Up Among the Eagles by Luisa Valenzuela
"Up Among the Eagles" by Luisa Valenzuela is a narrative that explores themes of self-discovery and transformation within a mythical indigenous setting. The story follows a Mexican woman as she embarks on a journey through a remote mountainous region, where she becomes immersed in the local culture, which is marked by a unique language devoid of temporal references. This environment brings her face to face with poverty and the harsh realities of life, leading to a profound existential awakening.
The protagonist's reliance on her Polaroid camera serves as a symbolic link to her past and a means to document her aging process, as mirrors are absent in her new surroundings. Valenzuela's work incorporates elements of magical realism, enabling the woman to interact with mythical characters and engage in rituals that further her transformation. The narrative culminates in a moment of revelation when the protagonist captures a final photograph, only to find it devoid of her image, prompting a desperate search for meaning within the cycle of life and death. This poignant tale invites readers to reflect on identity, existence, and the passage of time against a backdrop of cultural richness and mystical elements.
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Up Among the Eagles by Luisa Valenzuela
First published: "Donde viven las águilas," 1983 (English translation, 1988)
Type of plot: Magical Realism, mythological
Time of work: The 1980's
Locale: A remote village in Mexico
Principal Character:
The narrator , an unnamed city woman
The Story
"Up Among the Eagles" is told in the first person through the consciousness of a woman who journeys through a primitive indigenous world and discovers a magical dimension. The interaction with mythical characters and a series of rituals lead her to a metaphysical awakening and metamorphosis.
At the beginning, the narrator refers to the events that led her to live in a high place in the mountains, up among the eagles. She lives there because one day, after she had climbed up a path, she realized that the cliffs on the way down were too dangerous and prevented her return to the city below. In her new surroundings, she got to know hunger and misery and had to trade her material possessions for food. She kept her Polaroid camera because the villagers had no use for it.
The protagonist describes her difficult life in the village. The inhabitants seem like strange creatures to her. They use a meaningless language, full of silences and with no references to the past or the future, and they live in the immediate present, with no notion of time, verb tenses, or conjugations. In this static and quiet place, time endures and keeps the local people looking the same until they die—then their corpses are taken to a secret city and mummified.
Secretly, the woman appreciates being subject to the passage of time because it makes her feel alive. Because there are no mirrors, she takes photographs of herself so she can see her evolution as she ages. The fate of her existence after the film runs out worries her. One day, when the villagers keep dancing in the marketplace to a mournful sound and seem not to see her, the fearful protagonist decides to take the last remaining picture.
In the darkness, a sudden light and the sound of death make the protagonist trip the shutter of the camera. She sees that the photo does not contain an image of her, only a blurry vision of a stone wall. As if summoned by the light and the sound, she runs desperately to the city of the dead because she wants to leave all the images of her face to the mummies. At the end, she hopes to go down freely, with the last photo in which she sees herself as a stone.