Leal Luis explains that .
". . . in magic realism, time flows without the restriction of "time," and what can be unreal appears as real. The writer confronts reality and tries to reveal it by looking for what can be mysterious in life, objects, and even human actions. A magic realist narrator creates the illusion of "unreality," faking the escape from the natural, and tells an action that even if appears as explainable it comes across as strange. In the strange narration, the writer instead of presenting something as real, the reality becomes magical. Characters, things, and events are recognizable and reasonable, but because the narrator's intentions are to provoke strange feeling, the explanations are not clear nor logical. There is no ambiguity or psychological analysis of the characters, instead they are well defined almost in opposition, and they never appear confused or surprised about the supernatural- (220).
Magical realism blends fantasy and reality to explain the unexplainable, to heighten the real, and add an aura of allure, found in fables and myths, a theme Isabel Allende employs in later works, such as Paula, the story of her daughter that is purported inspired by and is woven with threads of the Greek myth of Persephone (tale of a mother struggling with the loss of a daughter). Because of magic realism's tie with fantasy, it is shrouded with the feminine, also known in literary circles, as the "Green world,"" with the masculine patriarchal world being defined as the "Court world."".
Allende ventures in the "Green world- with the first section of House of Spirits, with her surreal euphoric portrayal of Rosa the beautiful, Clara's oldest sister and Esteban's intended bride. Mermaid-like and fantastical, Allende describes that .
"At birth Rosa was white and smooth, without a wrinkle, like a porcelain doll, with green hair and yellow eyes-- the most beautiful creature to be born on earth since the days of original sin .
