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Magical Realism In Allende's The House Of The Spirits

Decent Essays

People are afraid of the unknown and things that they cannot understand. It is something that people spend their entire lives trying to understand, but there will always be an unknown, something people fear. Magic is one of these things, it is something that people do not understand and therefore fear.In the novel, The House of the Spirits, the author includes a dog named Barrabas which seems normal enough in the beginning but quickly grows to the size of a horse. This is an example of magical realism in the novel which is a commonly used device by the author. Through magical realism, Allende explores the idea that Barrabas connects the magical world and reality. In the passage, Allende purposely contrasts the personality of Barrabas to his physical characteristics, she gives him a fearsome appearance when he is actually very kind and …show more content…

Allende describes him by saying that “he was as black and silent as a panther, liked ham and every known type of marmalade” (Allende 34-35). This use of juxtaposition describes Barrabas perfectly, she uses a simile in the beginning to connect his appearance to that of a panther, one of the most dangerous animals in the jungle, but then she follows it up with an innocent statement saying that he likes ham and marmalade. This juxtaposition shows his connection between the two worlds, his is like a panther, which is an extremely mysterious being, and then he likes ham and marmalade, something that a normal dog likes which brightens his personality. This is not the only example of the connection of the two worlds, “Despite his docility, Barrabas inspired terror” in the lives of everyday people (Allende 40-41). At parties in his owner's house, he just takes all the food that he wants and nobody tries to stop him because they are all too afraid that he will bite their heads off. This is just one more example of the people's fear of the unknown. These people

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