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Elements Of Magical Realism

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Magical realism in incorporating fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction while encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, expresses a primarily realistic view of the real world while also adding or revealing magical elements. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, The Handsomest Drowned Man, Light is Like Water, by Gabriel García Marquez and Bless Me Última by Rudolfo Anaya are all short stories and novels where magical realism is the main element. The elements of the magical and the everyday are interwoven seamlessly, which makes it very difficult to determine where reality ends and the extraordinary begins. Gabriel Garcia Marquez demonstrates this element in “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” stating “ The Doctor Who took care of the child couldn't resist the temptation to listen to the angels heart, he found so much whistling in the heart and so many cells in his kidneys but it seemed impossible for him to be alive. What surprised him the most, however, was the logic of his wings. They seem so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn't understand why other men didn't have them too”(paragraph 11). Garcia smoothly integrates the angel into the story in which the characters finds the angel ordinary, and even begin to question why everyday characters do not have wings as well. Gabriel Garcia Marquez also displays this element in “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” where Garcia introduces a giant into the story but not

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