In The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Eréndira is treated callously by her grandmother and the men who use her for their own personal desires. Marquez incorporates naturalistic elements such as the human animal, the lack of free will, the quotidian, human suffering and scientific language to reveal to the reader how Eréndira is stripped of her humanity and objectified. What is left is Eréndira’s animalistic side which must find a way to survive or escape. Eréndira has no control of her destiny; her life is directed by external forces in particular her family and her surroundings. ’The wind of her misfortune came into the bedroom like a pack of hounds and knocked…show more content… The conversation between the grandmother and the widower is made to look mundane but this is not the case. Eréndira’s virginity is being traded for money and both parties lack sympathy. ‘Finally they agreed on two hundred and twenty pesos in cash and some provisions’ (Marquez 290). Marquez uses the word finally to show a long period of boredom. Marquez uses the widower who is an expert in this field to show us how this tedious transaction is normal in his narrative. Marquez attempts to dampen the reader’s emotions so that the reader fails to sympathize with Eréndira and in so doing we see Eréndira as a second class human being. The widower also dehumanizes Eréndira with the way that he subjects her to scientific procedures. ‘The widower examined Eréndira with scientific austerity: he considered the strength of her thighs, the size of her breasts, the diameter of her hips’ (Marquez 289). The quote is effective at allowing us to see the inner workings of the widowers mind. We see what he values in women and also how he values women. Eréndira is valued for the physical properties that are common in objects. The words diameter, strength and size are associated to shapes. The shapes that make up Eréndira are made to stick out so that she looks more like an object of many shapes that resembles a…show more content… The first way is to show the human animal as a force within Eréndira that dictates her behaviour. The second way is to show how the human animal within other people causes Eréndira to be stripped of her basic human rights. Intelligent speech is a liminal space between human and animals. Marquez attempts to break this barrier so that he can make Eréndira appear more like the human animal. ‘Eréndira began to weep with the shrieks of a frightened animal’ (Marquez 299). The pain that Eréndira has endured has caused her to lose control and her emotions are causing an animalistic sound. Shriek is an interesting onomatopoeia to use as it makes the cry sound loud, high pitched and annoying. The sound of the word shriek and the sound Eréndira makes are both discomforting to whoever hears them so when the grandmother is consoling Eréndira we are not fooled and are alerted to the grandmother’s ulterior motive and we see how Eréndira’s well-being is not considered. Another significant sound is the owl call that Ulises uses to signal Eréndira of his presence. The reader can see how the young love is infusing with nature and this makes nothing about Eréndira to be normal or human. Marquez has corrupted the love between Eréndira and Ulises. Erendira now understands and produces animal
