Incantation

I really enjoyed reading this book and learned a lot of history from it so I wrote an essay about it. The essay does contain spoilers so proceed with caution. The Influence of Spirituality In numerous religions, it is said that spiritual strength often influences a person’s physical and mental well-being as well as who and what they attract. Growth in spirituality frequently results in attracting beneficial people and weeding out those who may not be a good influence, causing that person to feel stronger and to change the person’s way of thinking and values. This is shown clearly in the character Estrella from the book Incantation by Alice Hoffman. Hoffman intended for the book to focus on Estrella’s coming of age, particularly in her religious aspects and the enlightenment that comes with it. Estrella’s spiritual journey helps Estrella form the person she is meant to be in God’s eyes and illuminates the dangerous, positive, and unseemly aspects of her relationships. Estrella’s spiritual journey and growth influence the changes in her relationships and values as the novella progresses. At the beginning of the novella, arguably the most influential person in Estrella’s life is Catalina. Estrella tells of their past, often romanticizing her memories and showing the reader how close she thought they were. It is no doubt that seeing how close they were, Catalina would have affected Estrella’s personality and values. However, throughout the novella, the audience sees how Estrella’s spiritual growth affects her relationship with Catalina by revealing Catalina’s true colors and influence over Estrella. Before Estrella discovers her heritage and begins practicing Judaism knowingly, Estrella sees Catalina through rose-colored glasses. She never mentions Catalina’s flaws because she sees none, and through her perspective, she sees Catalina as her best friend and says “Catalina and I were so close nothing could come between us” (5). Estrella also mentions how similar Estrella believed they were, noting, “We look just like sisters” (21). She believes this fantasy up to the point in which she discovers her Jewish heritage. After the next few conversations she has with Catalina she mentions, “Catalina was mad that I was me and she was herself. She was mad that Andres was standing here talking to me; that he’d said my name as though it were a secret we shared…There was nothing I could do about Catalina” (92). With this realization, she begins to notice the cracks and faults in her friendship and begins to see who Catalina is. This realization follows the discovery of her culture, the realization of her cultural identity affecting her later revelation about her friendship. This type of influential spiritual realization and growth happens again when Estrella learns that her father was teaching people Judaism and Estrella herself begins learning it. This connection she begins with God and her journey leads her to see Catalina’s true colors. In other words, she stops looking through rose-colored glasses and begins looking at the hard but honest reality. After one of her studies with her grandfather, she has a dream that night, which is a transitional point for her relationship with Catalina, and the point in which she realizes Catalina is beyond care and not worth saving. When describing her dream she says, “She was falling; all I had to do was reach out to her to save her, and yet I didn’t” (112). In the next confrontation she has with Catalina after the dream, she notices, “I saw quite clearly, we looked nothing alike” (113). This is the first time she realizes that Catalina is not the person she thought. This leap from idolizing Catalina to disliking her is sudden, just like her leap from not knowing her culture to practicing it religiously. Estrella continues this trek through revelations as she continues to grow in her relationship with God. The downwards spiral of Estrella’s relationship with Catalina is opposing the ascent of her relationships with Andres, her grandmother, and her grandfather. Although Estrella’s spiritual journey is bringing to light the negative parts of the people in her life, it illuminates the positive influences in her life. When describing her grandmother, Estrella thinks her grandmother despises her; in reality, she does not. Towards the beginning of the novella, Estrella does not see her as someone to idolize but someone to respect and avoid being disciplined by. Estrella goes to great lengths to describe this in the novel, saying, “My grandfather may have ignored me completely, but my grandmother was even worse. She noticed only what was wrong, never what was right” (18). However, when she first questions her true religion, she confronts her grandmother, and though it may not seem like it, Estrella and her grandmother form a small but strong relationship. They both can freely share their religion, and because of Estrella’s discovery, her grandmother shows Estrella respect in her own way. Estrella even ends up caring for her, feeling pity for her grandmother, saying, “I had never seen her cry and I couldn’t look at her now. I’d been so afraid of her my whole life, and now she was afraid. I could not bear to see it” (156). As Estrella continues her spiritual journey, she and her grandmother’s relationship grows stronger. It makes the leap from a broken relationship to a strong relationship just as Estrella leaped from not knowing her cultural identity to knowingly practicing her religion. A similar type of relationship is seen between Estrella and her grandfather. At the beginning of the novella, her grandfather seems to ignore her and does not acknowledge her. Estrella mentions, “As for me, to the great Jose deMadrigal I was nothing more than a bothersome fly, not worth the least bit of attention” (15). This relationship is more literally affected by her spiritual growth than her other relationships. She and her grandfather truly begin bonding when Estrella starts learning her religion. As the spiritual lessons progress, so does her relationship with her grandfather. When their relationship first began to form, she says, “I knew it was a good answer; I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. Good enough to make Jose deMadrigal, the greatest teacher our town had known, look at me with different eyes” (107). This is when she truly recognizes their close relationship had begun. Although Estrella’s spiritual growth affects her relationships with her grandparents, it also greatly affects her romantic relationship. At the beginning of the novella, she and Andres are mere acquaintances but as she begins her spiritual journey, the growth she experiences spiritually affects her growth physically, as well as gives her the courage to pursue her feelings for Andres. In the beginning, Estrella sees Andres as “off-limits” because Catalina has told her that Andres is hers when in reality Andres has not agreed nor said those were his intentions. However, it seems that Andres is more attracted to Estrella’s mentality and personality, especially as Estrella’s spiritual growth progresses. When Estrella first discovers her heritage, her relationship with Andres comes to the point where he confesses his love to her and they kiss. Before this, they had barely talked to each other and now they were kissing, a noticeable improvement in their relationship. Estrella says, “That was the moment. Now I knew how I would feel if I ever lost him. That was how you knew love” (74). Later on in the story, she even tells Andres of her heritage and religion, and he still supports her. Her spiritual strength mirrors her and Andres’s relationship to the point where he was unfazed by discovering her religion. Andres even says, “You don’t have to [tell him her heritage and religion]. I know you. I know your heart. That’s the only thing that will ever matter to me” (115). If her religion repelled him at all, he showed no sign of it, as if it was natural for him to hear that, as if it was her spiritual strength that attracted him in the first place. Whether her spirituality attracted Andres to Estrella or not, there are noticeable improvements in Estrella’s positive relationships and influences that are affected by Estrella’s spiritual journey. With her spiritual journey and growth also comes spiritual and overall maturity. At the beginning of the novella, the audience sees Estrella as a girl and a child at most, despite her being sixteen. In the first chapter, Catalina convinces Estrella to come with her to the well and watch as the soldiers burn the Jewish man’s books and although Estrella may have some conscience telling her not to watch, it takes her mother to drag her away from the danger of the fire. Another immature act consists of when Estrella first confronts her grandmother about her identity, and her first reaction was to yell at her saying, “You told Luis but not me! Because I’m nothing to you” (77). Estrella completely overlooks the possibility of why they would keep it a secret from her and only focuses on the fact that she had not known. In both instances, Estrella acted poorly and immaturely, despite her believing she had grown up. However, as Estrella begins her spiritual journey, her spiritual growth influences Estrella and helps shape her into maturity. After confronting her grandmother, she and her mother take part in a very spiritual ritual and this is when Estrella begins showing changes in her words and actions. In a later conversation she has with Catalina, she shows restraint in what she says. In this conversation she notes, “I wanted to say ‘I can’t help myself,’ but I didn’t say anything” (89). Estrella appears to humble herself as well, saying things like “I wasn’t certain I deserved him” (96). Her acceptance of her identity begins to greatly affect her maturity to the point of noticeable changes. Estrella mentions her grandfather noticing these changes, saying, “My grandfather looked surprised. I had managed to tell the truth while admitting nothing” (104). Estrella vows in the later parts of the book that she will never forget her religion or her family. She says, “Even when I was an old woman, older than my grandmother, older than the oldest raven in the sky, I’d remember everything I’d ever known and seen…I’d sit down and make my sons and daughters listen, though we were thousands of miles away far on another shore.” (166). In saying this, Estrella links her spiritual remembrance to her overall maturity. From the books she read and the lessons she learned, her growth in spirituality influenced the lessons she learned from her influences and values as well. Spirituality has a strong influence over who and what a person attracts. Growth and endurance in spirituality often influence changes in relationships and values to the point where the person may seem entirely different from who they used to be. This is the case for Estrella, from the book Incantation by Alice Hoffman, as she leaps from not knowing her cultural identity to religiously practicing Judaism. In the novella, the changes Estrella experiences in her spirituality influence the changes in her relationships and help her become a well-rounded and aware person.

I really enjoyed reading this book and learned a lot of history from it so I wrote an essay about it. The essay does contain spoilers so proceed with caution. The Influence of Spirituality In numerous religions, it is said that spiritual strength often influences a person’s physical and mental well-being as well as who and what they attract. Growth in spirituality frequently results in attracting beneficial people and weeding out those who may not be a good influence, causing that person to feel stronger and to change the person’s way of thinking and values. This is shown clearly in the character Estrella from the book Incantation by Alice Hoffman. Hoffman intended for the book to focus on Estrella’s coming of age, particularly in her religious aspects and the enlightenment that comes with it. Estrella’s spiritual journey helps Estrella form the person she is meant to be in God’s eyes and illuminates the dangerous, positive, and unseemly aspects of her relationships. Estrella’s spiritual journey and growth influence the changes in her relationships and values as the novella progresses. At the beginning of the novella, arguably the most influential person in Estrella’s life is Catalina. Estrella tells of their past, often romanticizing her memories and showing the reader how close she thought they were. It is no doubt that seeing how close they were, Catalina would have affected Estrella’s personality and values. However, throughout the novella, the audience sees how Estrella’s spiritual growth affects her relationship with Catalina by revealing Catalina’s true colors and influence over Estrella. Before Estrella discovers her heritage and begins practicing Judaism knowingly, Estrella sees Catalina through rose-colored glasses. She never mentions Catalina’s flaws because she sees none, and through her perspective, she sees Catalina as her best friend and says “Catalina and I were so close nothing could come between us” (5). Estrella also mentions how similar Estrella believed they were, noting, “We look just like sisters” (21). She believes this fantasy up to the point in which she discovers her Jewish heritage. After the next few conversations she has with Catalina she mentions, “Catalina was mad that I was me and she was herself. She was mad that Andres was standing here talking to me; that he’d said my name as though it were a secret we shared…There was nothing I could do about Catalina” (92). With this realization, she begins to notice the cracks and faults in her friendship and begins to see who Catalina is. This realization follows the discovery of her culture, the realization of her cultural identity affecting her later revelation about her friendship. This type of influential spiritual realization and growth happens again when Estrella learns that her father was teaching people Judaism and Estrella herself begins learning it. This connection she begins with God and her journey leads her to see Catalina’s true colors. In other words, she stops looking through rose-colored glasses and begins looking at the hard but honest reality. After one of her studies with her grandfather, she has a dream that night, which is a transitional point for her relationship with Catalina, and the point in which she realizes Catalina is beyond care and not worth saving. When describing her dream she says, “She was falling; all I had to do was reach out to her to save her, and yet I didn’t” (112). In the next confrontation she has with Catalina after the dream, she notices, “I saw quite clearly, we looked nothing alike” (113). This is the first time she realizes that Catalina is not the person she thought. This leap from idolizing Catalina to disliking her is sudden, just like her leap from not knowing her culture to practicing it religiously. Estrella continues this trek through revelations as she continues to grow in her relationship with God. The downwards spiral of Estrella’s relationship with Catalina is opposing the ascent of her relationships with Andres, her grandmother, and her grandfather. Although Estrella’s spiritual journey is bringing to light the negative parts of the people in her life, it illuminates the positive influences in her life. When describing her grandmother, Estrella thinks her grandmother despises her; in reality, she does not. Towards the beginning of the novella, Estrella does not see her as someone to idolize but someone to respect and avoid being disciplined by. Estrella goes to great lengths to describe this in the novel, saying, “My grandfather may have ignored me completely, but my grandmother was even worse. She noticed only what was wrong, never what was right” (18). However, when she first questions her true religion, she confronts her grandmother, and though it may not seem like it, Estrella and her grandmother form a small but strong relationship. They both can freely share their religion, and because of Estrella’s discovery, her grandmother shows Estrella respect in her own way. Estrella even ends up caring for her, feeling pity for her grandmother, saying, “I had never seen her cry and I couldn’t look at her now. I’d been so afraid of her my whole life, and now she was afraid. I could not bear to see it” (156). As Estrella continues her spiritual journey, she and her grandmother’s relationship grows stronger. It makes the leap from a broken relationship to a strong relationship just as Estrella leaped from not knowing her cultural identity to knowingly practicing her religion. A similar type of relationship is seen between Estrella and her grandfather. At the beginning of the novella, her grandfather seems to ignore her and does not acknowledge her. Estrella mentions, “As for me, to the great Jose deMadrigal I was nothing more than a bothersome fly, not worth the least bit of attention” (15). This relationship is more literally affected by her spiritual growth than her other relationships. She and her grandfather truly begin bonding when Estrella starts learning her religion. As the spiritual lessons progress, so does her relationship with her grandfather. When their relationship first began to form, she says, “I knew it was a good answer; I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. Good enough to make Jose deMadrigal, the greatest teacher our town had known, look at me with different eyes” (107). This is when she truly recognizes their close relationship had begun. Although Estrella’s spiritual growth affects her relationships with her grandparents, it also greatly affects her romantic relationship. At the beginning of the novella, she and Andres are mere acquaintances but as she begins her spiritual journey, the growth she experiences spiritually affects her growth physically, as well as gives her the courage to pursue her feelings for Andres. In the beginning, Estrella sees Andres as “off-limits” because Catalina has told her that Andres is hers when in reality Andres has not agreed nor said those were his intentions. However, it seems that Andres is more attracted to Estrella’s mentality and personality, especially as Estrella’s spiritual growth progresses. When Estrella first discovers her heritage, her relationship with Andres comes to the point where he confesses his love to her and they kiss. Before this, they had barely talked to each other and now they were kissing, a noticeable improvement in their relationship. Estrella says, “That was the moment. Now I knew how I would feel if I ever lost him. That was how you knew love” (74). Later on in the story, she even tells Andres of her heritage and religion, and he still supports her. Her spiritual strength mirrors her and Andres’s relationship to the point where he was unfazed by discovering her religion. Andres even says, “You don’t have to [tell him her heritage and religion]. I know you. I know your heart. That’s the only thing that will ever matter to me” (115). If her religion repelled him at all, he showed no sign of it, as if it was natural for him to hear that, as if it was her spiritual strength that attracted him in the first place. Whether her spirituality attracted Andres to Estrella or not, there are noticeable improvements in Estrella’s positive relationships and influences that are affected by Estrella’s spiritual journey. With her spiritual journey and growth also comes spiritual and overall maturity. At the beginning of the novella, the audience sees Estrella as a girl and a child at most, despite her being sixteen. In the first chapter, Catalina convinces Estrella to come with her to the well and watch as the soldiers burn the Jewish man’s books and although Estrella may have some conscience telling her not to watch, it takes her mother to drag her away from the danger of the fire. Another immature act consists of when Estrella first confronts her grandmother about her identity, and her first reaction was to yell at her saying, “You told Luis but not me! Because I’m nothing to you” (77). Estrella completely overlooks the possibility of why they would keep it a secret from her and only focuses on the fact that she had not known. In both instances, Estrella acted poorly and immaturely, despite her believing she had grown up. However, as Estrella begins her spiritual journey, her spiritual growth influences Estrella and helps shape her into maturity. After confronting her grandmother, she and her mother take part in a very spiritual ritual and this is when Estrella begins showing changes in her words and actions. In a later conversation she has with Catalina, she shows restraint in what she says. In this conversation she notes, “I wanted to say ‘I can’t help myself,’ but I didn’t say anything” (89). Estrella appears to humble herself as well, saying things like “I wasn’t certain I deserved him” (96). Her acceptance of her identity begins to greatly affect her maturity to the point of noticeable changes. Estrella mentions her grandfather noticing these changes, saying, “My grandfather looked surprised. I had managed to tell the truth while admitting nothing” (104). Estrella vows in the later parts of the book that she will never forget her religion or her family. She says, “Even when I was an old woman, older than my grandmother, older than the oldest raven in the sky, I’d remember everything I’d ever known and seen…I’d sit down and make my sons and daughters listen, though we were thousands of miles away far on another shore.” (166). In saying this, Estrella links her spiritual remembrance to her overall maturity. From the books she read and the lessons she learned, her growth in spirituality influenced the lessons she learned from her influences and values as well. Spirituality has a strong influence over who and what a person attracts. Growth and endurance in spirituality often influence changes in relationships and values to the point where the person may seem entirely different from who they used to be. This is the case for Estrella, from the book Incantation by Alice Hoffman, as she leaps from not knowing her cultural identity to religiously practicing Judaism. In the novella, the changes Estrella experiences in her spirituality influence the changes in her relationships and help her become a well-rounded and aware person.

Incantation gives a children a better understanding on the way Jews were treated.

I absolutley loved this book because while I was reading it, I learned a lot about the Jewish conversion in spain. It was also suspensful and romantic. READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The book is good for all ages and it has some historical events in it

The role models in this book are very possitive and down to earth people that understand the world around them. They show a strong sence of morality and though there are descriptions of death, it's not bloody or gory really. Also this can be very educational for people who are learning about anti-semitism, it being about Spain in the 1500's(It's not about world war II, though it would also be helpful if you are learning about that.) and all. Also though the messages aren't possitive they aren't exactly negative either.

I loved this book...The romance was beautiful!Sure it was sad...but it shows the cruelty of world war 2.

A perfect combination of tragedy, romance, betrayal, mystery and history. Though the details in brutality are a bit harsh, it shows us more of what humanity had once been like and how, if we let it, could return to. It describes almost perfectly the beauty of love as well as the ugliness of jealousy and intolerance. And yet, through all her hardships, our heroine still manages to stay positive.

this book was very good but i wished there was a better ending 2 it

I love it.MY favorite book.