And of Clay Are We Created - Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende’s “And of Clay Are We Created” is the story of a reporter who is sent to
report on a disastrous mudslide. Carlé, a reporter known for his combat and catastrophes,
abandons his assignment to stay with Azucena, a 13 year­old girl stuck in mud and unable to
escape. Carlé and the rescuers attempt to pull Azucena out of the mud but she stuck, held down
by rubble and her siblings. Carle tries to get a pump to help remove her but to no avail as
reporters pour in asking her questions, taking pictures, and sending out video for the world to
see. Carlé begins to bond with Azucena as each share their personal life. As time goes on Carlé’s
repressed past begins to come back to him of his abusive father and his dark childhood. The
President of the Republic visits the area in his “tailored safari jacket” (62) and makes empty
promises of getting a pump for Azucena. Carlé’s lover is finally able to get a pump on its way to
Azucena but it is already too late as she is dead.  Back with his lover, Carlé is “not the same
man.” (63) And has been deeply affected by his time with Azucena. The Central idea of the story
is that we cannot move on as a person if our internal demons are not dealt with first.
 The central character of the story is Rolf Carlé. Although the story is not told from his
perspective, the story is about Carlé’s personal transformation as he spends his time with
Azucena. For this reason Carlé is a dynamic character who goes from what the narrator describes
as someone who “seemed as if nothing could shake his fortitude” (58) and as having “awesome
tenacity” (58). This all changes when he encounters Azucena. Carlé “threw down his knapsack
and the rest of his equipment” (58) removing the barrier that held Carlé at “this fictive distance
seemed to protect from his own emotions” (58). Carlé’s bonding with the girl begins to bring up
his abusive past and eventually he is able to at least acknowledge and accept his past, “’I’m not
crying for you,’ Rolf Carlé smiled. ‘I’m crying for myself. I hurt all over’” (62).  After Azucena’s
death and Carlé’s return to his lover, the narrator says, “You are back with me, but you are not
the same man” (63) showing us that Carlé has really changed from the experience.
 The most important supporting character is Azucena. Azucena is instrumental in the
change of Carlé as she is the one who bonds and connects with Carlé. “He was Azucena; he was
buried in the clayey mud; his terror was not the distant emotion of an almost forgotten
childhood, it was a claw sunk in his throat.” (62) Shows how important to Carlé’s character she
is. Regardless of how much she helps Carlé change, Azucena is a static character.  Azucena is able
to survive for three days in which she “taught Ralf to pray,” (61), talks to reporters, and even
consoles Carlé:  “’don’t cry. I don’t hurt anymore. I’m fine,”(62) all while facing her inevitable
death. Her situation is what pushes Carlé to think of his past and the pain he hid away for so
long.
 The main conflict of the story is Man versus Self as Carlé fights his past. Carlé “never
suspecting that he would find a fragment of his past, lost thirty years before.” (57) Deals with his
history that he has kept locked up.  Carlé has, for most of his life, kept the pain of his childhood
hidden from the world and himself not allowing anyone to know about the pain he feels.
Unaware that this situation could bring up old memories, the more Carlé talks to Azucena the
more he reveals to himself: “Telling her stories Carlé’s “most secret layers of memory poured out,
leveling before the obstacles that had blocked his consciousness for so long. (61) Carlé
remembers the horrors of burying dead, his abusive father and his sister Katharina.
 The most important supporting conflict is Man versus Society. In the face of so much
technology, “The television cameras transmitted so often the unbearable image” (57) and “more