Magical realism is as a type of genre in which illogical scenarios regularly occur in an otherwise completely normal world. These magical events are initially not questioned and looked upon as realistic by the characters in the tale. The validity of this genre can be proven by Jorge Luis Borge's “The Circular Ruins” and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”. I believe that both of these stories are indeed written in the style of Magical realism. My belief can be validated using irony regarding the author's perspective, foreshadowing, hybridity, irony, theme of the paradoxical bodily disgust, author's reticence and theme of cycles. By utilizing the aforestated characteristics and themes, the following essay will supply evidence that these stories are written in this controversial style.
Jorge Luis Borges utilizes socratic irony, or irony regarding the author's perspective in “The Circular Ruins”. Socratic irony can be more clearly defined as a professor or teacher acting ignorant simply to reveal the obliviousness of the student he is questioning. In this story, the wizard created a school full of pupils. He dreamt that he stood in a circular amphitheater, surrounded by a massive amount of silent yet eager students anxious to answer his questions. He shared his knowledge with the pupils, who all tried to respond as best as they could. It was as if they had “...guessed the importance of that examination which would redeem one of them from his condition of empty illusion and interpolate him into the real world” (page 57). All of the pupils believed what the dreamer was saying to be pure fact without questioning it. Throughout this procedure, the wizard was testing how much his students knew, at the same time “...seeking a soul worthy of participating in the universe” (page 58). The wizard selected one and only one student whom he believed had the potential to become a real human being, noticing some obvious similarities to himself. The selected pupil as well as the rest of the entire student body was eventually impossible for the man to dream and was completely erased. This inability to produce his amphitheater full of students also foreshadowed the fact that the dreamer was simply a dream himself. At that point, for the first time in the story the realness of the wizard's magic was questioned. This is hinting that the wizard is indeed nothing more than a mere dream and illusion himself.
The validity of Magical realism can also be proven in “The Circular Ruins” through the theme of cycles. Looking deeper into Borge's story, you will find that mostly everything is circular. Firstly, the temple in which he continuously dreamt was shaped like a circle. After entering the temple, he soon afterwards dreamt a dream in which the pattern continued. The amphitheater he taught his pupils in was again, shaped like a circle. Later in the story, during the wizard's obligation to dream a man, he imagined his unreal son carrying out identical ceremonies in other circular ruins. Again, more circles. Buildings were not the only circular elements to be found in this story. Time is as well circular, as the story line has no beginning, middle, or end, and events simply keep repeating themselves. Time was not being displayed as linear like in most stories, but cyclical instead. This theme foreshadowed the result of the dreamer being an illusion himself. “At times he was disturbed by the impression that all of this had already happened...” (page 61). He was also aware of the fact that even though the temple was the color of ashes, it had once been the color of fire. This implied that he had been in the circular temple before, and knew that “...what happened many centuries before was repeating itself” (page 63). Authorial reticence is also related to this theme, because the wizard does not question any of the unexplainable events occurring around him, he simply accepts them. “...He noticed - somehow, without amazement – his wounds had healed,” (page 55). The dreamer did not question his miraculous healing, nor was he in shock. He knew that he had “...lived this scene before in the person who had dreamed him...” (Magical Realism Outline packet, page 2) and that his son would live the same scene. The wizard accepted this cyclical life without question.
I believe that the hybridity found in “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” by Garbriel Garcia Marquez is evidence that this story is also written in the style of Magical realism. Hybridity is a common characteristic often used by Magical realists by mixing two opposite factors. “Authors establish these plots to reveal a crucial purpose of magical realism; a more deep and true reality than conventional realist techniques would illustrate” (“What is Magical Realism?” packet, page 2). The elderly, frail angel discovered by Pelayo and Elisenda was a supernatural creature because he came from heaven. He stayed and interacted with the real world although he was from a completely different place. He mixed “... with the real world, if only in a limited way, but still cohabiting with the family” (Magical Realism Outline packet, page 3). During his presence and this interaction, two opposites are being mixed together without any question. The element of irony is also involved in this situation, because most would not expect the angel to look as he did in the story. The general image of an angel is usually young, stunning, and inspiring. In this case, the man was dirty, crippled and elderly. “There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away any sense of grandeur he might have had...” (pages 217 to 218). He was the exact opposite of what you'd expect of an angel.
The theme of paradoxical bodily disgust and celebration is a major part of “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, and in addition proves that Magical realism is a valid style of writing. This theme basically means that the people in the village were both amazed and in awe that they had an angel near them, but “...at the same time disgusted by his habits and language,” (Magical Realism Outline Packet, page 3). Although the wings astonished many, they were still dirty, covered in mud, and half-plucked. Even though the old man was indeed an angel which was to be celebrated, he was still a muddy, crippled old man, whom many were repulsed by. This reaction clearly demonstrates the theme of paradoxical bodily disgust and celebration. Irony regarding author's perspective relates to this theme, because the angel is indeed questioned in the story. “They seemed so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn't understand why other men didn't have them too,” (page 224). The doctor as well as the priest questioned the old man's existence as an angel at one point.
Magical realism is a style of literature in which imaginary, illogical events are depicted in an otherwise normal world. “Writers interweave, in an ever-shifting pattern, a sharply etched realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements...” (“What is Magical Realism?” packet, page 1). In both, “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, and “The Circular Ruins”, dreamlike events occur in a realistic world, and are accepted as reality without question. I have proven that the style of Magical realism is in fact a valid genre, and has been used by both Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez through theme, irony, foreshadowing, irony regarding author's perspective, authorial reticence, and hybridity. After finding the evidence that I have supplied in this essay, I have come to believe that Magical realism is indeed a true style of writing.
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