'And Of Clay We Were Created And Fences'

Fiction Essay Professor Anderson English 300 5 April 2024 For my comparative essay, I chose to reflect on 2 poems. Of those two poems, they both reflect on the audience and the writer emotionally. I chose Isabel Allende’s “And of clay we were created” and August Wilson’s “Fences”. I chose to write about these two poems interpretively because both authors caught my attention on an emotional platform. Both authors were able to draw me in and give me room to understand all of the characters in their poems. Allende’s “And of clay we were created” was written in 1989 while Wilson’s “Fences” was written in 1987. I could immediately hear a tone of familiarity due to such a close time frame between the two poems. Within my reading I have concluded

In “And of play we were created” Miss Allende captivated me emotionally with distinctive words such as” equanimity, imperceptivity, and clay. These words may seem of small distinction, but they have great meaning in character development, setting of the poem and emotion. This story is about death, growth and triumph. Rolf Carle and a little girl named Azucena center the story as it is told by Rolf’s lover. As you see, she is sinking in clay, but so is Rolf. Rolf’s lover describes him as having great equanimity when in the face of danger or suffering. To be equanimous one must have great strength mentally and then almost an impossible emotional surface to crack. Allende described Rolf perfectly in this light. For example, in the text Rolf’s lover explained “It seemed as if nothing could shake his fortitude or deter his curiosity. Fear never seemed to touch him.” (Allende). This description of him allowed for the audience to get to know him before experiencing Azucena sink and afterward. In retrospect but also in similarity as we've seen, uh, was not only dying but accepting death and life for what it had

Well eventually, to the readers eye, Rolf was still suffering. The text mentioned that as Rolf was holding on to Azucena's hand and comforting her, he was reminded of how he held his sister during her last breath. This ultimately brought him to tears. His shell had broken. Allende did an amazing job here by mentioning his past to draw a connection and relative to death. This form of fiction astonished me because of the use of the five senses. The writer had used these so well that I began to hear people screaming around me as I read. Rolf’s epiphany also allowed him to remember the sense of death. The text stated that “the unexpected odor of putrescent clay took Rolf by surprise, as he held Katerina under the table”. Allende said the space he was in with Azucena had become such a strong force that he welcomed his own memories to become a factor of support and healing. This part was so special to me because it gave me permission to see Rolf in a different light. He was no longer equanimous, but strong. His perseverance in tragedy proved his strength by being there for a little girl that had hopes of living, but unfortunately