Identifying The Day We Were Dogs Whether or not "The Day We Were Dogs" (1993) is a magical realist story is debatable. Stories are often misidentified due to the proximity of literature such as magical realism, the fantastic, and the sublime. The story leaves a lot to the imagination instead of presenting it in the text. Elena Garro fuses together two days and two completely different worlds in this story. The magical elements depend on how you use your imagination throughout this story. The girls might pretend to be dogs or they might actually become dogs. If they are real dogs, they know how to speak, and their dog Toni speaks too. Additionally, magic numbers are used throughout the story. The main magical element is the fusion of the two days. The story jumps back and forth between the two without ever distinguishing them. Realistic elements include Toni's actions. It shows how dogs spend their days lying under a tree and eating all day. Another realistic element depends on how you accept the events that occurred on the two parallel days. If the girls were not actually turned into dogs but were just pretending, then this fact is another realistic element. Children often pretend to be animals, especially dogs. In magical realism, "the text contains something that we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as we know them" (Faris 167) and the "descriptions describe a strong presence of the phenomenal world" (Faris 169). These quotes explain why you might think this story is magical realism due to the two different worlds taking place at the same time. Furthermore, one "experience[s] the closeness or almost fusion of two kingdoms, two worlds" (Lighthouses...... middle of the sheet ......l Realism: theory, history, community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. NC: Duke UP, 1995. 249-263. Garro, Elena. “The Day We Were Dogs: Thirty Stories Ed York, NY: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1993. 206- 212. Faris, Wendy B. "Scherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction." B. Faris; NC: Duke UP, 1995. Sandner, David "Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-Century Children's Fantasy Literature." The Fantastic Sublime. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 142-147. "The Textualization of the Reader in Magical Realist Fiction." . Faris NC: Duke UP, 1995. 235-247.