The Iguana by Anna Maria Ortese

In The Iguana, the author combats realism by creating a story in which the reader has difficulty in deciphering between actual and imagined events. It is unclear if the Count witnessed visitors coming to the island and into the basement of don Ilario's home, or if this was a dream. The Count went into the basement because he found a trap door in the closet, and he wanted to see the Iguana's inhabitance. While he was down there, don Ilario, his two brothers, the Archbishop, and the Hopins came downstairs to bless the area because of fear that there were bad spirits. The Count witnessed this, but "he did not wake back up to himself until the cellar was once again in darkness" (105). The author wants the reader to not know if this event actually existed or not, and Ortese does this throughout the book. Ortese shows that realism does not exist, and does this through a fantastic circumstance. As well, Ortese changes characters to alter the readers' perceptions and confuse reality on the island. While the Count is gone at sea in a rowboat, the Marquis talks to the Iguana about leaving the island with him and the Marquis is referred to as "daddy." Later on when the Count returns, he has an impulse to approach the Iguana and for her to "think of him as her servant and her daddy and she'd bear his name and have all of his money" (150). They are two separate characters, but are both referred to as "daddy" as if they are a single person. This also leads the reader to believe that these events are imagined. Ortese tries to confuse readers so they are unable to interpret reality versus imaginary, and does this using fantastical circumstances.