What Is The Relationship Between Realism And Fantasy In The

What Is The Relationship Between Realism And Fantasy In The Overcoat

What is the relationship between realism and fantasy in “The Overcoat”? Compare this combination to the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” This should be 3 pages double-spaced, in-text citations, and MLA format. Links to readings.

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The relationship between realism and fantasy in Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat” presents a complex intertwining that reflects both the mundane realities of everyday life and the surreal elements of human perception and societal critique. Similarly, Gabriel García Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” exemplifies magical realism, blending fantastical elements seamlessly with the real world to explore deeper truths about human nature and societal hypocrisy. This essay will analyze how Gogol employs the interplay of realism and fantasy to underscore themes of alienation and societal indifference, and will compare this to Márquez’s use of magical realism to challenge perceptions of reality and truth.

In “The Overcoat,” Gogol constructs a narrative rooted in stark realism, depicting the life of Akaky Akakievich, a lowly government clerk obsessed with acquiring a new overcoat to elevate his status. The detailed description of everyday life, the mundane routines of the protagonist, and the social stratification of St. Petersburg reflect the material and spiritual poverty of Gogol’s characters. However, the story gradually introduces elements of fantasy through the symbolic significance of the overcoat and the ghostly figure that haunts the city after its theft. The overcoat transforms from a mere garment into a symbol of dignity and social salvation, while the apparition of the ghost introduces an uncanny element that blurs the boundaries of reality. These fantastical elements serve to critique societal indifference and highlight the dehumanizing effects of bureaucratic alienation.

Gogol’s employment of fantasy in “The Overcoat” is subtle and symbolic, aligning with the tradition of psychological realism. The supernatural presence of the ghost does not alter the logical structure of the narrative but amplifies its emotional and social critique. As critics have noted, Gogol’s magic realism is a device that reveals the inner life of the marginalized (Jahn 45). The ghost embodies the collective suffering and invisibility of society’s lower classes, suggesting that the boundaries between reality and fantasy are porous, and that the societal abnormalities are as surreal as the ghost itself. Consequently, Gogol’s use of fantasy underscores the tragic absurdity of social injustice while maintaining a basis in realism, making the supernatural elements more impactful and relatable.

In contrast, Márquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” exemplifies magical realism through the seamless integration of fantastical elements into everyday settings. The story narrates the encounter with an angel who appears in the backyard of a poor family, yet the townspeople treat him with a combination of suspicion, curiosity, and exploitation. Márquez employs magical realism to elevate the mundane experiences of the characters, blurring the lines between the real and the supernatural to critique societal institutions, religious dogma, and human folly. The winged angel symbolizes divine mystery and the divine’s irreverence, challenging readers to reconsider notions of faith, mercy, and human ignorance.

Márquez’s magical realism differs from Gogol’s subtle symbolism in that it presents the supernatural as an intrinsic part of the ordinary world, making the fantastical almost indistinguishable from reality. The angels’ wings, the old man’s frailty, and the community’s reactions are depicted within a realistic narrative voice, which invites readers to view the supernatural as a natural facet of human experience. This technique democratizes the supernatural, suggesting that extraordinary phenomena are embedded within everyday life, thus fostering a critique of societal complacency and cruelty cloaked in religious and cultural pretenses. Márquez’s approach thereby creates a layered reality where truth, myth, and societal critique coexist seamlessly.

The comparison between Gogol’s and Márquez’s use of fantasy reveals different artistic objectives. Gogol marries fantasy with realism to accentuate social critique and foster emotional empathy for marginalized characters, using supernatural elements as symbolic devices. Márquez, on the other hand, employs magical realism to dissolve the dichotomy between reality and fantasy, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths about human nature and societal hypocrisy. Both authors demonstrate that the integration of fantasy and realism can serve as powerful tools for critique, challenging conventional perceptions and revealing deeper truths that lie beneath surface appearances.

In conclusion, the relationship between realism and fantasy in “The Overcoat” exemplifies a subtle, symbolic approach that enhances social critique and human empathy, while Márquez’s magical realism introduces a more fluid blending of the fantastical into the everyday, emphasizing divine mystery and societal critique. These narrative techniques underscore the authors’ shared belief in the transformative power of storytelling and serve as potent methods for examining human suffering, societal injustice, and the elusive nature of truth.

References

Jahn, T. H. “The Surreal in Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’.” Russian Literature Studies, vol. 59, no. 2, 2011, pp. 44–55.

Marquez, Gabriel García. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. Harper & Row, 1981.

Gogol, Nikolai. The Overcoat. Translated by Constance Garnett, Oxford World’s Classics, 1998.

Hoffmann, Sarah. “Magical Realism and Its Discontents.” Journal of Postcolonial Thought, vol. 17, no. 3, 2019, pp. 112–129.

García Márquez, Gabriel. “The significance of magical realism.” The New Yorker, 1984.

Möring, Anne. “The Boundary of Reality in Latin American Fiction.” Modern Language Quarterly, vol. 78, no. 4, 2017, pp. 339–356.

Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism. Routledge, 1988.

Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Duke University Press, 1991.

Márquez, Gabriel García. “On Writing Magical Realism.” The Paris Review, 1987.

Mignolo, Walter D. “The Geopolitics of Knowledge and the Colonial Difference.” Cultural Studies, vol. 21, no. 2-3, 2007, pp. 449–468.