Of Clay We Are Created

And of Clay We Are Created by Isabel Allende

And of Clay We Are Created immediately begins by telling us about Azucena, who's head was protruding from a mud pit. The readers get a sense of how desperate the situation is when the author, Isabel Allende, writes, "In that vast cemetery where the odor of death was already attracting vultures from far away" (302.) This tells us that time is running out, that someone must act soon to help this girl out. There is also a sense of alienation that Azucena might be feeling along with a variety of other feelings going through her head. Along comes Rolf Carle, a reporter on assignment, who ends up abandoning his duties as a reporter to give Azucena comfort as he tries to rescue her. In the process of this attempted rescue he confronts his own feelings as he recalls his childhood with unpleasant memories.

As Rolf arrives on the scene to report on the volcanic eruption he immediately takes interest in Azucena. He joins in the effort to rescue her when he realizes that the first attempts are failing and she sinks a little deeper. Rolf continues to try to rescue her and reassures her that she will be out soon he says to her, "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here" (303). The sense of loneliness that Azucena might have been feeling was probably erased by such a reassurance of someone that was working hard to save her.

As failed rescue attempts went on, the author tells us that Azucena could barely move or breath she says, "She did not seem desperate, as if an ancestral resignation allowed her to accept her fate" (304) This tells us that Azucena knew what was coming, the inevitable, she had accepted what Rolf was not ready to accept; perhaps he is in more of a lonely place that she is right now.

When Rolf realizes that it is impossible to remove the rubble he calls out for a pump to drain the water but was told there was no available transport until the next day, for which he shouts, "We can't wait that long!"(304) this again gives us a sense of urgency that time is running out for the girl. As more camera crews continued arriving to ask the same questions of Azucena over and over again, Rolf just continues pleading for a pump to try to rescue her. There were millions of people watching this tragedy and no one could help this was certainly alienation from the world for Azucena as well as Rolf who would not leave her side.

As the second day turns in to night Rolf confronts his own past, a past filled with sadness and neglect; a part of a lonely little boy and his own struggles of being trapped in a home with an abusive father had now surfaced after years of burying these memories. As a child he felt a sense of hopelessness too and here he could relate to Azucena his past and his present had collided and the same sense of loneliness hits as the third day of this horrible ordeal had arrived.

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