User:GisselleHv/sandbox
ACROSTIC:
Gisselle who is she.? She
Is the smartest girl I have ever met.
She is humble and simple
She is friendly and kind
Especially when she loves, she
Learns from her mistakes and moves on, she
Lives a life without tomorrow, she dreams and gets
Excited about his achievements.
"House Taken Over" by Julio Cortázar. (Spanish version: https://ciudadseva.com/texto/casa-tomada/). (ENGLISH VERSION https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pvb2qjVtuCNNtyTfCe9jYuMem4UjojtbKKPObuFxnPo/edit).
CONTEXT:
Julio Cortázar (26 August 1914–12 February 1984) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Cort%C3%A1zar ) was an Argentine writer and intellectual. Cortázar moved away from established conventions and literary models and specialized in narratives in the border between reality and fantasy. He studied the most mysterious aspects of daily life, always looking for novelty and a deep understanding of reality to innovate the literary ideas of his time.
SUMMARY: In this story, the narrator and his sister Irene have lived over thirty years in a large house passed down from generation to generation. They brother have devoted themselves entirely to taking care of their home and spend their days cleaning the house and cooking lunch and dinner. He also reads books; she knits. One day, the back of the house is “taken over.” Eventually, the brother and sister must leave the house because it has been taken over completely. QUOTES: " It was pleasant to take lunch and commune with the great hollow, silent house, and it was enough for us just to keep it clean. We ended up thinking, at times, that that was what had kept us from marrying”. ("Nos resultaba grato almorzar pensando en la casa profunda y silenciosa y cómo nos bastábamos para mantenerla limpia. A veces llegábamos a creer que era ella la que no nos dejó casarnos.") By personifying the house and describing it as a deep and quiet house, Cortázar explores the themes of isolation and loneliness. Irene and the narrator take refuge in the house and use it as an excuse to explain why they did not interact with more people. "We would die here someday, obscure and distant cousins would inherit the place, have it torn down, sell the bricks and get rich on the building plot; or more justly and better yet, we would topple it ourselves before it was too late." ("Nos moriríamos allí algún día, vagos y esquivos primos se quedarían con la casa y la echarían al suelo para enriquecerse con el terreno y los ladrillos; o mejor, nosotros mismos la voltearíamos justicieramente antes de que fuese demasiado tarde.") (Spanish version: https://ciudadseva.com/texto/casa-tomada/). This shows us how Irene and her brother were resigned to die in that house. The house became their refuge and the only friend. Images:
Textual Analysis: Tentative thesis:
In the short story "House Taken Over," Julio Cortázar emphasizes isolation and solitariness, presenting its two characters as loners who devote themselves to their home. Irene is a patient and quiet woman, particularly good at knitting with hooks. Irene's brother is a cultured man with a taste for reading and European culture. Both are single.
Irene's brother narrates the story from his perspective who carries the memory of the house and the nostalgic story of all the family time it presents. It also describes the passage of time about the house, because the author told us that this is an exceptionally large old house that can live 8 people without disturbing.
Literary terms: Onomatopoeia: "During the day there were the household sounds, the metallic click of knitting needles, the rustle of stamp-album pages turning." ("De día eran los rumores domésticos, el roce metálico de las agujas de tejer, un crujido al pasar las hojas del álbum filatélico.") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia Simile: "But Irene was only interested in the knitting and showed a wonderful dexterity, and for me the hours slipped away watching her, her hands like silver sea-urchins, needles flashing, and one or two knitting baskets on the floor, the balls of yarn jumping about" ("Pero a Irene solamente la entretenía el tejido, mostraba una destreza maravillosa y a mí se me iban las horas viéndole las manos como erizos plateados, agujas yendo y viniendo y una o dos canastillas en el suelo donde se agitaban constantemente los ovillos.") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile Personification: "Then the house grew quiet, half lit, we ended by stepping around more slowly so as not to disturb one another" ("Entonces la casa se ponía callada y a media luz, hasta pisábamos despacio para no molestarnos.") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personification Metaphor: "Nunca pude habituarme a esa voz de estatua o papagayo, voz que viene de los sueños y no de la garganta." (I could never get used to that voice of a statue or parrot, a voice that comes from dreams and not from the throat). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor Symbols: The house represents an important symbol because the whole story unfolds from the house, which represents the central theme of isolation and loneliness. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism
Critical Thinking Questions 1. What clues can the title of the story give us? 2. Why does Cortázar use a first-person narrator? How does that narrator make the story come to life? 3. If you can read the Spanish original: What is the tone used by the narrator in the story? 4. What does the house represent?