What are the characteristics of magical realism? What are it defining qualities? What does it mean for the characters to have a "magical" worldview?
The last person really got me on track!
But this would really help me start my essay!
Magic realism is a mixture of magical elements with the real world. Symbols such as the golden carp, Ultima’s owl and the Virgin of Guadalupe serve to add meaning to the story through a sense of the magical and mythic. Magic realism often adds a higher sense of consciousness that transcends what we consider "reality". In the book, Antonio’s discovery of these myths helps him to develop his own understanding of faith. By combining the beliefs that he learns from Christianity with the ideas he develops from the Golden Carp and from Ultima, Antonio is able to choose his own path, developing his own identity from all of the religious and cultural ideas available.
