I SELL MY DREAMS (Kaleidoscope)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabriel García Márquez, ( 1927- 2014) Colombian novelist and one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, mostly for his masterpiece Cien años de soledad(1967; One Hundred Years of Solitude). García Márquez is the best-known Latin American writer. In addition to his masterly approach to his novels, he has also written many short stories. He was also an accomplished journalist. In both his shorter and longer fictions, García Márquez achieved the rare feat of being accessible to the common reader while satisfying the most demanding of sophisticated critics.

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He was perhaps the most important Latin American poet of the 20th century.

SYNONYMS
1. Encrusted- covered with a hard layer
2. Tavern – a pub
3. Intrigued- wanting to know, curious about knowing
4. Languid- slow, relaxed
5. Soprano – a woman with a high pitch voice.
6. Fugitive- brief, short
7. Compatriot- neighbour, fellow citizen
8. Impertinence- impudence, impoliteness
9. Devastating- destructive
10. Oracular- mysterious, enigmatic
11. Forbade- prevented, banned
12. Ravine- gorge, narrow valley
13. Prophecy- prediction, foretelling
14. Infamy- dishonour
15. Decipher-decode, interpret
16. Sinister- threatening
17. Fortuitous-casual, incidental
18. Gluttonous- greedy, desirous, voracious
19. Clams- a type of shell that can be eaten.
20. Mussels- a shell fish, that can be eaten along with the shell
21. Sea cucumbers-They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide
22. Intrepid -daring
23. Clairvoyant – mystic, divine
24. Ineffable- inexpressible
25. Labyrinths-tangles, muddles
26. Borges- a Portuguese and Spanish surname.

1. How did the author recognize the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the wall of Havana Riviera hotel after the storm?

The author recognise the lady who was extricated from the car encrusted in the wall of Havana Riviera Hotel after the storm because of the gold ring she wore which shaped like a serpent and her emerald eye helped the author to identify the similarities with the lady which he knew from Vienna who used to wear the same type of ring and who had emerald eyes.

2. Why did the author leave Vienna never to return again?
The author apparently believed in her dreams. We know this by his response of Frau Frieda's request when she said that she had dreamt of him and that he should leave Vienna for five years. The author leaves Vienna the very next day and never goes back.

3. How did Pablo Neruda know that somebody is watching him from behind?
Paulo Neruda came to knew that somebody behind him was looking at him when he was eating he noticed a lady three chair away from him was staring at him and reported to the author that somebody behind was looking at him and when the author noticed it he found a lady staring at him and identified her it was Frau Frieda, with the snake ring on her index finger.

4. How did Pablo Neruda counter Frau Frieda’s claims to clairvoyance?

Pablo Neruda countered Frau Frieda’s claims to clairvoyance by telling her that according to him ‘Only poetry is clairvoyant,’. When she interacted with them at their table Pablo Neruda paid no attention to her and he had announced that he did not believe in prophetic dreams.

5. Did the author believe in prophetic ability of Frau Frieda?

The author believed in the prophetic ability of Frau Frieda, for instance, it was because of her dream he left Vienna and decided not to return again and when they met accidentally on the ship invited her to have coffee at their table, and encouraged her to talk about her dreams in order to astound the poet Pablo.

6. Why did the author think that her dreams were a stratagem for survival?

Her conversations made it clear that, dream by dream, she had taken over the entire fortune of her patrons in Vienna. Author knew that they were no more than a stratagem as she said that she sold them for a living and he realized the reality behind her interpretations. She interpreted dreams of the religious family and finally asked them to go away for five years . She bequeathed a part of their estate but it is apparent the author believed in her dreams as he left Vienna and never returned.

7. Why does the author compare Neruda to Renaissance Pope?
The author compared Neruda to a Renaissance pope because he was gluttonous and refined. Even against his will, he always presided at the table. Matilde, his wife, would put a bib around his neck that belonged in a barbershop rather than a dining room, but it was the only way to keep him from taking a bath in sauce.

8. How did Frau Frieda die in an unusual way?

Frau Frieda was working for the Portuguese Ambassador’s family in Cuba’s Havana. One morning she was driving in a car when a huge wave rose in the sea that picked her car among many others. Unlike with the other cars, the wave picked Frau Frieda’s car, lifted it skyward, embedded it on the wall of the Havana Riviera Hotel and killed her instantly.

9. In spite of rationality human beings yield to archaic superstition. Why?
Here the author brings out the fact that in every tradition there is superstition.

10. What does the gold ring shaped like a serpent with an emerald eye represent?
It gives an appearance of a traditional fortune teller.

11. Comment on the ironical element of the story.
Throughout the story the author is trying to create irony the story is realistic but the characters are ironic, there is a hidden form of superstition in the story, the character of the woman brings in irony, the last part of the story highlights the conversation between the Portuguese ambassador and the author, even though the author knows what the lady does he knows the same questions to the ambassador this is also an irony in the story.