AND OF CLAY WE ARE CREATED

By: Isabel Allende

Author: Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende was born on August 2, 1942 in Lima, Peru.
Her family was originally from Chile. She and her family
returned to Chile in 1958, where Allende was also briefly
home-schooled. In her youth, she read many books,
specially works of the great William Shakespeare. While
being in Chile, she worked with the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization and then she got a job
translating romance novels from English to Spanish. In her
most famous novels we can include: “The House of
Spirits” (1982) and “City of the Beasts” (2002). Some
other books of hers are “The Infinite Plan” (1991),
“Daughter of Fortune” (1999), and “Maya´s Notebook” (2011).
Setting
● The story took place in Colombia on November 13, 1985 when the volcano
“Nevado del Ruiz” erupted, which left a valley in ruins as well as a town
called “Armero” that was nearby and where this story is based and
developed.
Background
● On November 13, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupted.
The intense heat from the eruption melted the mountain’s icecap and sent
a torrent of water, ash, mud, and rocks into the valley below and onto
the town of Armero. More than 20,000 people were affected.
● A girl that was trapped in the mud became the center of attention for
many social media workers.
● In the story, the girl trapped in the mud is named Azucena, and the man
that attempts to rescue her is a journalist named Rolf Carlé.
Theme
There are several themes in this story , but most of them
deal with the relationship between Azucena and Rolf Carle.
The experience that Rolf Carle faced brought him back
memories of his childhood, which helped him relate to
Azucena’s situation of being buried in clay mud in a kind of
emotional way.
 AZUCENA
● Is the main character,
she is stuck in the
mud pit.
● She can’t be saved.
● She dies. ROLF CARLE
● Is an Australian
EVA LUNA
photographer and
● Rolf Carle´s girlfriend.
journalist that
● Narrator.
travels to cover
● Tries to help.
the news of
CHARACTERS Azucena.
● He tries to save
KATHARINA Azucena.
● Rolf Carle´s
sister. PRESIDENT OF THE
MEDIA
● A sweet child REPUBLIC
● Antagonist
who spent ● Goes around
of the
her life trying to
reading.
hiding.. comfort
people.
Plot
Rolf Carle tried saving Azucena´s life by comforting her,
and telling her she was not alone. He also told her stories
so that she would not feel alone and scared. He told her
about his terrible experience of what happened to him
when he was around her age. Throughout the story, he
always tried make her feel calm so that she could
breathe better, and be braver every second.
Literary Element: Imagery
One of the literary elements used in this short story is imagery. Imagery is
whenever the author uses very specific details in the story that allow the
reader to visualize the scene in their minds. Allende uses this many times in her
story, an example from the story that contains imagery is: “I sat in the
kitchen, sipping my coffee and planning the long hours without him, sure that
he would be back the next day.” In this sentence, there is imagery because the
reader can get a mental picture of a woman in her kitchen drinking coffee
after her husband leaves the house for the day.
Reading comprehension strategy: Monitor
Check your understanding as you read and
adjust your reading to improve
comprehension. The following strategies
may be helpful:

-Adjust your reading rate

-Reread

-Visualize

-Question yourself
Vocabulary
Tenacity: n. The quality of holding persistently to something.
Do you have the tenacity to keep working until the task is complete?
Fortitude: n. Strength of mind; courage.
Doing the right thing in a difficult situation requires fortitude.
Resignation: n. Passive acceptance of something; submission.
Behind by 20 points, the team had a feeling of resignation.
Pandemonium: n. A wild uproar or noise.
Pandemonium broke out as people ran screaming from the fire. Embody:
v. To give shape or visibly represent. A great
leader should embody the values of honesty and courage. Stupor: n. A
state of mental numbness, as from shock. The doctor was
in a stupor after treating disaster victims for two days straight. Stratagem: n. A clever
trick or device for obtaining an advantage. His stratagem to avoid
answering a question was to answer with another question. Tribulation: n. A great distress or
suffering. Victims of the earthquake suffered
great tribulation.
Vocabulary Review
Select the word that does not match the meaning of the rest of the
words.

1. tenacity/perseverance/weakness/persistence
2. thinness/fortitude/confidence/strength
3. acceptance/resignation/surrender/tolerance
4. pandemonium/chaos/miracle/confusion
5. incorporate/embody/organize/disaster/collect
6. stupor/hypnosis/shock/consciousness
7. trick/advantage/honesty/stratagem
8. distress/difficulty/tribulation/comfort
Comprehension Activity
1. Where and when does the story take place?
2. Who are the main characters in the story?
3. Where was Isabel Allende´s family from?
4. How many people were affected by the volcano´s eruption?
5. What was the theme of the story?
Personal Reflections
Mariana: I think that the story is very interesting because of the relationship
between Azucena and Rolf Carlé, and the way he tried to make her feel
better even though she was dying. I think it was sweet that he told her his
experience to console her.

Maleny: I liked this story, but I also thought it was very enraging how many
people did not help her and only wanted to get coverage of her situation for
the local news. I also thought that she was very brave for being able to stay
alive for as long as she did.