Magical realism: A path to a new Chicana identity in Ana Castillo's so far from god

This thesis aims to examine reflections of magical realism in Ana Castillo's So Far From God (1993). Magical realism has developed as a branch of postmodernism in the 20th century and after the 'boom' of Latin American literature, it has been started to be widely used all over the world as postmodernism has improved. As magical realism aims to decenter the privileged powers of the society and become the voice of the other, postcolonial, deconstructive and feminist criticism theories have been generally applied to the works written in this narrative mode. In this respect, magical realism has attracted the attention of Chicana feminist authors and has been often employed by them. In this thesis, magical realism will be examined in So Far From God in relation to deconstructive, feminist and Jung's archetypal criticism theories. The work is a typical example of magical realism in terms of the supernatural and mysterious events, cultural deconstruction of old myths and the struggle of the female against the patriarchal society and dominant Catholic Church. To form a new mestizo consciousness of identity has been the purpose in this work. Key Words: Magical Realism, Ana Castillo, So Far From God, Chicana feminism, myths, archetypes, identity.