Josephine Pham

Dr. Mary Warner

ENG 112B, Section

5 December 2007

Modern Fantasy: Elements of Magical Realism

“The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened” –Unknown

Many critics have questioned fantasy as a legitimate genre for teaching because of its unrealistic qualities. Through the fusion of lifelike features of ordinary characters and paranormal elements of inexplicable events, magical realism alters the distinction between reality and fantasy, defying some of the condemnations against the genre as enlightening young adult literature. Magical realism can be a valuable part of broadening the students’ education through abstract thought and more profound assessment of the text. Because of the fantastic factors that obscure realistic meanings, students learn to doubt what is authentic and go beyond literal meaning with creative use of imagination. Through an interdisciplinary course of questioning what is real and believing anything is possible, young adults will gain an autonomous rationale as well as learn to cope with their current transitional period in life with optimism and hope for alternative solutions. Bearing in mind that there is a range of magical realism writers in different parts of the world, this unit would be fitting for a World Literature course.

The center text of the unit plan that I have chosen is Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate. The protagonist, Tita De La Garza, experiences turmoil with forbidden love, personal conflicts with family traditions, and finding self. In a combination of realistic strife of everyday characters and magical elements arisen from dramatic emotions, Esquivel depicts a teenager’s dilemma balancing societal definitions of self and forming a solid sense of individuality. Students can appreciate magical realism literature such as this piece of work for its relatable and inspiring qualities as they apply magical realism to their own lives.

Launching the Unit

Prior to reading Like Water for Chocolate, introduce the unit using some or all of the following activities:

1) Read a traditional folktale from students’ childhood with a modern twist. The familiarity of the story will engage students with the reminiscence of initial exposure to literature works as well as act as a leeway to the modernization and universal affect of fantasy. Some collections of short stories are:

Andersen, Hans Christiansen. Fairy Tales, 1835.

Block, Francesca Lia. Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, 2000.

Brooke, William J. Untold Stories, 1992.

Donoghue, Emma. Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins, 1997.

2) Show a slideshow of magical realism artists to emphasize the movement in other domains besides literature. Discuss how the magical elements of the portraits elevate the message of the artist. Some examples of magical realism artists* are:

Ivan Albright (1897-1983), U.S.A.

“Flesh (Smaller than Tears Are the Little Blue Flowers),” 1928

“There Were No Flowers Tonight (Midnight),” 1929

“Into the World There Came a Soul Called Ida,” 1929-30

Georgio de Chirico (1888 - 1978), Italy

“The Anguish of Departure,” 1913

“The Nostalgia of the Poet,” 1914

George Tooker (1920), USA

“Bird Watchers,” 1948

“Highway,” 1953

“Window VII,” 1963

*All mentioned artists, additional artists, and other examples of magical realism art available at:

http://www.the-artists.org/movement/Magic_Realism.html

3) Discussion questions for journal writing

a. How did belief in magical characters, such as Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, or impossible events make a difference to the way you saw the world when you were younger? Do you think it affected your childhood in a positive or negative way? How have your interpretations of the world changed since you realized that these things did not exist?

b. Have you or someone you know ever experienced something that was inexplicable? How does this relate to your understanding of the real world?

c. What is the difference between truth and perception? How does this affect the authenticity of someone’s beliefs? (i.e. religion, interpretation of an event, etc.)

Like Water for Chocolate Activities

During the course of reading the novel, do these activities to develop understanding of magical elements in the text:

1) Have students make a “List of Ten” of magical events that affect the themes of the story. Some examples are:

a. The use of magic to describe emotions of any character

b. The use of magic for hope/resiliency in difficult situations

c. The use of magic in disastrous situations

d. The use of magic to explain mysterious events

2) Esquivel’s novel incorporates vivid descriptions of magic to portray emotions of the characters. Have students participate in an SSW session where they use creative writing to express any emotion.

3) After reading the novel, show a film depiction of Like Water for Chocolate. (Note: Find a censored version if possible because the film is rated R. As an alternate, teachers can show important clips of the film that illustrate magical realism).

4) Tita’s cooking is a major element of magical realism in the novel. Similar to Tita’s use of food to cope with stressful situations, have students discuss types of food they eat to make them feel better and why it helps. Teachers can also bring types of food that typical adolescents use to cope with difficult situations during movie day, such as ice cream.

Extending the Unit

After reading Like Water for Chocolate as a class, introduce other selections of Young Adult novels to the class as a book pass. Have students look at the choices and select the top four that interest them. Match choices accordingly to place students in groups of four for a book circle. Groups will designate reading assignments for each class period (Require all groups to finish their novels at a given date to avoid unit discrepancy). Students will discuss how their particular novel relates to themes of magical realism to the class, allowing opportunities to compare and contrast. Group members will rotate roles each time they meet. The roles are:

a. Discussion facilitator: responsible for discussion questions from assigned reading

b. Summarizer: responsible for reporting summary of assigned reading

c. Note-taker: responsible for writing key notes during discussion

d. Speaker: responsible for presenting key ideas of magical realism to the class

Students will turn in their portion of the book circles each class period for credit. The exposure to multiple works of magical realism will enhance students’ understanding of the genre. They can broaden their understanding of truth and perception through different aspects of realistic novels of fantasy. The following novels are examples of magical realism literature that teachers can use for book circles (All annotations taken from www.Barnes&Noble.com).

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America

Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond: Thirteen-year-old Kit goes to live with his grandfather in the decaying coal-mining town of Stoneygate, England, and finds both the old man and the town haunted by ghosts of the past.

City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende: When fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold accompanies his individualistic grandmother on an expedition to find a humanoid Beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya: Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima enters his life. She is a curandera, one who heals with herbs and magic…She graces him with the courage to face childhood bigotry, diabolical possession, the moral collapse of his brother, and too many violent deaths. Under her wise guidance, Tony will probe the family ties that bind him, and he will find in himself the magical secrets of the pagan past—a mythic legacy equally as palpable as the Catholicism of Latin America in which he has been schooled.

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farm: While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape an unwanted marriage, Nhamo, an eleven-year-old Shona girl, struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

Stained Glass by Michael Bedard: Charles Endicott discovers many things about himself and his past as he follows a homeless girl through the streets of his hometown on a warm summer day.

Kalpana’s Dream by Judith Clarke: While an English class of 7B students at Wentworth High in Australia struggle with a six-week essay assignment answering, "Who am I?," one child's great-grandmother arrives unexpectedly from India to follow her dream.

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush by Virginia Hamilton: Fourteen-year-old Tree, resentful of her working mother who leaves her in charge of a retarded brother, encounters the ghost of her dead uncle and comes to a deeper understanding of her family's problems.

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman: Haunted by grief and by her past after losing her family in a fire, fifteen-year-old Green retreats into her ruined garden as she struggles to survive emotionally and physically on her own

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat: A Haitian-American writer of subtle power and great beauty presents a collection of intimate stories about the raw longings of people for some chance at peace and happiness for themselves and their imprisoned society, about existences contorted by forced separation, and of personal lives shot through with terror.

Individual presentations can also deepen the students’ understanding of magical realism, establish autonomous thinking, questioning of reality, and optimism for alternate possibilities. Have students choose from different options for projects so different learners play to their best interests and strengths in their work. Some possibilities for projects are:

a. Find and write about unrealistic elements that distort understanding of reality in different parts of the media. Some examples include reality television as a representation of real life, popular television series with elements of surrealism in ordinary settings (i.e. Heroes, Smallville, etc.), or bias of news reports (the war, portrayal of other countries, etc.). Explain how media positively or negatively distorts the understanding of real life using by stretching the truth.

b. Have students create their own fairy tale/magical world or recreate a modern version of a traditional story. This can be a vivid description on paper or display model of the creation. Explain how the magical elements fuse elements of reality.

c. Students can do artwork with a theme of magical realism—painting, drawing, sculptures, etc.

d. Act out important scenes of magical realism from Like Water for Chocolate. This should be a brief montage of important events. Students have the option of making a video or using the classroom as a stage.

e. Research reports of mysterious events (miracles, strange events, etc.) in magazines, the internet, articles, journals, or newspapers and explain why people overlooked these findings as unrealistic and illogical.

Concluding Activities

As a conclusion to the unit plan, have students read criticism articles such as “What is Real? Asked the Rabbit One Day” by Patrick Merla, which depicts the pros and cons of fantasy and realism fused in young adult literature. After exposure to various forms of magical realism and going back to pre-writing activities and journals, have students write an expository essay about whether they agree or disagree with fantasy as an acceptable Young Adult resource using what resources they have studied, personal experiences, and real world observations.

Overall, students should be able to distinct a sense of personal rational from influence in other’s beliefs. Through the unification of fantasy and realism, students will be able to embrace doubt as a positive notion of intellectual and explorative process.

Works Cited

Allende, Isabel. City of the Beasts. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

Almond, David. Kit's Wilderness. 1. New York: Delacorte Press, 2000.

Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New York, NY: Signal Hill, 1989.

Andersen, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1945.

Barnes & Nobles. 2007. 5 Dec 2007

<http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bookstore.asp?z=y&r=1>.

Bedard, Michael. Stained Glass. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2001.

Block, Francesca Lia. The Rose and the Beast Fairy Tales Retold. New York: HarperCollins,

2000.

Brooke, William J.. Untold Tales. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Clarke, Judith. Kalpana's Dream. Asheville, N.C.: Front Street, 2004.

Danticat, Edwidge. Krik? Krak!. New York: Soho Press, 1995.

Donoghue, Emma. Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. New York: Anchor Books, 1995.

Farmer, Nancy. A Girl Named Disaster. New York: Orchard Books, 1996.

Hamilton, Virginia. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush. New York: Philomel Books, 1982.

Hoffman, Alice. Green Angel. New York: Scholastic, 2003.

"Magic Realism." Artists and the Art. 2007. the-artists.org. 5 Dec 2007

<http://www.the-artists.org/movement/Magic_Realism.html>.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Perennial Classics, 1989.

Merla, Patrick. "'What is Real?' Asked the Rabbit One Day." Saturday Review 55(1972): 43-49.