This essay examines Ueda Akinari's bewitched and Garcia's "A Very Elderly Man with Huge Wings." Bewitched is inspired by Japanese culture, but Garcia's plot is inspired by a Spanish-speaking society. The study compares and contrasts a number of aspects in the two stories, including symbolism, irony, satire, and magical realism, as well as the theme of spirituality and religion.
The stories are written in a style known as magical realism. It can be defined as a work of art that involves magical elements usually put in a setting of the real world. Gabriel Marquez’s story makes use of a realistic setting but throws a magical element and fantasy in it. For instance, the author uses the small town where Elisenda and Pelayo lived (a real setting) and then introduces the very old man with enormous wings stuck in the mud (Garcia 10). More so, he employs the use of natural and divine imagery when he describes places and characters in the story. For instance he writes: “The world has been a sad Tuesday.” The tale’s background setting is based in Pelayo and Elisenda’s courtyard; a property contains features that makes us conclude that it was developed in a country of Spanish Natives. The town where the story is set is a coastline due presence of “rotten shellfish” (Garcia 20). More so, it is evident that characters occupy an environment dominated by Catholics and local mythology.
Both Marquez’s and Akinari’s stories makes use of symbolism. This short story swings are a depiction of power, freedom and divinity. The old man in the narrative literally flies and frees himself from years of sideshow attraction. The use of irony and satire is illustrated by the fact that the writer used the title “A Tale or Children,” but upon reading the story it is actually an adult-literature kind of narrative (Garcia 29). It has a sort of child-like touch but it can be described as “pretty heady” for kids. Therefore, the subtitle builds satire by actually telling the reader that it a tongue-in-cheek kind of story expressing the fact adults can sometimes act like kids when they encounter certain special circumstances.
Also, Garcia employs the use of rich and sad undertone and attitude towards the towns’ people and how they reacted to the reception of the winged old man. The tone moves back and forth between bleak and rich. More so, he employs the use of complex adjectives in his narratives. For instance, he writes: Sea and sky were a single ash-gray… which on March nights glimmered like powdered light and had become a stew of mad and rotten shellfish (Garcia 130).”
Contrast is seen by how the use of religion, spirituality and priests is depicted in each story. This story makes fun of the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church and its officials such as Father Gonzaga (Garcia 39). Religion in this case is seen as a peripheral authority and people were more likely to gossip rather rely on a priest. For instance, the narrative states, “they called in a neighbor woman who knew everything about life… all she needed was one look to show them their mistake” (Garcia 2). This sentence illustrates blasphemy on the priests. The author put forward the message that, “who needs a priest when you havae a wise woman living next door” (Garcia 2)
Bewitched by Akinari
In comparison, Akinari makes use of magical realism in the short story. Bewitched provides an understanding that express unreal and fictitious aspects that may look more real to its original audience. It addresses conscious level things in which modern psychology depicts them as unconscious. The book is a story of a young Japanese man who is deceived by a demon disguised as a beautiful young woman (Ueda 631). The tale of the supernatural is hugely popular in the ancient Japanese culture. It was famous because it enables the audience to escape away from reality. It gives the reader a feeling that anything is possible. It creates the illusion and excitement that there is more to this world than we currently know of.
Principally, it is a story about role and expectations between men and women in the Japanese culture. In comparison with Gabriel Marquez narrative, it aims at teaching people (most especially children) to uphold high social standards. The narrative is used to teach Japanese Children about the rewards and punishment of violating the cultural and social norms in the Japanese society. This story also puts forward the idea of gender imbalance and women objectification. Like many cultures, the Japanese society was patriarchal and the women were not valued as compared to men. This can be emphasized by the fact that only three women (Maroya, Tomiko and Manago) were considered important, while all male characters were given names (Ueda 633). Another example that explains suppression of women was the fact seen in the last part of the book whereby Tomiko died as after she was released from the demon’s possession. On other hand, Toyo (the handsome young man who falls for a serpent monster) suffered little ill effects.
Just like Garcia, Akinari uses irony and symbolism. This style is illustrated by the fact that Oya no Toyo-o desires to be a scholar only to be deceived by a monster. From the beginning of the narrative, Toyo-o dreams of meeting Manago. Manago uses devilry and fantasy to lure him to fall in love with her. In fact, he did not believe she was a monster until he met the priest of Yamato’s shrine, who eventually convinces Toyo-o that he had fallen in love with a monster (Ueda 634).
Symbolism is illustrated by the use of the serpent. The lovely woman who has charmed Toyo-o is a representation of fake beauty; which like an empty scholarship entails fake promises of self-development and happiness. She is described as “old” and “lecherous monster” who dupes people into making foolhardy decisions. Many Japanese people believe in the beauty of learning traditional knowledge and art but it is usually applicable to the upper class (Ueda 635). However, for the lower class, knowledge does not come in handy because it only improves the intellect but it does not develop physical and economic abilities. Toyo-o is a symbol of intelligence and physical attractiveness but he is seen by his people as “shiftless and irresponsible.” Therefore in his case, superficial knowledge is like a serpent that lures weak-willed people and enjoys killing helpless people through its attractive human form.
The theme of religion, spirituality and priesthood is clearly embraced in the story. The priest in this case is used as a symbol of control in ensuring that the serpent does not take over the life of Toyo-o. Manago fools Toyo-o’s family when she goes to meet them and they were all convinced that she was the real deal. However, the two priests from Yamato Shrine and Dojo Temple are quick to realize the deception and they eventually killed the serpents (Ueda 644). Therefore, the story seeks to put across the message that an individual requires balance of religion and logic in order to maintain an open mind.
Conclusion
From the analysis, it is evident that the common approaches used by the two authors include symbolism, irony and satire. The two stories also employed a genre of narrative fiction known as magical realism and it involves the use of fantasy which blurs the reader’s distinction between the real and unreal. Lastly, the document has a common theme of religion and spirituality but they contrast in terms of the message put across.
Works Cited
García, Márquez G. Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. 2014. n.d.. Print.
Ueda, Akinari, and Anthony H. Chambers. Tales of Moonlight and Rain. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. Print.
