Step Two - Innocent Erendira
Look at what you have considered to belong to 'our reality' in this narrative, from your class notes - the accepted version - and use the findings to answer the following questions:
1. What constitutes 'accepted' (some might say - normal) events (actions) in this narrative?
2. Is there an event that you are still uncertain about, the so-called liminal event, somewhere between reality as we know it and the possible reality we tend to shy away from? How so?
3. To go back to the 'normal' happenings in this story - are they more an extension of the characters (their doings, their choices) or of the narrator (his depiction of time and place)?
posted by belag at Wednesday, October 24, 2007
16 Comments:
Events in the first half of Marquez's "Innocent Erendira" which belong to 'our reality' include cooking, doing daily chores, protecting from the intense sunlight with an umbrella, bathing in water with herbs and aromatic leaves, and watering the desert weeds. In addition to this, the placement of a cistern for storage of water in the yard is required in such environment.
In my opinion, the liminal event is the coexistence of the desert, the shanty town, and the mansion. It is unlikely to find a luxurious mansion in a desert, a place where nobody wants to go. In addition, a luxurious mansion is unlikely to exist near a shanty town where a lot of poor people live. However, all these are unlikely to exist but are possible. A rich man might choose to live in that mansion, no matter the environment. To conclude, it is not impossible, yet the chances of finding a mansion in a desert are little.
As far as I am concerned, the 'normal' happenings in this story are primarily an extension of the characters. All of them are a result of the characters' lives, especially Erendira's. The only 'normal' happening which is result of the narrator is concerned with the depiction of the desert.
8:58 AM
Normal events are the everyday chores Erendira has to do for her grandma, and her job.
9:43 AM
Some of the "normal" events in this story are:
- Daily chores
- Smuggling
- Prostitution
- Blind obedience
- Burning of buildings
- Love even in horrible circumstances
Even with the concept of fate that I mentioned earlier, I find it hard to believe that a young girl, no matter how she was raised, would simply let her life be utterly controlled by her grandmother for as long as it was. She eventually plots against her grandmother but for many years she is a slave in all but name yet she obeys like a dog. Slaves rebelled for less reasons than what Erendira was put through.
I think that they "normal" events are an extension of the characters and the narrator's choice. Smuggling and prostitution isn't always a choice people make, however, it is a way of life for many people. Doing chores is a common occurance in families(maybe not to the same extent). The burning of the mansion, however, is a choice the narrator chose.
9:44 AM
1) The normal (accepted) events that occur throughout this story would have to be:
-Erendira's Prostitution
-the everyday chores Erendira does along with their usual lifestyles
-the house burning down
2) I agree with Alek regarding the mansion situated in a desert. I really don't think we would find a mansion stuck in a desert near some shanty town.
-The other supernatural event I see is the "Wind of Misfortune" because the fire that burns down the house is the result of this wind.
3) The "normal" happenings definitely constitute as an extension to the characters. I mentioned the chores that Erendira does which tells us much about how she lives her life as a sort of "slave" and thus her bleak future.
I also think these happenings remind us of the narrator and his personal experiences because it's obviously told in the third person. (omniscient)
9:45 AM
The accepted events (actions) in this narrative are the daily chores that Erendira tends to...such as cooking, cleaning, winding the clocks, taking care of her grandmother, etc. Not looking from the perspective of hard work for such a young girl, but the chores that most kids tend to nowadays.
In my opinion, the so-called liminal event in this story is the setting. The description of the desert and the mansion. Mansions are considered large furnished homes located near nice surroundings and the desert is considered an isloated place. The two don't connect.
In my opinion, the 'normal' happenings in this story are more of an extension of the characters because the story is overall based on the actions of the main characters (Erendira's innocence and the grandmother's power/control).
9:46 AM
1.The events that happen in this Novela are not something for us to be confused about. They are taken from the examples of everyday life. We dont know if everything that happens in the story is true but we have to believe since we see those cases happening in the time that we live!
2.Everything that is told is not that easy to be expressed. There emotions and bad feeling about it that someone cant express them.
3.The characters in the novela are mostly described by the narrator as it is third person omnicient. We dont see Erendira talking to much but everything that happens to her is,mostly, seen by the narrator's prespective.
9:46 AM
1. The 'accepted' events in this story are all the works that Erendira's does at home for her grandmother. It is a real picture of an everyday family life. Since the grandmother is very old and is disable to do all the home obligations, Erendira substitudes her all the time.
2. The event that really took my atention is the Ulises aboilty to change the coluors of the glasses while he touches them! His mother says it is because he fall in love..how so???!!!This supernatural ability is not part of any tradition and is really interesting..
3. I think that the 'normal' happenings of the story are more an extension of the characters because they are related to what the characters do throughout the story and deals with their choises and abilities.
9:47 AM
2.The event that puzzles me is the one that i chose for being a supernatural one(grandmas ability to have premonitions in her sleep) because this too has hapenned to me, i also have had vision and premonitions that have came true not that i am a psychic or anything, however i am saying that these things happen to normal people too.
9:49 AM
The normal events in the narrative are the everyday things like the bathing of the grandmother, putting make up on her face, cleaning the house and the fire. The presence of Dutch people in that area is also a normal event since that region was colonized by them.
The so-called liminal event in the narrative is the winding of the clocks of unthinkable sizes and shapes. Clocks are objects that almost every person ins the wold possesses. A person can have a couple of clocks, some larger smaller different shapes. However the clocks that Erendira has to wind are hundreds and all of them are described as ones of unthinkable sizes and shapes. It is hard to believe that Erendira is capable of winding these clocks every single day. The existence of these clocks is also a little unbelievable.
The 'normal' happenings in the story are an extension to the characters. It is not really Erendira's choice to be a servant for her grandmother, however she has no other choice. The doings of Erendira (the placement of the candle) are the reason for the fire and later her life as a prostitute.
9:50 AM
the normal,natural events that take place are:
-the prostitution
-the love(attraction)between ulices and erendira
-the acctident at the beggining(burning of the house)
the liminal event in the story is the wind of misfortune.i am not sure if the wind is a natural or supernatural.
I think that they are more the extension of the characters. for example the doings that erendira makes are normal ,she wnts to escape and even the fact that she wants her grandmother death is natural
9:53 AM
3.All of the things the characters do are the choice of the narrator because he is omnipotent/omnipresent, it is his fault that the "wind of misfortune" blows and his fault for the sudden changes in the setting
9:53 AM
1. Normal events in the story of Innocent Erendira are:
-The work that Erendira does for her grandmother as a servant.
-Smuggling
-Prostitution
-The feelings Ulises has for Erendira (Love)
-Photographer trying to find news worth publishing.
2. I think that the Wind of Misfortune is a main supernatural event within in the story. When it blew down the candle it may have been natural but for that to occur doesn't seem natural for a wind to knock down a candle before blowing it out. Because by the time the wind had enough force to knock it over the candle would not be lit so it must be a supernatural.
3. I believe that the normal events within the story are an extension because the narrator doesn't say what he wants them to feel or make them do what he wants rather normal things that happen in every day life occurred to all the characters.
9:54 AM
The burning of the house, the traveling caravan, the carnivalesque, the Mission Country: all would be included under the "real" or believable in 'our' frame of reference. However, one thing most people tend to shy away from is the element of sleeping and dreaming.
The most distinct one in the concept of dreaming and everything that comes along with it is the grandmother's somniloquy. This type of parasomnia is rare and still sleeptalking in such extent would be most surreal. This idea is used to strengthen the characterization of the grandmother; create a sort of irony; specify the unclear existence of the grandmother's spirit.
9:54 AM
works cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeptalking
9:54 AM
1.Some normal(real) events in the novel are the dailuy activities such as cooking, cleaning, Erendira's work at the mission, the prostitution, tha trade with diamonds, the love between Ulisles and Erendira.
2.The liminal event, according to me is the fire tha happens at the beggining. It real because it's fire(it might happen every where), but at the other hand it's helped by the wind of misfortune, which is complitely unreal.
3.The normal events in the novel are extension of the characters because they build more deaply their role in the story.
9:55 AM
1)The normal events in the frist part of the narrative of "Innocent Erendira" are things like the house work, that Erendira does for grandmother, or the house burning to the ground also the smuggling of diamonds and ect., are all so called normal events of the frist half of the narrative.
2)I believe the liminal event in the narrative is Ulises father smuggling diamonds in oranges. We as readers dont really find out how the are placed in the oranges all know is that somehow in the middle of the orange there are diamonds.
3)I believe the the normal event are an extension of the character, because the normal events that happen are a reflection of the character personal choices such as Erendira working herself till she is working in her sleep and then forgetting to blow out the candles if she had maybe refused to do all of the things her grandmother had asked her to do then maybe such event could have been avoided.
9:56 AM
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