Carlos Fuentes Aura

In Carlos Fuentes novel “Aura”, many things could be considered experimental. One of the most striking and obvious moments of this is his use of second person point of view and the narrative style. Second person point of view lends a dreamy, distanced effect to the text, and also works to remove an additional layer of identity from the characters as well. There are so many individual interesting aspects to this novel, that combined together they create something that reads off the page as absolutely unique. A mixture of the disassociation of time that seems to be taking place in the story, elements of religious imagery that seem twisted into a concept of the occult, a duality and blending of the characters, and a clouding gothic atmosphere.

While Aura could be called a ghost story, it does not read like a stereotypical haunting that one may expect. There is no blood sweating out of the walls, no scared homeowners bring out a Ouija board, and no demonic presents telling them to get out. Instead, there is what seems to be a helpless little old auntie and her niece caretaker.

Another way the author crafts the story is blending a tinge of magical realism with a whole lot of southern gothic aesthetic. The very environment is dark, the characters must leave all the lights on and learn to navigate the house by feel and by the counting of their steps. A dark, dilapidated house that seems to have been left stuck in the past, mysterious servants that are never actually seen, an old crone like character juxtaposed with a young damsel in distress character, and we have all the makings for something that ends up feeling a bit like an Edgar Allen Poe piece of literature. However, it is easy to see that there are also magical or supernatural forces at play here in the text. There is also extensive use of religious imagery in the text, but it feels almost twisted or blasphemous to the reader. Scenes of sexuality are often mixed with religious ideas, such as found on page 107. This feels as if it is a time that Felipe and the General finally fully merge, just as Consuelo seems to be using and directing Aura as a puppet extension of herself. Beginning this scene, there is the imagery of Aura bathing Felipe’s feet, which could be taken as

a very religious image. In Christian teachings, it’s an act of humility and openness, which seems to be the mirror image of the hidden layers of Consuelo/Aura. Any type of ritual washing like this could also be seen as a baptism scene, as if Felipe is being remade into the likeness and consciousness of the General. Later in the scene, there is also what seems to be a communion wafer, as well as descriptions of their bodies forming a crucifix. “Then you fall on Aura’s naked body, you fall on her naked arms, which are stretched out from one side of the bed to the other like the arms of the crucifix hanging on the wall.”(109) As well as the scenic imagery of “Aura opening up like an alter” that follows soon after. Following that feverish, dreamy sexual encounter between Felipe and Aura, Felipe looks up to notice that Consuelo has been parked in a nearby chair for assumedly the whole time. (111) This is only one of the instances where Consuelo appears to be magically puppeteering Aura’s actions, even though Felipe is told that Aura is there to serve and take care of her sickly Aunt. There is also the moment of the goat being cut up and dismembered, that Felipe spots Consuelo mimicking the actions of Aura, hidden away alone in her bedroom. Religious conviction is warped here, but not in the expected sense of 666 and devil worship. It is clearly a perversion of several rites- foot washing, concept of a possible baptism, and the communion. However, it does not seem to be done with an evil or demonic intention like one might expect. Consuelo seems to be a scared and desperately lonely old woman who is desperate to bring back elements of her youth, even her lost partner who has already passed away.
There is an emergence of a strong theme of duality that goes along with this and fits in easily with the way that mirrors the multiple identity aspect that can also be seen in the characters of the novel. There seems to be not much of a clear distinction as the story progresses and the lines between the identity of the characters becomes even less clear. Both sets meld and seem to become fluid the farther into the possession or projection as the plot progresses. Aura and Consuelo seem to be opposite parts of the whole- old and young, and people who are at beginning and ending stages of life essentially. Mysticism or magic also seems to have strong play in the story- the lines begin to blur slowly but steadily between Consuelo and Aura as well as Felipe and the General. This earlier mentioned scene is also a prime example of the way that the use of the pronoun, “you” that is repeated over and over like a drum beat in the text. It’s a hypnotic repeat that draws the reader in, merging identity just as the sets of characters in the story seem to be merging and intermingling back and forth. The reader is pulled into the action, especially in such an intimate and personal scene such as the one between the characters that ends with Felipe promising to always love Aura no matter what. (111)
Another important theme to note seems to be a fear of mortality, especially in the case of Consuelo.

Seemingly religious, this has turned in a way to a type of action that feels occult, and like the corruption of religious practice, as mentioned before. Though she has religious artifacts all through the house, the reader is left with the distinct feeling that all is not quite right here. The is a mention of a large “black Christ” hanging in one of the bedrooms, as well as the religious shrine like area in Consuelo’s bedroom that seems twisted- it depicts demons and torture instead of assumed and idyllic religious themes or traditional prints. While this plot structure feels as if it may be motivated by a fear on Consuelo’s behalf of death, and a deep desire to resurrect her husband, the novel does make it clear that this is not the first time she has acted bizarrely. Felipe learns in the General’s papers that he once caught her crushing cats in some form of bizarre practice between her

thighs.
There are several points in the story where there seems to a blurring of time, and it almost seems that Felipe in general is disassociated with time and reality. As time progresses and the more Felipe works on the General’s memoirs and lives in the house, he becomes further enmeshed with the character of the General. The character of the General on his own is an intriguing one, as he is seen abstractly through his memoirs. As Felipe himself points out, the General’s papers do not seem to be as impressive as Consuelo made them out to be. Felipe even remarks that “You can make considerable improvements in his style, can tighten up his rambling account of past events.” (57) Even in Consuelo’s description of her late husband, she seems to be molding the image of him as well in her memory. Aura also seems pliable in this sense, the ending suggesting that either she is a projection of Consuelo, or that she is an actual physical person like Felipe who has been taken over by some sort of witchcraft or hypnotism. What seems more likely in the case of Aura is that she feels as if she is a projection of Consuelo, a younger image of herself that she has manufactured. This seems to take a great amount of effort and physical energy for Consuelo to maintain- in the final scenes, Aura has vanished, leaving Consuelo in bed with Felipe, saying “She’ll come back, Felipe. We’ll bring her back together. Let me recover my strength and I’ll bring her back…” (145) Consuelo also admits that she has never been able to keep Aura around for more than a few days at a time. (145) However, it feels left unclear if Felipe has been somehow brainwashed, or even possessed by the consciousness of the General in the end. He is clearly in a different frame of mind at this point, and he seems to realize this himself when he is startled to recognize himself in a photo of the General, if only he covers the General’s beard. (137) In rewriting the General’s past in his memoirs, and reliving it in that sense, it feels that he has left himself open to an invasion of the General. In the end, Felipe feels gone. He had been replaced in that sense, along with any will that he had prior had to leave, or to run away with Aura. As early as page 97, he seems to be losing himself when Felipe does not realize that he’s been preforming his morning ritual out of order as he seems so dazed and dissociated out of his original frame of mind. (97)
The ending of the novel is far from an absolute- readers are left unsure of the reality of what happened, and even if there could be a reality in that sense. The pages fly by like a fever dream, and the use of second person point of view is very persuasive in this sense. The element of the gothic atmosphere almost heightens this- a dark, shadowy house, a servant that is never quite spotted in the light. The General and Felipe become one entity as the story progresses, much as Aura is a projection of Consuelo. While it is easy to see supernatural machinery at play in the text, this is not a typical haunted house story. In a seeming mind bend, Felipe is ensnared and morphed into the identity of the General, and it seems to be a combination of deception and magic on the part of Consuelo. In Felipe’s rewriting of history, one is left with the unsettling feeling that he has become part of it, doomed to be caught in-between in an uncertain house that does not change. At the end of the story, even the reader is not quite sure of what has occurred here, the shadowy nature leaving it open to interpretation and wondering what may happen next. The most striking and powerful quality of this story is that a reader goes away a little less sure of the solidity of identity and individualism, and that feels like the true nature of Fuentes’ success.