Reader Response: Julio Cortazar

Magical Realism is a way of bringing fantasy and reality together. It blends the reality with the fantasy. In all three of Cortazar’s stories, The Continuity of Parks, Our Demeanor at Wakes and Axolotl he mixed the fiction with reality.

In The Continuity of Parks the reader becomes part of the book. The book is about how a man is reading a novel about a lover and a stalker but the reader ends up reading a novel about his own life. However, not only does the reader have a stalker but the people who read the text become stalkers themselves. This story was a mixture of fantasy and reality because the man reading a novel had a stalker but it was fantasy because the reader themselves become stalkers.

In Our Demeanor at Wakes reality is being created because the family cares about whoever was in the coffin, but when they cried they just wanted to show how hypocritical the neighbors were at the funeral. However, the women were going overboard with all of the crying to the point where they had to be pulled away. At the wake the neighbors are the ones who finished up the funeral instead of the family. The family in this story really wanted to show the neighbor’s how they were being hypocrites’ to the point where they believed their own sincerity. This story gives an example of how someone can attend a funeral of somebody they didn’t know and end up crying. Then it gets to the point where they believe they are being sincere.

In Axolotl, Julio Cortazar wanted to bring out emotions in his readers. The story was about how a man goes to the aquarium and finds the Axolotls. He becomes obsessed with them, and he feels that they relate to the humans. The Axolotls feel suffering. The thing about this story was that it was really emotional because the Axolotls couldn’t tell the humans how they are feeling or give a message to the humans. It was also tricky because the readers didn’t know if the human watching the Axolotls had become an Axolotl himself, or if the Axolotl was imagining the human all along.

All three of these texts brought out different emotions in me. The Continuity of Parks made me think and reading it felt like a mystery. When I read it I had no idea at first that I myself was a stalker as well, and I love the way Cortazar had made me feel like a part of the story. It was as if I was there myself. In Our Demeanor At Wakes I saw a different side of hypocrisy and I realize that by telling a  lie, or if I cry at a funeral of someone I didn’t know I am creating my own reality because in the back of my mind I believe my tears as well as my emotions. In Axolotl I felt bad for the Axolotl because they couldn’t communicate to the humans and they felt alone. There are times when I feel alone, or I feel like nobody cares about me. If I’m having a conversation with someone and they weren’t listening I feel like they don’t care what I have to say, or what I say doesn’t matter.  

All three of the text changed my view of the world. With the Continuity of Parks it makes me aware of my surroundings, and I also didn’t realize how serious stalking can be. The scary thing about it is if someone is being stalked they won’t even know it. Our Demeanor at Wakes also changed my view of the world because I have being to funerals of a family member. There were some people who would show up and I’m thinking “who are they” I never stopped to think if all those people who were crying were being sincere or not. Now if somebody is crying for whatever reason I can figure out if they mean it or not. The Axolotl also changed my view of the world because I have been to the Zoo and Aquarium before and I never stopped to think about how the animals feel or anything when they are in their tanks or areas.

All of Cortazar’s texts were a work of art because they mad the readers think, become a part of the reading like in The Continuity of Parks; they made the readers feel empathy like in Axolotl. Cortazar has gotten many emotions from his readers so that’s why I feel his stories are art. Also I feel his stories allow the readers to explore their minds.

I would read Cortazar’s work again because I love to read stories that keep me guessing and Cortazar’s stories have done that.