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Twisted Irony

The crazy interactions between Lucero and Aurora that occur in "Aurora" made me realize that they are a perfect demonstration of an ironic relationship, and furthermore that Lucero himself is an almost entirely ironic character. Lucero mentions that he wants a 'real' relationship with Aurora, but doesn't understand that what he thinks that means couldn't be further from the truth. When he and Aurora overhear his upstairs neighbors yelling at each other, he declares that "they're yelling because they're in love". Lucero is completely unaware of the irony of his desire to go back to the 'good old days' when he had a 'better relationship' with Aurora, back when they would break into apartments for fun. Their disturbing tolerance, and even expectation, of abuse in their relationship further demonstrates how twisted they are together. He tells us, "We hurt each other too well to let it drop", which clues us in to their twisted belief that pain is an essential part of a good relationship. It's sad to imagine them together, believing love to be an intimate way of hating someone, because that's all they know about what love is supposed to be.

In addition to their twistedly ironic relationship, Aurora's drug addiction is adds yet another irony to Lucero's story. As a drug dealer, Lucero knows all of the problems drugs cause in people, and knows how to convince people to buy them. However, despite his expertise in selling drugs, he has no knowledge about how to make someone like Aurora stop using them. His own dependence on selling drugs makes his longing to get her off of drugs and away from her "fucked-up friends" that much more ironic in a depressing way. Even their names, which are supposed to represent stars and the heavens, are ironic due to their dark, sleazy lifestyle. By the end of the story, it personally feels like Lucero is an unfortunate but twisted person who wants to be 'better' but doesn't know what 'better' actually is, and so instead he only digs himself deeper into the hole he so desperately wants to get out of.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 28, 2018 at 5:22 PM

    It's interesting that you noted that Aurora has a drug addiction and that Lucero is trying to break her addiction. I hadn't really noticed that in the story or made a huge note of it. I liked that you noted that Lucero and Aurora's actions of violence toward one another are extremely ironic in the context of what is supposed to be a love story. I didn't really see it this way before, but you describing their "love" as just another way to hate someone seems appropriate and casts this story in a much darker light.

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  2. MayaApril 28, 2018 at 6:30 PM

    I kind of think this is a harsh reading of the story. I think you're portraying Aurora and Lucero as like these messed up lowlives but I think the story is more complicated than that. We see Lucero do horrible things. He beats up his girlfriend more than once in the story and their relationship is by no means healthy but I believe that that wish for something normal is real and genuine.

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  3. Gus MansfieldApril 28, 2018 at 9:03 PM

    I agree with Maya. While yes, this is definitely leaps and bounds away from a healthy relationship, we have to consider the environment around them. This is no suburbian paradise- here, absolutely nothing is healthy. Everyone around Lucero and Aurora is addicted to and/or sells drugs and does illegal things all the time. Even the neighbors being "in love" keys us into what kind of relationships Lucero has been around. How can we really expect them to have a healthy relationship when everything around them is anything but?

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