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What is Enriquez's Style?
Setting
The geographic situation of each piece of writing adds different significant background information to the story. For example, the culture, government, and history of a country enables the author to give more human characteristics to each person they are trying to write about. Enriquez almost always sets her stories in Buenos Aires, Argentina, or some other Spanish country. This specific setting really intensifies the real-life trauma that Argentina holds. From a military dictatorship, to social inequalities, and to political violence, stories set in Argentina reinforce Enriquez’s political stance on the country and its history as a whole.
Characters
The characters Enriquez displays regularly experience a deplorable life style, living situation, or event that mimics the difficulties regular people in less fortunate Spanish countries face. Allowing a reader to experience similar situations through the lens of a character gives them a chance to understand what other people in real life are actually going through. On top of that, being more understanding of people around oneself builds personal empathy, fosters social connections, and reduces prejudice amongst the general public.
Tone
The tone of Enriquez’s writing reflects her deep political values in a gothic, unflinchingly morbid, visceral, and unsettling reflection of social-realism. Her usage of dirty horror addresses and heavily critiques the historical trauma of Argentina and her relentless approach refuses to shy away from consequences seen in the case of structural violence.
Emulation of Author
The blazing Argentina sun had set as Mila and Mateo approached the cave that they planned to hold their ceremony that night. The cave was perfectly hidden from sight of Buenos Aires and was dark enough for the candle light to hold the proper significance for the ritual. The siblings walked deep into the tunnel, drew the chalk circle, lit their candles, and said goodbye for the time being.
Several quiet hours passed as Mila waited for Mateo to finish the spell until the air changed. Something was finally happening. Mila recognised the temperature dropping and all the moisture leaving the air almost as Mateo was feeding on it for his transformation. She knew the procedure could take up to weeks, but was too eager to witness his final form first hand, for she had dedicated years to collecting all of the herbs, crystals, and correct spells to ensure everything was perfect for Mateo.
Several hours later, as Mila was drifting off to sleep, a strange gurgling sound came from down the hall. Startled, Mila went and hid to wait out whatever portion of Mateo's transformation had made him sound so disturbed. A couple minutes later Mateo seemed to have regained control of himself, so Mila went to investigate, but when she finally caught a glimpse of Mateo, she knew he was no longer human. His hair had fallen out in large clumps, his skin burned, oozed, and then peeled, his eyes poured with dark, red blood, and his entire body grew until his clothes didn’t fit and tore off. Under those clothes she saw his long scar. His body shone with sweat in the places where skin remained and only seemed to rot more in the places not struck with light. His blemish illuminated as the only piece of perfectly-intact skin. That mark remained from the incantation she had performed only last year in order to save Mateo after his most recent incident. Not only had his physical manifestation changed, his brain was no longer his own. Quickly, before Mila processed the grotesque display in front of her, the beast lunged towards her. Mila
had expected confusion and anger from Mateo, but did not plan accordingly for these emotions to be taken out on her. Mila had to act fast. She sprinted through the tight cave, dodging and weaving between sharpened rocks, unfortunately, a jagged piece of the wall caught her by her right bicep and carved deep into her arm. Hot blood sprayed and scorched her body while searing pain slammed her chest, but the banging, slamming, and screaming coming from behind her only grew nearer. The running and burning felt like it went on for an eternity, but suddenly, daylight poured into the tunnel from the entrance Mila had left open. She raced into the forest, ducked behind a log cabin and watched the opening of the tunnel. Suddenly, Mateo barreled out into the sunlight which instantly immobilized him, turning him to stone.
Mila, conflicted with the loss of her brother, the failure of their mission, and the ache from her arm, broke down in tears in that exact moment. She wasn’t going to get away with her magic ever again.
How I Captured Enriquez's Style
Setting
My scene takes place in a dark cave, reflecting the dark time period of the Argentinean military dictatorship. I wanted to leave room for mystery to set the piece similar to the lies and secrets kept from the people of Argentina. I created this setting by both explaining the country the characters were in and also choosing words to describe the cave to show violence and shadows.
Characters
Mila, in my scene, witnessed the disturbing event of her brother going through a grotesque and disturbin transformation, feared for her life, and felt intense physical pain. Each of these elements put her in danger and each reflect an aspect of neverending struggle for people of less fortunate backgrounds.
Tone
Tone
The dark, gothic, and visceral aspect of the scene reflect those of Enriquez’s writing. I aimed to create an atmosphere of pain and despair in my writing because of the significance the horror genre holds in Enriqez’s critique of corruption in Argentina. To accomplish this atmosphere, I deepened the descriptions of the setting, the actions the characters took and the consequences of their actions. I also made sure to describe everything in a way that would make me uncomfortable to read in order to fully instill social-realism.
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