Sophie's Response

Response to Final Blog Question, Sophie Keller
The fact that we are asking this question suggests that Marquez and Allende use magical realism to make their readers question the world around them. Many people prefer read without dissecting the book they are reading. However, Allende and Marquez want none of that. When Clara is speechless, Nivea tells her outrageous, magical stories. “She [nourishes] the hope that if she [keeps] putting ideas into Clara’s head, sooner or later [Clara will] ask a question and regain her speech” (Allende 79). Similarly, Allende and Marquez put strange and magical ideas into their readers’ heads so that their readers will regain their speech, and actively question and dissect their books. By creating obvious un-truths and straying far from the path of reality, the authors hope to draw attention to the many strange occurrences which happen outside the pages of their novels. However, this creates a conflict. If they want the reader to notice the oddities in their stories (and hence, be aware of the oddities in their own world), why do Allende and Marquez slip surreal elements into their stories so seamlessly? Each author creates a novel in which magic is such a part of the characters’ universe that half the time the reader must make an effort to even notice its inclusion. Allende and Marquez are making the point that extraordinary and unusual events exist in peoples’ everyday lives more often than they are aware of. Perhaps many are unaware of this fact because these events are often so seamlessly integrated, and on a much smaller scale than the happenings in House of the Spirits and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Therefore, Allende and Marquez include magic in their novels on a much grander scale. When made large, the reader sees and questions and perhaps becomes aware of eccentricities in their own lives.