Magical Realism In Elsewhere Zevin

Elsewhere, by Gabrielle Zevin, is a Magical Realism story of a young girl named Liz who must live on after she died so young. Magical Realism is characterized by six distinguishing traits. Magical Realism stories are characterized by an equal acceptance of ordinary and extraordinary, lyrical fantastic writing, an examination of the character of human existence, an implicit criticism of society, particularly the elite, and an acceptance of events contrary to the usual operating laws of the universe as natural, even remarkable which can be seen in authorial reticence and cultural hybridity. Each of these traits are what make a story a Magical Realism and what make Elsewhere a Magical Realism. One of the key elements of characterizing a book as a Magical Realism is its equal

This means that it shows how humans truly act and feel in situations that could happen and how humans care or hate for others. The five stages of grief are denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. In Elsewhere, Liz experiences this. When she first dies, she does not believe that she has died. She thinks she is in a dream and that she will wake up and be home. Then she becomes angry once she realizes she is dead. She crashes her grandma’s car trying to kill herself thinking that will make everything better. After this, she enters depression. She spends all of her time and money at the Observation Decks watching her family. Then, she begins bargaining. She lies to her grandma that she is spending her money on new cloths when she is actually spending the money on diving gear so she can talk to her family. Then Liz enters acceptance when she dives down the well and she gets her little brother Alvy into trouble with her parents and makes the whole family more upset. Liz realizes that she has to move on with her new life in Elsewhere and accepts that she is dead and can no longer be with her old