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A diploma project. Illustrated book by Marquez 'La luz es como el agua'

“La luz es como el agua” or Light like Water is a short story in the collection Doce cuentos peregrinos or Strange Pilgrims. It is about a family from Columbia that is living in Madrid. The two children of the family listen to their parents talk about their homeland and eventually ask for a small boat, so that when they return to Columbia they can go rowing on the river. While the parents are out the children smash open a light bulb and light starts pouring out of it like water (hence the title). The children explore this light-water in their boat and later with scuba gear they get from their parents. In the end, however, the light fills the apartment to the point where it is pouring out of the windows and onto the street. The children are still inside. They have drowned.

The element of magical realism in this story is primarily the light that behaves as water. This light is a physical representation of the nostalgia that the children feel for the homeland that they do not and cannot remember. The defining feature of that unknown land is the water that they would be able to sail and explore under the guidance of their parents had they not been living in Madrid. It represents the children’s desire to explore and learn about a land that they are connected to but kept from. It is their unfamiliarity with their homeland, and by extension the light, that overwhelms them and manifests in their deaths.

Márquez could have easily written a story where two children missed their homeland; however, using the elements of magical realism he has created this depth to their emotions that I do not know if he could capture otherwise. Their emotions become something tangible. We are captivated by their past because we are focused on this golden light-water and we are devastated by their despair when we realize they have drowned. The elements of magical realism are what allow the reader to really visualize the depth of feeling these children experience.