House Taken Over by Julio Cortázar Book Review

Vampires, werewolves, and witches are all notable fictional creatures that strike fear into the hearts of a majority of people in their childhood years. However, as we grow older, we come to learn that the monsters from our past never truly go away. The unpleasant traits that these characters hold become manifested in people and events that we interact with and go through everyday. In a society full of corrupt people and unpredictable situations, reality offers real-life monsters that bring fear into our daily lives. In reality, life or death situations can happen for real and have actual consequences. Additionally, reality is unpredictable and rarely follows a script that can guide us out of a situation. Finally, real life has no “pause” and we have to withstand the problems. With deadly sins that hang over everyone we know and the unforeseeable nature of future events, you can never be too sure to think that the horrors we dread only happen in fiction. 

In reality, death and other possibilities can affect people permanently. Fiction offers a blanket of protection due to the fact that people know that it’s fake and that it is never going to influence them in real life. However, reality provides a personal experience that changes people’s lives significantly. In the story, “House Taken Over” it states that, “We didn’t wait to look at one another. I took Irene’s arm and forced her to run with me to the wrought-iron door, not waiting to look back. You could hear the noises, still muffled but louder, just behind us.” (Cummins et al. page 41) As the narrator and his sister abandon their house, they are running to save their lives. If they do not, the people searching for them will harm them and possibly kill them. In an actual death or traumatic event that happens in real life, there are no redos or resurrections. We cannot just flip through pages or rewind the movie to turn back the time in reality. Just as we cannot turn back time, in reality, we cannot stop it either. We are made to endure through the events and suffer the consequences.

In real life, we do not have the power to stop future events we don’t know about. When we are scared while reading a book or watching a movie, we can simply close the book or turn off the movie. In reality, horrifying events happen all the time and there is nothing we can do to end it. “We stood listening to the noises, growing more sure that they were on our side of the oak door, if not the kitchen, then the bath, or in the hall itself at the turn, almost next to us.” (Cummins et al. page 41) As the narrator and his sister wait, listening to their impending doom, they are forced to fight the threat or run away with no chance of escaping the situation altogether. While fiction only lives through words and pictures, reality gives real life problems that we  must try to fix to save our lives. It is impossible to change the course of events as easily as an author can change a book. With reality presenting deadlier and more direct problems, it’s almost fitting that these events hit us when we least expect it.

Reality is unpredictable and rarely follows a script that can guide us out of a situation. Fictional books and movies strictly follow a structure or a script that maps out each event in the story. With reality, there are no exact cliches or tropes that allow us to predict or prepare for certain circumstances. “‘Did you bring anything?’ I asked hopelessly. ‘No, nothing.’ We had what we had on. I remembered fifteen thousand pesos in the wardrobe in my bedroom. Too late now.” (Cummins et al. page 42) The narrator and Irene flee the house in a hurry, with no money and only a few personal possessions for they did not expect the attack beforehand. Fiction gives its characters an easy and predictable way out when there is trouble. However, with reality, there is no guarantee that everyone will be able to make it to the end. Life does not follow a diagram that lays out the structure, nor does it have a script. As fiction gives events that already have a known ending, reality offers a greater fear; the fear of the unknown.

Despite the fact that fiction displays scarier creatures and scenes with high stakes at risk, its impact can quickly go away as fast as a person can close a book or turn off the television. Reality provides a far more terrifying situation, with real life or death situations, loss of control over events, and unpredictability of the future. In the end, the demons we face are not only in our heads and in our books, but all around us as well.