Discussion Topic
Azucena's entrapment and initial situation in Isabel Allende's "And of Clay Are We Created"
Summary:
Azucena's entrapment in Isabel Allende's "And of Clay Are We Created" occurs when a volcanic eruption causes a mudslide that traps her in a pit, with her legs pinned under debris. Despite rescue efforts, she remains stuck for days, symbolizing helplessness and the human struggle against nature's unforgiving force.
Describe Azucena's initial situation in Isabel Allende's "And of Clay Are We Created".
In the first paragraph of the story, the reader becomes aware of Azucena's situation. She is stuck in a pit of mud with just her head protruding above the surface. Television cameras transmit her plight to the rest of the world, as she struggles to stay alive. A reporter, Rolf Carlé, stays with her and shares her story.
It is in the second paragraph that the reader becomes aware of the events that place Azucena in her current situation. A mudslide resulting from melting ice on the side of an active volcano covers Azucena's village in a "vicious soup" of mud. Attempts to pull her from the mud are unsuccessful. Azucena dies at the end of the third day. Her death is captured by television cameras for the world to see.
"And of Clay Are We Created " is a partially autobiographical story about a journalist and his encounter...
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with a young Latin American girl who is the sole survivor of a volcanic eruption that has destroyed her village. At the beginning of the story, the eruption has just taken place, and television crews are examining the site of the destroyed village, which has been overflown with mud.
Azucena's situation is revealed to the reader, and the world, by the television crews; she is buried up to her neck in mud, her head like a "black squash"; she claims that the bodies of her dead brothers and sisters are supporting her legs, and she is trapped in place by rubble. She seems physically shocked and weak, and is lethargic and unresponsive at first, probably because of the trauma she has endured.
How does Azucena become trapped in "And of Clay Are We Created"?
Azucena becomes trapped in the mire of mud, debris, and clay after a massive volcano erupts, which creates an avalanche of "telluric vomit." The volcanic eruption buries the small villages at the bottom of the volcano in viscous mud, leaving more than twenty thousand human beings trapped in the quagmire. When Rolf Carlé and his news team arrive, they find Azucena buried up to her neck in mud. Rolf Carlé discovers that Azucena cannot move, and it is speculated that her legs are trapped underneath the mud by the remains of a fallen wall or the bodies of her family grasping onto her legs. Rolf Carlé initially attempts to pull Azucena from the mud using a rope but is unsuccessful. Rolf Carlé is also not able to receive a pump to remove the water and loosen Azucena from the quagmire. On the third night of covering Azucena's tragic situation, she dies in the mud pit.