Heritage and Multicultural American Identities — Test

Question 25 • TPS EdX English Language Arts 11

Which excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban best exemplifies magic realism?

Answer

Her name is Minnie French but she’s weirdly old-looking for a young person. Maybe it’s her name or the three shopping bags of food she has under her seat.

I stared at them, tried to make them go away. I remember thinking, Okay, I’ll start with their hair, make it fall out strand by strand. They always left wearing kerchiefs to cover their bald patches.

There were beef cattle and dairy cows, horses, pigs, goats, and lambs. Dad fed them molasses to fatten them, and gave the chickens corn and sorghum until they laid vermilion eggs, rich with vitamins.

Our house is on a cement plot near the East River. At night, especially in the summer when the sound carries, I hear the low whistles of the ships as they leave New York harbor.

Explanation

Magic realism brings supernatural events into an otherwise realistic setting and treats them as part of everyday life. In B, the narrator’s thoughts seem to make other people’s hair fall out, and they leave with bald patches covered by kerchiefs. That unexplained magical effect makes this the clearest example.

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