Living Trapped in Dead Marriages In the collection of short stories titled Magic for Beginners, Kelly Link paints a vivid picture of the family relationships in the modern society with an original and humorous approach. Through an ingenious use of the Fabulist fiction genre, Kelly tinges her stories with magical and enigmatic figures that leave the reader astonished, disoriented, yet amused. Cats, cat’s skin, witches, ghosts, mediums, rabbits, crocodiles and possessed objects personify paradoxes and inconsistencies of family and social interactions in a modern life, which seems more focused on appearance than on essence. The author uses magic to leave open doors to multiple interpretations encouraging the reader to reflect on the less obvious
…show more content…
Using the “Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland, as a setting of an unconventional "therapeutic" session, the author offers a humorous portrait of the matrimonial life of a couple in crisis. As I mentioned before, Kelly extensive use of binaries to deconstruct a rule-governed reality that does not consider the needs and differences that makes each person a unique nonreplicable human being. Although, a theme park is surely a perfect location for a story about an unusual marriage between "Alan Robley (living) and Lavvie Tyler (deceased)," the author aims to bring to the attention of the reader what lies behind the aura of quite a magical perfection typical of Disneyland. For instance, a “YOU MUST BE THIS TALL” sign blithely ignored by "the three Robley-Tyler children" highlights the intransigent rules that govern an enchanted place like Disneyland, whose subversion of social regulation and structures is only apparent. Through this binary, the author aims to emphasize that the non-compliance with social conventions necessarily leads to the failure of a social institution such as marriage, which can function ideally, I would dare to say as if by magic, only when its rules are rigidly applied. The contrast is further accentuated by the "uncomfortable bench beneath a pink bougainvillea" on which Alan and Sarah Parminter sat. Here we see the purpose of the author to contrast the effects exerted by rules on ones. On one side, there is the feeling of comfort and relaxation one experiences at Disneyland, and on the other, the uncomfortable feeling caused by a failing
Using the “Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland, as a setting of an unconventional "therapeutic" session, the author offers a humorous portrait of the matrimonial life of a couple in crisis. As I mentioned before, Kelly extensive use of binaries to deconstruct a rule-governed reality that does not consider the needs and differences that makes each person a unique nonreplicable human being. Although, a theme park is surely a perfect location for a story about an unusual marriage between "Alan Robley (living) and Lavvie Tyler (deceased)," the author aims to bring to the attention of the reader what lies behind the aura of quite a magical perfection typical of Disneyland. For instance, a “YOU MUST BE THIS TALL” sign blithely ignored by "the three Robley-Tyler children" highlights the intransigent rules that govern an enchanted place like Disneyland, whose subversion of social regulation and structures is only apparent. Through this binary, the author aims to emphasize that the non-compliance with social conventions necessarily leads to the failure of a social institution such as marriage, which can function ideally, I would dare to say as if by magic, only when its rules are rigidly applied. The contrast is further accentuated by the "uncomfortable bench beneath a pink bougainvillea" on which Alan and Sarah Parminter sat. Here we see the purpose of the author to contrast the effects exerted by rules on ones. On one side, there is the feeling of comfort and relaxation one experiences at Disneyland, and on the other, the uncomfortable feeling caused by a failing