Literary Elements In Quirogas

676 Words3 Pages

Quiroga’s literary pieces have been undoubtedly influenced by tragedy and death encountered in his life. His devotion for Edgar Allan Poe’s caliginous style enforced him to delve into gothic themes in his works; such as death. The element of the ‘fantastic plot’ also persists in his literature, as explored in ‘"El almohadón de plumas" – In this passage, Quiroga conforms to illustrate the characterization and setting of the short story.
The characterization of this short story is compelling. The passage depicts the character of Alicia as ‘’angelical y tímida’’, a character solely dependent of her husband – sensitive but a dreamer. The narrator only adverts one physical appearance – she’s blonde. The author uses a desperate tone to induce a …show more content…

The house in which they live in is described as ‘’… silencioso —frisos, columnas y estatuas de mármol’’. The features that distinguish the house, corresponds to the characterization of the character of Jordán – the looming walls with his height, the marble statues with his insensitiveness and coldness, the silent patio and the echo ‘’…los pasos hallaban eco en toda la casa’’, entails the solitude and the emptiness not only of the house but in the charters, influencing the physical and psychological hardships of the character of Alicia. One can learn from the passage the lapse of the story happens during the winter, the couple had married in April and had lived three months of joy, ‘’ Durante tres meses —se habían casado en abril— vivieron una dicha especial.’’ The fact that it was winter coincides perfectly with the frigidity of both the house and Jordán in contrast with the character of Alicia. Quioga does not use much colour, only mentions ‘’…el brillo glacial del estuco’’, making reference to the monotonous surroundings, the reader therefore makes a clear comparison to for example a prison. Furthermore, with the features mentioned, the author intents to create a dark atmosphere deliberately utilising features of the fantastic in such a way to indulge the reader into questioning what is real and what fiction

Open Document