Don't take that step

The pretext of House of Danger warns the reader what the book has in store. At this exact moment I have not passed that page. One page; a single page, spoke to me. It tells you that the book is about choice and what happens when you chose a specific path, whether it be the right one or the wrong one. You determine how the story is going to end based on which path you choose.

Life is the bigger picture of Montgomery's book. We chose our path based on our desires, wants, and goals in life. There are times when people chose to go the longer way to work because it is a nice day out. On this new path they run into a random stranger, this stranger ends up being the head of a company you would kill to work for. You chat and they end up wanting to talk to you again about maybe working for them next year. Was it fate that brought you two together? Was going to long way in your destiny? Yes, the decision was yours but what was their decision that day? So many different ideas could answer all these questions but does it matter?

This blog post is more to have the reader figure out what they believe in. I personally believe in some strange way our lives are mapped out, that we were destined to take a specific path, even if we feel like we are choosing it.

Advice?

This blog is quite different than my other ones. I am hoping that you might comment with some advice. Today in class we heard that Meredyth's dilemma regarding undeserved A's. I hope to address a different sort of dilemma. In the past, I've understood material very well and enjoyed learning it, but have received poor grades on assessments. In particular, I remember doing poorly in physics on two tests in junior year, even though I enjoyed and understood the material. I understood my mistakes well after getting the test back. The dilemma - although I enjoyed learning the physics, I came out of the experience with a bitter taste in my mouth. What would be a beneficial way of approaching these situations? It's difficult to appreciate the learning experience when it seemingly has not payed off. I understand that I should attempt to look past the grades, but this is extremely difficult considering how I have been conditioned to approach them. Thanks in advance for any responses!

Individualism

      Reading Aura, it was really interesting to have my actions dictated to me by the book, but the other interesting part was the fact that I felt like I could associate with the author. This got me wondering about how individual we all are. The reason wondered this is because a majority of students here come from well off families in nice, quiet suburbs, and as far as I've seen, from person to person their experiences are by and far very similar. I don't mean to generalize a whole section of the school's population, but what I mean to say is that most of these students worked hard throughout high school, participated in activities such as sports, musical ensembles and student government. Yet throughout high school, I distinctly remember being told and taught that I am an individual; that my experiences are my own and that each person has different experiences. However as I meet more people, I realize that while the individual memories may be different, in general alot of the basic experiences are the same.
      This long and potentially offensive introduction brings me to this point. In terms of social ideas, I feel like a lot of Hamilton Students, conservative and liberal alike, have some similar ideas, however rather than building off of each others common ground, I see each side branding the other side saying that "my" view is correct. This alienation has manifested one side calling the other side a bunch of "radicals" and the other side calling the first side "close-minded bigots". I believe that the Anthem like rise of the "I am an individual" over the "We know each others experiences" has built up this divide which has clearly presented itself with the conflict between Hamilton Conservatives and "The Movement".

You are reading this title

When I read the first few pages of Aura, I was very uncomfortable and disconcerted by the narration of the story.  Fuentes narrates the story with the pronoun "you", as though the reader is the main character.  I couldn't stand ready the story this way at first, and refrained from aligning myself with the main character.  In part this is because the main character is a guy, but as well I found the difficulty in accepting the obscurity of Fuentes writing.  I am so used to reading books as an outsider, looking in and analyzing the material unbiasedly.  Fuentes challenges this method of writing.  After reading a good chunk of the book I began to accept the alignment of myself and the reader, and felt as though Fuentes was talking directly to me.  This brought a new sense of understanding and point of view that I had never really experienced in reading before.  My acceptance of the "you" was gradual and done so some what subconsciously.  Fuentes refers to the reader as the main character so often that eventually I was believing that I am a historian, I do work for an old woman in a dark house, and I am in love with Aura.

Literary Inception

From the very beginning, I was fascinated by Aura and particularly by Fuentes' use of the second person point of view. Now, having finished the novel, the function of the second person POV is clear. It's all about a lack of control. By narrating the story in the second person, our understanding of the entire novel is coming from an anonymous source. Everything we come to understand about the world of Fuentes' novel comes directly and unconditionally from the narrator. We readers are therefore transformed into puppets, even slaves to the storyteller and the story itself, trapped within a prison of paper and ink.

While our dependence on the narrator remains constant throughout the novel, I believe it bears a greater commentary of our function in relation to Fuentes as a storyteller. We find a similar dependence between Aura and Consuelo, both of which acting "as if the will of one [depends] on the existence of the other…"(119). Likewise, we as readers and our will to read are dependent upon the existence of Fuentes and his novel. Based on this parallel, it is only logical that the function of Aura with respect to Consuelo will reflect our function as readers of the story of Fuentes. Ultimately, we discover that Aura is merely a nostalgic reliving of Consuelo's youth, the remembering and reliving of "the memory of youth, of youth re-embodied, [that] rules the darkness"(145). Aura is the reflection of Consuelo's younger self, and we apparently play the role of General Llorentes in the nostalgic reliving of Aura and Llorentes' love. Therefore, we observe a structure of characters within characters, where the actions of Aura and General Llorentes (the reader) occur within the memory and mind of Señora Consuelo.

However, this structure is not yet complete. While Aura and General Llorentes exist within the mind of Sra. Consuelo, Sra. Consuelo equally exists within the mind of Fuentes. By this logic, we readers therefore play an intricate role within the mind of Fuentes as well. What results from our ability to experience this story from the inside out rather from the outside in? I'm a little confused on this part and I've wracked my brain for too long already since I'm already late posting this. I'm hoping my logic pans out in our discussion in class tomorrow so that I can understand this extra level of the novel a little better.

Challenging Norms

As I began to read "Aura", I was at first disconcerted by the page layout - I've never just read one side of the book.  It was so odd to me to ignore the entire left side.  I found myself occasionally checking back to make sure I didn't miss anything, just to find that it was a jumble of letters and accents way too complex for my high school spanish knowledge to decipher.
It may be a bit of a stretch, but for me, this was a simple and tangible parallel to a lot of the material that we have discussed in class.  The authors we have read challenge the norm for how to tell a story, Timothy Treadwell challenges our conception of life values, and Brendan Leonard (in the vimeo video "35") challenges us to make dreams come true on a Tuesday.
This class has taught me to step back and challenge what I consider to be 'normal'.  I've challenged myself to reconsider what I think a book should be and how a story should be told, while simultaneously challenging my own conceptions of what society says I should be.

The Effect of Misrepresentation

After watching an incredible victory by the UConn Huskies over the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA championship, I have begun to settle down to the point where I believe I can write my blog post. Obviously basketball will be involved because I'm trying to challenge the "norms" of the class. UConn was not expected to succeed in the tournament at all. Their triumphs over Saint Joseph's, Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan State, and Florida were described as "the biggest upsets of the year." All season I've been rooting for UConn. I'm from Connecticut, and while neither of my parents are huge sports fans, I have been bred to "bleed blue" for whatever that's worth. Throughout all of their wins, the media has been skeptical of their abilities, claiming their wins were due to circumstances out of their control. This bad press and innate dislike of the Huskies that almost all America has had this March Madness season has caused me to question the role of the media in shifting our perspectives on the games.

At this point you're probably wondering where Aura ties in. I read the book in one sitting because it was so captivating. I was hooked by Fuentes' use of second-person narration. When I finished the book, however, I was left feeling empty and disappointed. I'm not sure what I had been led to believe, but this was not the ending I had hoped for. Fuentes, like the media had shifted my perspective. As an audience we feel connected to Felipe Montero because we basically become him. We eagerly await what will happen next and worry for his well-being. This is similar to the way the Huskies have been portrayed. Statisticians and basketball experts ranked them low in the tournament expecting them to be kicked off early in the bracket season. We were preconditioned to expect a different outcome from this basketball season, however, as the Huskies victory proves, fate is unpredictable. Or is it?

Fuente's Aura forces us to once again confront the idea of fate in our class. Felipe had no idea that by inquiring for this job advertisement he would become a completely different person. Consuelo, on the other hand, knows all to well exactly what the young historian's fate will be. Fuentes creates an eerie setting where we worry for Felipe because he wants us to recognize the horror in the narrative. We are forced into connecting with the protagonist only to find him lose himself. The media misrepresented the Huskies to the point where they were constantly having to comeback and prove themselves.

Rats or cats?

I think the first thing I noticed about this novel was its strange use of the second person present tense. This along with the content of the novel gave everything a dream like quality. The whole thing felt like you were walking through the dark, or couldn't see the bigger picture, but could only see the things that were chosen to be illuminated. Felipe also never really questioned the things that seemed really obscure, much like how you feel in a dream state. When you awake and recall your dream, not much makes any practical sense but that is not what you are thinking when you are actually asleep. For example, when Felipe is feeling the body of Aura and describing her appearance he cannot decide her age, aging her hips at twenty and her cheeks at forty, calling her a girl one day and a woman the next. This makes no practical sense but in this eerie dream/life state it seems that anything may seem normal.

The Second Person Perspective in Aura

            In the first eight lines or so of Aura, the word “you” is used five times. This initially caught me by surprise, as I could not remember the last time I read a book in second person. I think some of the shock was due to my lasting reading experience, Foe. The ending of Foe was baffling to me, and it was very unclear who the narrator was. In Aura, there is no doubt; I myself walk through the dark corridors and mysterious rooms of Aura’s house. I myself pore through the memoirs of General Llorente, and I myself engage in a strange and twisted relationship with Aura. I initially enjoyed this change, as Aura seemed much more straightforward than Foe. Nevertheless, after reading through the novel I have some issues.

            J.M. Coetzee emphasizes that there will always be silenced voices in any story. I came to realize that in Aura, there is really only one perspective. The reader is forced to become Felipe Montero, and think like him. Especially toward the end of the novel when the events get stranger and “blurrier,” it is difficult to glean what is really going on. At this point, I was wishing for a second perspective, like there was in Foe. I look forward to class discussion this week, and hopefully will hear some other good opinions on the subject.

A Whole New World

Reading Aura was a completely unfamiliar yet refreshing experience for me. First off, the novel was written by a Mexican author and later translated. However, instead of omitting the spanish version, the author compiles both versions in one bilingual edition, and the reader can read either the English or the Spanish side. So, reading only the right-hand English pages of the novel was certainly new and unusual. In addition, I found Aura uncommon in that it took me about 90 minutes to complete. Perhaps it was the author's style of writing or the fact that the story was written only on the right-hand pages, but I found it extremely difficult to enjoy and savor because of how quickly I was reading. I found myself constantly picking my head up and consciously forcing digesting what I had just read. The last thing I found unique was the style of the work. Utilizing the second person present-tense is unusual, and one that reminded me of a dream or a fortune-teller sitting in front of a crystal ball and reciting my fortune. Perhaps Carlos Fuentes used the second-person to mimic a dream-like state, and one of cyclical nature.

Lost in Translation

I’ve always hated translated books. If the original was written in English, I read it in English. If the original was written in Spanish, I would read it in Spanish. I think you cannot appreciate exactly what the author meant to say, or the literary devices they used or any little detail that might have meant a lot to the author. As a person who is constantly shifting between two languages I can tell you it is impossible to translate anything exactly. The book we read for tomorrow is a perfect example of a book that is lost in translation. For all of you that do not speak Spanish trust me on this, and the rest can see it for themselves. The book is translated in the wrong verb tense—probably something that I would consider important when translating a book. In the Spanish version, on page 5, the author says “vivirás ese día, identico a los demás” which means “you will live that day just like you have lived every other day,” but the English version, on page 6, says, “this day is just like any other.” Do you see the difference? Another example, a more obvious one, can be seen on page 16 and 17 where the text says, “te apartarás” (meaning “you will move aside”) while the English version says “you move aside.” That English phrase translated into Spanish would be “te apartas,” two completely different verb tenses. So why is this? Why would you translate a book in the wrong tense?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my bilingual rant of the day and I’ll be back next week for more.

I am Felipe

Even before reading the novel Aura, the black cat on the cover of the novel gave me a spooky feeling. In Nepal growing up black cats were considered to be a formation of a cruel witch. It was considered unlucky to be in the presences of a black cat. While reading the novel, I always tried to avoid looking at the cover of the novel and when I was done reading the novel, I placed the novel in a position where I was unable to see the cover. However, the context within the novel was continuously keeping the spookiness of the black cat alive.

After learning about writers capability of manipulating and  lieing within novels for the past few months, I was ready to observe all of Carlos Fuentes lies and not fall in his trap. Within the few pages of the novel, I told myself obviously Aura is Consuelo and Felipe is falling into a trap as the readers are falling into the same trap. I felt smart that I was able to jump through that hole however,  Carlos Fuentes detailed oriented writing made the creepiness of the story come alive, even when the hints toward Aura being Consuelo is given, I was spooked out. When Felipe  goes to comfort Consuelo about her tyranny towards Aura, he encounters Consuelo mimicking Aura’s behavior as she “wipes her hands against her breast, sighs, and starts cutting the air again, as if –yes, you can see it clearly- as is she were skinning an animal.” I felt the motion of skinning as I read that part of the novel, without realizing I as the reader was playing the same role as Felipe.  

Dependence

Throughout this story I was thinking a lot about dependence. As I was reading, I found myself trying to figure out which characters depended on which other characters. At first I thought (and partially assumed) that Senora Consuelo was dependent upon Aura, as Senora is very old and needs help with many things. Then as I continued reading, I began to believe the roles might be reversed. Aura, when talking about Senora, said, “She loves me. She sacrifices herself for me” (123). Therefore Aura made it seem like she relies on Senora, not the other way around. However, I’m inclined to believe this is a case of codependence. Whether Aura is real or not, Senora still depended on Aura to bring her a sense of youth, beauty, and energy. Aura depended on Senora for life because Senora is her reality. Aura mentions this on page 23 when she says to Felipe, “She has more life than I do”.

            Many parts of this book are very strange and confusing. After I finished reading, I was very unsure of who was who and what was really going on. However one thing that was clear, along with dependence, was a sense of love. Love was evident in the novel between Aura and Senora, Senora and General Llorente, and Aura and Felipe. If two people that love each other, they will make sacrifices for the other person, and this is what stood out to me in the story. It is important to note that being in love always involves some degree of dependence on one another. Therefore, those two ideas really go hand in hand.

"They Built Up the Walls..."

But who was it who built the walls, who locked up a family, who stole the light from a home? The senora curses a mysterious force that she claims stole the light from her life, some force that covered her windows, her doors, her porch. After so much time in the dark, she seems blinded to all that is touched by light, she doesn’t know of the mice that live only feet from her bed or the cats which eat them, her excuse: “I never go there.” In other words, without light The Senora lives only by what she can feel. Her eyes – and those of her niece and employee – become in there inutility an entity all their own. When Filipe arrives in the Senora’s room, he doesn’t see a rabbit, but two red eyes, alive and eating independently, encompassed by darkness. When he sees the Senora, he sees the yellowed, monotonous eyes of a woman stuck in the past, and when he fantasizes over Aura, he dreams not of her body, but her eyes, their green piercing life, which in a place of dank darkness stand alone in his mind. The connection between Filipe and the General, and therefore between the Senora and Aura, is an infatuation with green eyes. It’s in her eyes that Filipe sees himself and ultimately understands his relationship to the house in which he works. But then what did build the walls? Could the walls be her age, which slowly took the green from her eyes and hid her true self just as the walls concealed all light.