Love Stories

Similar to The Things They Carried, Aura also seems to be a love story. Felipe Montero instantly notices Aura’s beautiful eyes and they become intimate once he decides to live with Aura and Senora Consuelo. O’Brien fell in love with Linda at the age of nine and he tells his stories to keep her alive in his own mind. However, Fuentes puts a new twist on the love story by creating characters that model old lovers. Felipe represents General Llorente and Aura represents Senora Consuelo throughout the novel. Unlike The Things They Carried, we see the transformation of this young, undying love to old, undying love throughout Aura. O’Brien reminisces about Linda, but he never got the chance to grow old with her the way Senora Consuelo and General Llorente did. Neither O’Brien’s nor Senora Consuelo’s love has faded even in the face of death. Fuentes writes, “You love her, you too have come back…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 of the darkness,” (Aura, 145). This re-embodied youth reminds me of O’Brien because he uses his stories not only to remember Linda, but also to re-embody his youth and love. When he tells his stories, he can bring Linda back as a spirit and O’Brien says, “There is the illusion of aliveness,” (TTTC, 218). Felipe and Aura seem to be an illusion of youth throughout Aura and as their story is told, they transform into their older selves. O’Brien creates an illusion of his youth with Linda through his storytelling methods, and Fuentes also creates an illusion of youth with his story of Felipe and Aura. These two love stories are powerful and display the power of storytelling because stories can recreate love and youth.