Ezmeralda Contreras

Mr. Cook
Honors English
28 August 2014

Magical Realism was introduced to Germany in the 1920s in relation to the Weimar
Republic painting, to Latin America in 1940s, and to Latin America in 1950s in the context of Latin
American fiction. Magical Realism is clearly demonstrated in Gabriel Garcia Marquezs short stories
The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings and The Handsomest Drowned Man in The World.
Magical Realism is demonstrated in The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Gabriel
Garcia-Marquez writes, A poor woman who since childhood had been counting her heartbeats and
had run out of numbers (220). The realism shows the poor woman, who has actually had a
heartbeat through her childhood, but the magical in this quote is that she has been counting her
heartbeat and had run out of numbers to count to. Also, counting her heartbeat since childhood is
very imaginative. Another place where Gabriel Garcia-Marquez demonstrates magical realism is
also on page 220, he states, A Portuguese man who couldnt sleep because the noise of the stars
disturbed him. This situation demonstrates magical qualities because the stars do not make noises
that we can hear because they are so far away. This situation also demonstrates realistic qualities
because a disturbance can cause one to not be able to sleep. Magical Realism was demonstrated in
The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings when the poor woman was counting her heartbeat since
childhood and the Portuguese man could not sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him.
Magical Realism is also demonstrated in The Handsomest Drowned Man in the
World. Gabriel Garcia-Marquez writes, They said hes been taller than all other men because there
was barely enough room for him in the house (247). The quote demonstrates the realistic idea of
how tall the man is, but the magical idea is shown because he is taller than the house itself. Magical
realism becomes evident throughout the chapter, for example, Marquez writes, They let him go
without an anchor so that he could come back if he wanted and whenever he pleased (253).
Magical Realism is demonstrated in this quote because the he that is being mentioned is a corpse
of a dead man. They give him living characteristics, It is magical because there can really be a corpse
of a dead man, but the corpse cannot come and go as it pleases because it is dead. Magical Realism
was demonstrated in The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World when Marquez described the
tall man and the dead mans corpse.
Magical Realism affects the tone of The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings and The
Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by making the reader re-read the stories to decide if the
language Marquez uses is either literal or figurative. Also, the reader is challenged to pick out the
magical elements and the realistic elements of the story because of how mixed in the examples of
magical realism are in the text.