Point of View

The book is written from the uncommon second-person perspective. This perspective is used effectively to make the reader feel like a part of the dream-like environment Fuentes creates. The other perspectives, first- and third-person, all put the reader into the role of an observer to someone else's actions and thoughts. However, in a dream there cannot be an observer; there is only the dreamer. Thus, in "Aura," the reader is made the sole person experiencing the story as it unfolds.

Moreover, a dreamer also assumes a kind of passive role in his own dreams. He will often do things involuntarily, sometimes watching with horror as his actions defy reason and even morality. A similar experience is recreated in Aura. The reader is put into the position of Felipe who behaves erratically and often without any obvious explanation. Felipe's irrationality is made sharper by the fact that...