And of Clay Are We Created

by Isabel Allende

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What is the setting of "And of Clay Are we Created"? Does it evoke specific feelings?

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The setting of the story "And of Clay Are We Created" is a scene of devastation in a small Latin American village where a volcanic eruption has caused death and destruction. The author uses the volcano's fury and the paralyzing mud caused by the eruption to grip the reader and to make them mourn for the physical and emotional conflicts and anguish that both main characters undergo.

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The setting of "And of Clay Are We Created" is a Latin American village that has been devastated by a volcanic eruption. The resulting clay, debris, and water have buried and trapped thousands of humans beneath the resulting mud. The more centralized setting and main focus of the text is the area where Azucena is trapped in the mud and is held down by "rubble," the mud itself, and by what she tells those attempting to rescue her is the weight of her now-dead family "clinging to her legs." The scene is chaotic, as rescue workers, reporters, and photographers all surround the environment.

Allende uses the setting to make the readers feel many things. She wants them to feel the emotional despair of the whole village as it is wrapped in a shroud of destruction.

She also uses the setting to make the reader feel the heavy "weight"...

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of Azucena and Rolf Carle's shared and individual situations. For instance, the mud is representative of the weight of Azucena's physical suffering, and it also represents the weight of Rolf Carle's painful past as well. Allende uses this element of the setting to make the reader emotionally invested in each character and to sympathize with both their miseries. For example, she wants the reader to grieve for the heavy burden carried by Azucena as she becomes more certain of her impending death. She also wants the reader to empathize with Rolf Carle as he faces his own demons placed upon him by his tragic past, a past that includes seeing the horrors of the Holocaust and being a victim to the abuse of his father as a child.

By allowing the reader to see the destruction caused by the volcanic eruption, Allende uses this element of the setting to help readers better understand and feel sadness for Rolf Carle's emotional transformation from a courageous, emotionally strong photographer before his interaction with Azucena to a shattered man after her death, a man who is trying to deal with the eruption of memories that he previously suppressed and are now, like the devastating volcano, finally erupting and overflowing as a result of his interactions with Azucena. In other words, Allende uses the environmental cause and effect of the disaster, the eruption of the volcano, and the resulting weight of mud to help readers better feel the suffering of both of the main characters.

One is suffering from being unable to escape her physical situation and one is suffering from the emotional wreckage that has caused him to be unable to move beyond the pain of his past. The natural landscape is one of devastation, and it helps the reader feel for the physical and emotional elements that have metaphorically destroyed both characters.

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