Mysticism And Magic In The Mistress Of Spices And The Palace Of Illusions

Magical realism is the blend of magic and reality, it treats magical occurrences as mundane. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya a young boy, Tony experiences magical events when an old curandera, Ultima comes to live with his family. As Tony experiences death, magical healing, and fulfillment from a non-catholic god, he starts to contemplate his religious beliefs and direction in life. Magical realism is used throughout the book with symbols like the golden carp, the owl, and water. The symbolism enriches the text by adding depth to magical realism.

Jacquelyn Barrett’s spookiest experience was, less than a year ago, she got a call from my oldest sister Hannah saying,”did you hear what happened to Grandpa Barrett?” For over two hours she was stuck inside of Citrus Valley Gym, playing with the boys volleyball team. Right after practice ended, her mom got a call from her dad and the next thing she remembers her mom saying “do you know? Grandpa Barrett passed away about a half an hour ago. “Right away on that day 3 April 2017 at 4:50 her life had changed forever. This scenario relates to Gothic literature and Magical realism because it was a very surreal moment. These genres are similar because both genres blend reality and magical moments in one. Gothic literature is a setting that begins with bleak setting and has an ambiguous ending. Also it has a scary and mysterious feeling and makes you wonder what's going to happen next. It impacts the reader by putting intelligent words and a gloomy setting. A example of gothic literature is in the story “Where is here”. In the story “Where is Here” a stranger appears at the family's house and the family reacted with curiosity and concern(69). Magical Realism is a literary genre, therefore there is a realistic narrative and natural techniques, combine with surreal elements of dream or fantasy. Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is a good example of Magical Realism because both the brother and sister started to hear “noises” coming from a part of the house, so they limited

As stated in Paul Freedman’s, Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination, “The passion for spices underlies the beginning of the European colonial enterprise, a force that remade the demography, politics, culture, economy, and ecology of the entire globe” (Freedman 3). By the mid- fifteenth century, the Silk Road was deteriorating, leaving the world with the solid grasp on trading, as well as supply and demand. Every country and area had developed their “trade mark” and had adequate understanding on the process of trading. At this time, European’s still had many mysteries they were trying to solve, regarding demography, politics, culture, economy, and ecology, as Freedman mentioned. Spices gave European’s the gateway they needed to unlock many new ideas. This new desired commodity enabled European’s to think “outside the box,” which resulted in a multitude of uses for spices, which made them an even more luxurious item. According to Freedman, “Of all the world’s commodities, spices most dramatically affected history because they launched Europe on the path to eventual overseas conquest, a conquest whose success and failure affects every aspect of contemporary world politics” (3). Freedman exhibits here that spices not only affected Europe, but the whole world as well. Spices intertwined Europe with the rest of the world. Because spices were a undiscovered product by most of the world, it was a mystery on how they should be used, and what they should be used with.

Joan Didion’s tone of the “cool customer” in The Year of Magical Thinking interacts with the content of traumatizing loss by creating a feeling organization through the chaos that is taking over her life. Didion starts with a description of traumatic events and the seemingly “ordinary” situations that they appear from. These statements of how ordinary death can seem are followed by descriptions of the moments after her husband’s death yet we are not told that he is not dead yet only how the events passed by. Didion’s description of her journey through her husband’s death furthers the tone of the cool customer. She tells us of the discussion they were having about world war one moments before he slumps over in his chair and even her chaotic

non-fiction. From her wide array of published works this critical analysis will be focused on her

In her novel So Far From God, author Ana Castillo tells a story which heavily relies on elements of magic realism. What I found to be particularly interesting in the way in which Castillo's novel works is the effect that her heavy focus on themes of magical realism has while working alongside with the style of narration which she chooses to use in her novel. While Castillo's narrative style can often times be confusing, as the focus of her story jumps around between the individual lives of Sofi, Fe, Esperanza, Caridad, and la Loca, as well as a result of the fact that the story is told in a back and forth combination of Spanish and English, Castillo's style of narration along with the constant theme of magical realism work well together in succeeding to make one of the points which it seems she is trying to make. Through her focus on magical realism in the lives of each of her characters, as well as the way in which she chooses to narrate her novel, Ana Castillo is able to successfully show the way in which the women of color which her novel revolves around are put at an incredible disadvantage in the world.

training in the ancient craft of spices and initiation in the rite of fire allow her to become immortal and powerful. Travelling across time and space, Tilo comes to live in Oakland, California, in the form of an aged woman and establishes herself as a healer who prescribes spices as remedies for her customers. Although the novel appears to diverge thematically from the concerns in her poetry and short stories, Mistress does address similar issues, as Tilo becomes involved in a romance that ultimately requires her to choose between two lifestyles a supernatural immortal life and a more typical modern life, her themes of love, struggle, and opposing cultures become apparent.

Latin American literature is perhaps best known for its use of magical realism, a literary mode where the fantastical is seamlessly blended with the ordinary, creating a sort of enhanced reality. Though magical realism is practiced by authors from other cultures, the works of authors Salman Rushdie and Toni Morrison, for example, are notable examples of non-Latin works in which magical realism has been used to both great effect and great celebration, it is in the works of Latin American authors where the style has flourished and made its mark on the literary world. Yet even in Latin American works we can find many different kinds of magical realism, all used to achieve a different end. In the works of the Cuban poet and novelist

Peter Morton in “The Trials of Tempel Anneke” discusses different types of magic including high magic, used by those educated, such as alchemy, and low magic including spells and charms. It is of the popular belief that maleficium alone would not have caused many witch trials in Europe, rather it was due to the belief of a link between maleficium and diabolism which requires a pact with the Devil (Morton, 2006). Magic was not uncommon in early modern Europe and was accepted in communities. Fear of magic linked to the Devil encouraged fear of low magic and accusations of witchcraft. Anna Roleffes, also known as Tempel Anneke, was arrested in 1663 due to accusations of witchcraft presented by her neighbors. Tempel Anneke had many attributes

The Malleus Maleficarum also showed a belief in women being more susceptible to witchcraft due to their physical state. The Malleus was published in Germany in 1487 and was written by two monks, Kramer and Sprenger. This text helped to spark witch trials in Cologne in 1487 and 1491 and Trier in 1497 and 1501 . The Malleus showed very misogynistic views and until its publication men had been accused of witchcraft just as much as women . This suggests that the Malleus was a contributing factor to the number of women prosecuted as witches.

There are countless reports throughout history of occurrences where society feared one another, but rarely were there occurrences where society felt feared and confident of one another. There was once a society that feared accusation, but trusted their struggles would disappear with the help of another. Witchcraft was the incredible yet terrifying thing that was responsible for this great uproar in some societies. According to the text Identity, Race and Power, witchcraft is a belief system that serves as a method of social control by directing anger towards others (Miller et al. 2013:214).. Throughout history the individuals with political power would use witchcraft as an excuse to maintain order throughout a given society. Looking at particular societies in Malta and South Africa this paper seeks to provide evidence as to how witchcraft operates to maintain a sense of “order”.

The notion of witchcraft has been around long before the witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Different cultures have different images and stereotypes on what a witch is and what “magical” abilities he or she may possess. Many people however, did not look at these “magical” men and women as bad until the Holy Roman Empire began to look negatively on those people who were different, and opposed the norm set by the elites. Driven by fear, those living under the control of the Holy Roman Empire would began to blame other people for diabolical actions, or malicious activities. Women and some men, were tortured and tested in cruel ways in attempt of finding evidence or gaining a confession that the accused was a witch. Laws about how which were persecuted

In the introduction of the book Magic in the Middle Ages chapter, one emphasizes the definition of magic. During the medieval era, Europeans believed that there were two types of magic, which were called natural and demonic. As natural magic was considered to have a correlation with science as the Wolfsthurn handbook illustrated the usage of a combination of herbs and magic in conjunction. For example, using herbs to treat an illness with the addition of reciting specific words was deemed as natural magic. On the other hand, demonic magic was not thought to be a form of science but was a perverted depiction of religion. That demonic magic’s power source was from demons and that words that could not be interpreted were thought to be demon names. In addition, treatments that involved animal skin from the Wolfsthurn book would be considered demonic magic as it was suggested that it was a ceremonial sacrifice to demons.

Move over, cinnamon and nutmeg, make way for cardamom and sumac.” The spice cabinet Dumas is referring to is a representation of society which have a close minded view on immigrants. The spices cardamom and sumac are spices rarely used by individuals, so people tend to stay away from them because they are so uncommon. Dumas is able to get

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.