Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Eyes of a Blue Dog by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The short story "Eyes of a Blue Dog" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is written in the literary genre of magic realism. Magic realism adds mythical elements to a realistic story. This story is about a man and a woman, neither of which have names. The man and the woman are unable to find each other outside of the dream like situation they are in. The woman says she has written "eyes of a blue dog" in different places, but she can not remember where she wrote it. Once she wrote it in a drug store and the manager made her clean it up. She is hoping the man will see the words, remember her and try to find her. However, the man can never remember the woman or the words once they are out of this alternate reality.

I thought the story took place in a dream. However, it was difficult to tell. I also wondered whether or not the man and the woman were in the same time. It was possible that the man was living in one time period while the woman was living in another. This could be why they could not find each other.
The man and the woman were not able to touch each other in the dream. This gives the feeling of loneliness.

Although the people seem to want to find each other in their real lives, I think they may want to keep their relationship in the dream. As long as the relationship is only in the dream then nothing can come between them. If they are not together in the real world then they do not have to deal with all of the problems that could break off their relationship. The two people can not touch in the dream, however, the woman fears that if they touch each other everything will be ruined.

I found this final line of the story to be very interesting. It implies that the man in the story is the only man that can not remember what he has dream. The woman is criticizing him for this. However, this is ironic because the woman can not remember where she wrote the phrase "eyes of a blue dog." I find this hypocritical. Overall I liked the story and think that I would enjoy reading other things by Marquez.

4 comments:

  1. one hundred years of solitude or Love in the time of cholera=they are the biggies

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  2. Alexis, I like your analysis of the story, and and the connection you make between the touch of the man the woman and the effect that would have on their reality. I think it might also do to consider that maybe perhaps their reality is getting in the way of what they want. Perhaps their dreams are a manifestation of their wants but are unachievable. I think this is an important connection to the realism in the story, that we all can't have what we want. Because they can't touch, and always forget key elements when they return to reality, their subconscious may be telling them that they can't always get what they want. Just something I was thinking about while reading your post(:

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  3. An easy access story is "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." This piece is not as ambiguous as "Eyes of the Blue Dog," and it is not volumous as the novel noted in the comments above. I believe you would find "Very Old Man" engaging. . . Good luck with your reading.

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  4. An easy access story is "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." This piece is not as ambiguous as "Eyes of the Blue Dog," and it is not volumous as the novel noted in the comments above. I believe you would find "Very Old Man" engaging. . . Good luck with your reading.

    ReplyDelete