–What do you think the significance of Allende’s title is? What does it mean to be made of clay? –
-What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?
–Why do you think Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story?
–What did you make of the President’s visit to the site of the disaster? What kind of commentary is Allende making here?
–How can you connect this story with your own experiences of natural or other disasters? Are there elements of the story that you can relate to? How?
-What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?
When other news reporters and cameramen just focus on how to report the event and film the dangerous situation Azucena is in to catch audiences’ attention, Rolf jumps into the mud pit and tries to help her out. Unfortunately, Azucena is trapped, being held down by the bodies of her siblings and the rubble.
While they are waiting for the pump to drain the mud and secure Azucena, Rolf is always be with her. In order to distract Azucena, Rolf talks a lot with her. Meanwhile, they have a conversation about each of their live experiences.
What Azucena is suffering recalls Rolf’s unhappy memories about his childhood. He also suffers a disaster within his childhood, which is World War 2. After he grows up, he tries to hide the memories up and pretends they all pass, which means they would not affect his live any more. However, encountering with Azucena, which makes Rolf realize that memories could not be gotten rid of. They will follow us during the whole life.
–How can you connect this story with your own experiences of natural or other disasters? Are there elements of the story that you can relate to? How?
I’ve personally never experienced natural disasters physically; I’ve always seen them on television or the newspapers. This story is similar to the news broadcast on television because it picks one person suffering out of the whole population to be the face of the event. Just like how the story focuses only on Allende’s suffering, it does the same in public news television. Rather than letting victims grief or suffer in peace, news outlets decide to shine cameras on a specific person for views and attention. Furthermore, because Allende is one of the many who suffered drastically, the news make her the face of the event because it would attract the most attention.
What do you think the significance of Allende’s title is? What does it mean to be made of clay?
The significance of Allende’s title is to show where we came from in the beginning, referring to the Bible. We were molded and created by God from clay and only he could turn us back into clay as we die. There is also purity and innocence in the way the young girl, Azucena dies amid all the rubble coming from the volcano, perhaps forshadowing judgement day approaching all of man kind. We are delicate human beings as God has made us and are easily molded into whatever God wants us to be.
–Why do you think Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story?
Even though Azucena is not the only person who need for rescuing, she became the symbol of the tragedy because all we can do is just watching her die. Everyone knows she is alive and she need help. However there is no way. The leaders of the government and military are also unable or unwilling to help secure a pump that could have drained the mud water, which could have effectively saved the little girl’s life. Imagine that one little girl is dying and their is camera in front of her and people are just watching the girl die a slow. It is heartbreaking tragedy.
-What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?
Rolf encounters Azucena, the little girl who is physically stuck among the clay/mud. While keeping Azucena company, Rolf is able to reflect on his life and finds himself that although he is not physically stuck like Azucena, he is mentally stuck on his abusive childhood. Rolf’s girlfriend observes how he changes over the course of the 3 days Azucena is stuck and hopes that one day he is able to find his real self again so that he can resume his life.
–Why do you think Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story?
Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story because viewers watching from around the world will sympathize with her and they will be anxious to know what happens to her so they will keep watching. Everyone loves a good story that keeps you hooked on the channel and that is what Azucena was. She was the only thing that would’ve kept people on the channel rather than a news story showing dead bodies along with the destruction and devastation caused by the volcanic eruption.
-What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?
During his meeting with Azucena Rolf remembered what had happened to him as a child during the Second World War. so it affected him morally because he put himself in his place and since then he can not forget his past.
–How can you connect this story with your own experiences of natural or other disasters? Are there elements of the story that you can relate to? How?
I have personally not experienced natural disasters but watching them through the television is definitely completely different than if I was actually there. I can relate to the fact that it is easier to say something about the issues when you are sitting behind a screen because you are experiencing it second hand and that you are mostly interested in the dramatic scenes that the media covers.
Why do you think Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story?
I think Azucena is the symbol for the tragedy because it so happens to be the most emotional story that published and because of this, people are aware of Azucena. It is also the most tragic since Azucena is a little girl and people tend to relate more to people they emphasize with. People are able to see her as their daughter and this pushes them to see her as the face of the tragedy. At the same time, seeing a little girl makes people want to follow the story and this would bring more attention to it.
–Why do you think Azucena becomes a symbol of the tragedy that is unfolding in the story?
I believe that Azucena becomes a symbol of tragedy because most people nation wide can sympathize with a young girl that needs help. Being able to see a girl stuck in the mud, being held down by her dead family members is something that would quickly grab anyone’s attention and concern. Because of the likeability that Azucena has, viewers begin to develop and attachment to the situation, and in turn they will continue to see what her situation is by watching the news. These new stations use Azucena as a symbol of this tragedy as a way to get people to keep tuning into their stations, and watching their reports about not only the disaster, but Azucena as well.
What do you think the significance of Allende’s title is? What does it mean to be made of clay?
I think the title refers to inception. It signifies that we came from clay, meaning we came from the earth. We can also say that we came from dust and to dust we shall return. To be made of clay, it means that we are molded and shaped in whatever form from clay by God and when our time comes to an end, we would return to the foundation of what we are. Then with Azucena being stuck in the mud, Allende tries to tie her purity with that logic.
What did you make of the President’s visit to the site of the disaster? What kind of commentary is Allende making here?
The President is described as coming into the site on the third day with a “tailored safari jacket”. He should have dressed down and been one with the people to show his humbleness. However, it was not until the President came to declare the scene as bad that he mentioned that help was on the way. He also offered relief in the form of “vague promises”. Allende is showing us how politicians really do not seem to care about the people, they just show up for the media attention. It took the president three days to visit the sight.
-What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?
When Rolf encounters Azucena stuck in the mud after a natural disaster, he finds that the two of them have something in common, metaphorically. Rolf stays by her side to comfort her and realizes that he too is stuck on the events that happened in his past. He struggles to get passed his childhood where he was abused by his father. He also relives a time when he witnessed the horrors of a war. Rolf feels trapped by his memories and struggles to fins his true self beyond those experiences.
How can you connect this story with your own experiences of natural or other disasters? Are there elements of the story that you can relate to? How?
I saw this video about Israelis and Palestinians conflict. I forget which side this little girl belonged but she was around 6 or 7, maybe even younger than that. She was talking in front of the camera saying what she did to deserve this violence, terror, and destruction. She was relatively young, too young, to deal with this kind of tragedy and me seeing this 2-minute video on Facebook made me feel powerless and made me emotional since no one deserves this kind of treatment. I was able to relate to this story since the little girl I watched is similar to the girl stuck in the mudpit in the text.
What happens to Rolf in his encounter with Azucena?
In his encounter with Azucena, he experiences a flash back to his childhood. Seeing Azucena stuck in the mud, he reflects to the past where he saw himself in the same situation. He recalls his tough childhood times living with his abusive father and those were the times when Rolf felt like Azucena, stuck and don’t know what to do. He also remembers seeing his sister and abandoning his sister without trying to save her. Now, he is at this diaster and he envisions Azucena as his sister, he is now reaching his hand and finding ways to get Azucena out of the mud, what he wished he could have done for his sister. Rolf changed after experiencing the diaster and helping to save Azucena. The wounds that he opened back up while talking to Azucena affects him a lot and his girlfriend hopes that he can move on soon and live their old life together again.