Davida:
The theme that is present in My Cloud that can be seen in Aura is the disappearance of youth. Also, it is how the human being changes and his/hers experiences and encounters alter as one matures. Although this is evident in many instances throughout the book, it is mentioned by Felipe in the beginning, “This day is just like any other day…newspaper.” (832) Through this quote and the paragraph prior to it, readers are exposed to the thoughts that comprise Felipe’s mind on a daily basis. Felipe’s worryfree youth has long ceased to exist and instead his life is infiltrated with choices, tasks, and ensuring a financially stable life for himself. In comparison to the character in My Cloud who said “And it was the flood,” he meant that as his youth diminished, the flood started filled with people’s stories followed by worries and the trait to care about people. Felipe’s daily, boring routine is just a mechanism to get by, and with the loss of his youth and the lack of success, “It will never taste like the cloud from when I was young.”
Fritz:
“Perhaps Aura is waiting for you to release her from the chains in which the perverse, old lady, for some unknown reason, has bound her.” (842) In this scene, just as in My Cloud, the loss of one’s youth is portrayed as a fatal terror, an unimaginably harsh incident in one’s life. The old lady has bound Aura for one purpose, the inability to let go of her precious beauty at a young age, and more importantly, the live she experienced with her husband because of her lovely youth. In My Cloud, as the narrator learns that it is possible to change the cloud (life through imagination) with no help, the creations saw no bounds. Once it was clear that the narrator can “create with it my own forms,” many new subjects appeared, as if achieving the ultimate goal or desire with imagination and representation through a cloud. Consuelo, refused to release Aura from the “chains” of her imagination and instead created a new form (Aura) to reach her desired limit (youth).
Brian:
Wasted youth is a theme that appears in both “My cloud” and “Aura” where the protagonists in both these stories lose something very symbolic and important to themselves. The cloud and Aura both reflect on the protagonists in their stories and what they might be missing out on from their youth. Felipe resembles Consuelo’s husband to Consuelo and his relationship with Aura symbolizes what Consuelo misses from her husband. As Consuelo’s youth slipped away from her fingers, she lost her loved one and affection that came along with him. “My young doll…my young doll with green eyes. I filled you with love.” (844) The protagonist from my cloud realizes he will never have as fulfilling a cloud as the one from his youth.
Stephen:
The common theme, the disappearance of youth is also shown in Carlos Fuentes’s Aura. As Consuelo grows old, she cannot do things that she was able to do before. Yet, she still asserts her influence and manipulates the minds of Aura and Felipe into her youthful desires. Felipe questions Aura’s loyalty to Consuelo in the quotes, “She’s trying to bury you alive. You’ve got to be reborn Aura.” (849). Felipe continuously criticizes Aura’s decision to stay in this prison-like mansion with Consuelo. Felipe notices that Aura is very loyal to Consuelo and encourages her to “reborn” to be a new person. Aura is wasting or “burying” her youthfulness for every minute she remains as a subordinate of Consuelo. Felipe also suggests that they can run away and take their “youthfulness” somewhere else to start a new life. However, Aura is a reminiscence of Consuelo’s youth and Consuelo uses her to manipulate Felipe for her own gains.
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