Trenia Pardue

Mr.Cook
Honors ELA
28 August 2014


The influence of magic and fantasy in the real world is Magical realism. Magical
realism came from the author, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. He incorporates the realism of
reality and the magic from fairy tales into a mix to create fascinating and mind-blowing
stories. 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 clearly demonstrated in Gabriel Garcia-Marquezs short story
The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. In this story, the cataclysm of the angel
arriving sends Pelayo running to, a neighbor woman who knew everything about life
and death to see him (218). In fairy tales, there is always one fairy godmother or oracle
that knows everything about everything; in real life no one knows about everything.
Magical Realism is clearly demonstrated in Gabriel Garcia-Marquezs short story
The Handsomest Drowned Man. In this story, a drowned man surprises an obliging
village when he arrives on the beach. As they sewed...it seemed to them that the wind
had never been so steady nor the sea so restless as on that night and they supposed
that the change had something to do with the dead man (249). The realism to this story
is that they found drowned man ashore. In reality, people find decrepit,dead bodies
anywhere, including shores. The magical part is how the sea went from raging to calm
in a matter of minutes. The sea cannot change that fast in reality; it takes time to go
from raging to calm.
In conclusion, magical realism is shown in a variety of ways in The Handsomest
Drowned Man and The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Magical realism creates
a tone of curiosity and astonishment in a narrative because it is pushing you to think
beyond this world. The effect that magical realism has is that it creates a feeling that
brings up the question if magic co-exists in this world of reality or not. Magical realism
brings out the question of whether or not the impossible is possible because it is a test
of the mind.