dell monologues are characterized with unarticulated wishes, powerful but poorly misunderstood emotions, and weakness.” From the dialogue, Darl said to Dewel Dell that Addie is going to die and she will die before they get back from the lumber job. Based on the story As I Lay Dying, does Dewey Dell hates Darl or she doesn’t? If yes, what is the reason?
Many men knew that if women were educated, they would not depend on the men. For centuries, only men were educated. In the 1800, women started to come out of their house and reached for the education in colleges. Most people were antagonistic to having women go to college and having the same education as men. They thought that women should just take care of their husband and kids. The society thought that coed colleges were more barbaric, because they thought that men and women could not work together. The women’s colleges became a light for the women in 1800’s. Women learned to stand up for their rights by getting educated in college.
Magical Realism is a genre of fictional literature and art. According to Zamora and Faris, Magical Realism is a fictional world in which the magic "is no longer quixotic madness, but normative and normalizing. " The irreducible element in every Magical Realist story is natural yet not explainable by logic or common knowledge. The lack of explanation of what is considered, by the readers, an implausible happening is often hard to swallow. To mitigate the reader's common reaction of distrust of the narrator, Magical Realist writers employ certain literary tactics to help quell the reader's incredulity.
Writers as well as many people make or mislabel stories. Magical, unreal, real, fantastic, and the sublime are just a few types of different labels that a person can use. The different types of stories are amusing and fun. The world is made up of all types of different labels of material for stories that people like to read and enjoy. Elana Garro is one of the Spanish authors who has written stories that have been mislabeled and put with other stories that were listed under the magical and the unreal. The short story "The Day We Were Dogs" is one of the stories that has been misplaced. Elana Garro wrote this story in 1993.
Fantasy, Magical, Supernatural, Sublime, and Realism are all several genres of literature that may be familiar to many people. However, there may be one that is not as well-known as these: Magical Realism. Although Magical Realism is mostly common in the Latin American countries, one may wonder where and how Magical Realism got its start. On the other hand, one may simply wonder what some of the characteristics of Magical Realism are. By looking at the history and theory of Magical Realism as well as some of its characteristics and influences, these questions will be answered.
In an extensive world of literature, with over 20 unique styles of fiction, it can be easy to forget what makes a genre what it is. Especially with minor genres, it is not uncommon for one to be reading what one thinks is a specific genre, but ends up being a completely different one. Magical realism, a genre that resembles many other genres of fiction, is commonly misunderstood because it has such different elements that may be overlooked as other genres. Magical realism separates itself from other styles of fictions by having metamorphosis, magical elements without fantasy, and does not follow the typical constructs of western time. All this occurs with the characters in the story treating these with normality.
Magical Realism evolved only in the last century. Franz Roh was the first to use the term to describe paintings and the new style that had come about after the expressionistic era (7, p.15), however it was Alejo Carpentier who used it to describe Latin America's fanatastical writing styles (3, p.373). He felt that magical realism expounded upon reality and "was able to elude realism's insufficiency, in its inablility to describe an ex-centric experience"(3, p.373). Latin America, though perhaps the first to name the new writing phenomena, was not the only country to use it. In the course of this paper I will compare and contrast several different novels from female authors who evoked magical realism into their writing styles. These authors come from Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean, showing the wide range of history and environments. Feeling that the Caribbean alone may prove to narrow a topic for a style that has taken the world by storm, I felt it only fitting that other countries should be included the theme of women in the paper. Also, I selected Africa and parts of Latin America to compare to Caribbean writings because these two continents play a pivotal role in shaping what the Caribbean has become today.
Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 109-116.
In order to see how Magical Realism is found in this treatment, one must first consider at least one of the identifying marks of Magical Realism. Among the characteristics that identify Magical Realism is the feeling of transcendence that the reader has while reading a Magical Realist text (Simpkins 150). During transcendence, a reader senses something that is beyond the real world. At the same time, however, the reader still feels as if he or she were rooted in the world (Sandner 52). After the reader undergoes transcendence, then he or she should have a different outlook on life.
Magical realism is a term that describes contempory fiction. Magical realism blends magical or fantastical elements with reality this means that they put something that’s real, and is meant to be fake to be used as reality. It tells its story from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective. Magical realism is used in a lot of stories, but it takes a role in one of the stories we read in class which was “The Handsomest Drowned Man”.
Teachers will always have that student in their classroom that is very disruptive, does not do well in the class, and acts like they do not care about their grade. Certain teachers will think this child cannot be changed and they just want them out of their classroom. Other teachers will see this student as a gift. Once you dig into that student’s background and talk to that student one-on-one, you may see that the student acts that way for a certain reason. Teachers who see these students as much more than “problem children” are the most extraordinary ones.