Ashley A. Ebanks
October 29, 2008
HUM_2461_16567
Learning Module#5
Isabel’s Soliloquy: Watching It Rain in Macondo
Much like the classic novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo incorporates the use of magical realism, which is a definite signature of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s writing. The details given and the narration in the monologue remind one of a tall tale. One example of the use of magical realism in the story is the endless rain in May that causes a whole line of repercussions like a cow dropping dead (slowly), the family losing track of time, and the flood in the home (that Isabel does not realize is there until her mother warns her about pneumonia).
The story is written in a very descriptive and figurative style that sometimes can get a reader’s imagination going in an attempt to understand what kind of scenario the narrator (Isabel) is trying to give the reader. I find that the narrator speaks metaphorically when describing objects in the monologue; one example that comes up more than once in the story is the description of the sky. In the monologue, the narrator describes the stormy sky as “a gray, jellyfish substance that flapped its wing a hand away from our heads.” (Marquez, 89). A jellyfish sky is kind of hard to imagine, but fun to try as is the image of a heavy cow slowly dropping after death. The style of writing used in this monologue is a little left center but interesting to read; Marquez definitely demands your attention and gets it through all his works.
Works Cited
Books
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Collected Stories. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1984.