Magical Realism In Through The Arc Of The Rain Forest

Through the Arc of the Rain Forest is the first novel of Karen Tei Yamashita who is one of the most significant Japanese American female writers in the twentieth century. Through utilizing magical realism, Yamashita presents the whole process of the emergence, development and devastation of Matac?o in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest to reveal the economic, environmental and cultural issues of the developing countries in the trend of globalization.This thesis attempts to analyze the employment of magical realism in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest. Apart from the Introduction and the Conclusion, this thesis is composed of three chapters.The introductory part gives a brief introduction to Karen Tei Yamashita’s literary achievements and her celebrated work Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, conducts a literature review, and then presents the theoretical basis and the outline of the thesis.Chapter One explores elements of magical realism in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest by analyzing the biblical archetypes and folkloric allusions. In this novel, Yamashita not only utilizes biblical archetypes such as Noah’s Ark, Eve and Adam expelled from the Garden of Eden, but also uses folkloric allusions, through which Yamashita describes the main characters’ ups and downs in the Matac?o. The employment of biblical archetypes and folkloric allusions builds a magic atmosphere in this novel. What is more important, it deeply reveals the shock of globalization toward the developing countries.Chapter Two probes into elements of magical realism in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest by analyzing the fantastical characters in the novel. Yamashita creates Michelle Mabelle with three breasts, Kazumasa Ishimaru with a ball and Jonathan B. Tweep with three arms. Through portraying these fantastical characters, Yamashita reveals and criticizes the imperialism that European countries, Japan and America once carried out in Brazil.Chapter Three discusses magical realism as reflected in the use of magic narrative strategy in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest. First of all, Yamashita builds a circular narrative structure to present a future disaster in a retrospective way, which creates the displacement of time and space, strengthening the magic effect. Moreover, Yamashita designs a mysterious ball as its narrator who shows strong desires for relationship in order to reach magic effect. By using a mysterious ball as the omniscient narrator, Yamashita shifts a local disaster to a global one.The concluding part briefly summarizes the main ideas of this thesis and emphasizes that Through the Arc of the Rain Forest has displayed excellent artistic techniques and profound implications. This novel not only shows Yamashita’s inheritance and innovation of magical realism, but also expresses her deep concerns over the current global environmental crisis, survival crisis of developing countries and new forms of colonialism.