I think that Consuelo creates Aura, Consuelo’s younger
version, to entice Felipe (perhaps an incarnation of General Llorente,
initiated by witchcraft) because he is attracted to her youth and is disgusted
by Consuelo’s old age. By the time the truth about the connection between
himself and the two women is revealed, Felipe is mesmerized by Aura and
therefore accepts his destiny to forever be lead back to Consuelo. By saying “You love her, you too have come
back…” (Fuentes 145) it implies that he either transformed into the General, regained
memory of his previous life with Consuela, or it suggests that both are true. The quote “…you’ll embrace her again when the
clouds cover the moon, when you’re both hidden again, when the memory of youth,
of youth re-embodied, rules the darkness” (Fuentes 145) suggests that their
love overcomes their reluctance to grow old.
Perhaps it has nothing to do with being old, but with recreating –
re-embodying – their seed of love, which has withered over time.
My interpretation of Vonnegut’s concept of “dynamic tension”
presented in Cat’s Cradle can also be applied to Aura; dynamic
tension is an eternal cycle of tension and collapse, where collapse plays the
role of necessary relief in the tension before it bursts, and where perfect
equilibrium cannot exist. In Aura, tension builds when Consuelo and
Felipe (the General) are not together (in love). The release in this tension occurs
when Felipe accepts his identity and they are reunited in the end. In the cycle
of tension and collapse, Aura triggers the release of tension. The cycle repeats itself when Aura, the
embodiment of youth, disappears, which initiates the rebuilding of the tension.
Consuelo and Felipe (the General) need youth to accept their union.
*Thank you Jon and Burke for reviewing my post.
I think your ideas in this post are really interesting.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I think that even if Aura is a younger version of Consuelo, Felipe is responsible for writing Aura into the story and therefore, re-creating Consuelo's youth. Because Consuelo only 'remains' for three days, she must recruit Felipe to construct Aura and therefore reconstruct her youthfulness in order to be reborn.
Your connection to Cats Cradle is also very interesting. I think this can be expanded to Foe in that Friday and Felipe play very similar roles in the maintenance of legitimacy in the story. In Foe, Friday establishes truth through his constant silence and Felipe instigates youth through the creation of Aura. Without Friday, Susan's story wouldnt be able to exist and without Felipe Aura wouldnt exist and therefore Consuelo wouldnt exist . The legitimacy of these stories are left in the hands of the storytellers through their maintenance of truth and youth.