And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende

–What do you think the significance of Allende’s title is? What does it mean to be made of clay? –

-What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?

–Why do you think Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story?

–What did you make of the President’s visit to the site of the disaster? What kind of commentary is Allende making here?

248 And of Clay Are We Created by Isabel Allende, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden BACKGROUND This selection by is fictional, but it is based on a real event. In 1985, a volcano erupted in Colombia. The heat of the volcano melted sheets of ice, resulting in mudslides. More than 23,000 people were killed. The media focused much attention on a. Something about Frustration in a World that being Colored Skin is a Crime.

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende Narration Scripts

Source: Allende, Isabel “And of Clay Are We Created.” In: Isabel Allende The Stories of Eva Luna. Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden 1991. Struggles Of The Clay By Isabel Allende 970 Words 4 Pages. Struggles in the Clay Isabel Allende is the author of the story “And of Clay Are We Created.” Allende wrote a story, based on a real event, about three main characters. These characters are each in different positions in the story.

–How can you connect this story with your own experiences of natural or other disasters? Are there elements of the story that you can relate to? How?

Theme

In “Death Constant Beyond Love” by Gabriel García Marquez there is a theme of death, while in the stories “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabel Allende and “The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges there is a common theme of choice.

Gabriel Garcia-Marquez’s story “Death Constant Beyond Love” is the first story I will be analyzing the theme in. The main character in the story is Senator Onésimo Sánchez who “had six months and eleven days to go before his death when he found the woman of his life” (1653). It is ironic for someone to meet the love of their life before they are about to die. He was told he would be dead by the next Christmas. The Senator does not tell anyone about his death and keeps it a secret, the only people who know are his doctors.

Isabel Allende’s short story, “And of Clay Are We Created” has the theme of choice. The story takes place from the aftermath of the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, which was a volcano eruption in Colombia. Rolfe Carlé, one of the main characters in the story, is a reporter who is covering the mudpit, while he is covering the mudpit he sees a girl, Azucena, trapped in the mud. Carlé’s reporting job kept him busy from remembering his past, which is his time spent in Europe at the concentration camps. Isabel Allende used Azucena to help Rolfe Carlé remember that he will not be able to face his past/fears until he accepts them. Choice can be seen in this line “But he had come face to face with the moment of truth; he could not continue to escape his past. He was Azucena; he was buried in the clayey mud; his terror was not the distant emotion of an almost forgotten childhood, it was a claw sunk in his throat” (1241). Carle finally made the decision to be face to face with reality, and he knew he could no longer escape his past.

Choice in“The Garden of Forking Paths” by Jorge Luis Borges can be seen throughout the story, but I want to point out choice towards the end of the story. In Borges’ short story, he uses alternate universes, “to read one of Borges’s stories is to enter a new reality, imagined with great concreteness as an extension of our own world yet bearing distinctive features of the universes of fantasy and science fiction (1336). He “portrays the universe as a series of alternative versions of experience” (1337) because the story starts as a regular spy story, but then changes. “The Garden of Forking Paths’ was the chaotic novel; the phrase ‘the various futures (not to all)’ suggested to me the forking in time, not in space,” (1342). Yu T’sun finds out“The Garden of Forking Paths” is actually a book about Fang who has a choice to kill an intruder or not to kill him. This made me think of Yu T’sun who had the gun and had the choice to kill or not to kill Madden.

Literary Devices

Jorge Luis Borges uses magical realism in “The Garden of Forking Paths.” Yu Tsun, the main character in the story, is a German spy during World War I. With Yu Tsun being a German spy during this time period, this shows the realism in the story. Yu Tsun seems as though he is weaving his way through a path. Yu Tsun asked for help to navigate his way to Stephen Albert’s house, and the men tell him to turn left at every crossroad.Yu Tsun thought, “The road descended and forked among the now confused meadows,” (1340). The labyrinth represents magical realism. Borges incorporated information about Yu Tsun’s ancestor, Ts’ui Pen, and his labyrinth into the story. Labyrinth’s usually always guides a person to take left turns, which is what Yu Tsun does in the story. It is almost as though Yu Tsun is bringing a story to life because he is literally walking the labyrinth, which is the magical realism in the story. Future writers should re-read “Death Constant Beyond Love” and look for the magical realism in that story.

“Death Constant Beyond Love” uses symbolism in the story. The “rose” symbolizes love or even romance, “Even its name was a kind of joke, because the only rose in that village was being worn by Senator Onésimo Sánchez himself on the same afternoon when he met Laura Farina,” (1653). One can assume that the Senator was looking for love. He obviously believed in love because he was wearing a rose. If you haven’t read the story, you will see the romance between the Senator and Ms. Farina. Symbolism is great in a story. I think of it like a “word search” because symbolism does not always stand out at first, and in some stories or poems you have to find it. Including symbolism in your writing allows for an object or a thing to have a meaning to it. Symbolism adds meaning to a story. I suggest re-reading “Death Beyond Constant Love” and see if you can find any more symbols in the story.

The story “And of Clay Are We Created” uses imagery. One can see imagery in the first sentence of the story, “They discovered the girl’s head protruding from the mudpit, eyes wide open, calling soundlessly.” The use of imagery in this sentence is great because it makes it so easy for the reader to imagine this scene. I love how Isabel Allende chose to start her story this way. It engages and grabs the attention of the reader. I suggest those who are writers to do this. When you start your story with something interesting, your reader will be more interested in reading the story, and he/she will want to read more. This article actually gives 14 books one can read that use imagery. While reading the books, you can figure out exactly how you want to use imagery in your writings.

Works Cited

Allende, Isabel. “And of Clay Are We Created.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, et al., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 1735-1742.

Borges, Jorge Luis. “The Garden of Forking Paths.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, et al., W.W. Norton, 2017, pp. 1337-1344.

“Clay Center of St. Petersburg.” n.d. https://www.groupon.com/deals/clay-center-of-st-petersburg-1

And of clay are we created by isabel allende short story

Davis, Anthony M. “Magical Maze.” 2014. https://scribbledartsfromtheheart.com/2014/07/30/magical-maze/

“Deep Mud Pit.” 2015. http://www.heromud.com/deep-mud-pit/

“Fifty Flowers.” n.d. https://www.fiftyflowers.com/product/xxl-extra-extra-long-stemmed-freedom-red-rose.htm

And Of Clay Are We Created By Isabel Allende

Marquez, Gabriel-Garcia. “Death Constant Beyond Love.” The Norton Anthology of