Metamorphosis What is metamorphosis? Is it not the same as reincarnation? Metamorphosis is principally transformation, and while reincarnation is similar, it is a rebirthing of something: a newer version of a past existence. However, though they do share slightly different intents, the two are generally cut from the same cloth. In fact, it is said that reincarnation is a phenomenon of metamorphosis itself. In his novel The Kingdom of This World, Carpentier uses the concepts of reincarnation and metamorphosis to touch on an overarching theme that different developments that appeared within the novel lead to change or, rather, the story’s own metamorphosis, overtime.
The concept of reincarnation and metamorphosis led to developments within
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“Macandal had disguised himself as an animal for years to serve men, not to abjure the world of men. It was then that the old man, resuming his human form, had a supremely lucid moment...He felt countless centuries old. A cosmic weariness as of a planet weighted with stones, fell upon his shoulders shrunk by so many blows, sweats, revolts. Ti Noël had squandered his birthright, and, despite the abject poverty to which he had sunk, he was leaving the same inheritance he had received: a body of flesh to which things happened. Now he understood that a man never knows for whom he suffers and hopes” (Carpentier 179). According to this passage, Ti Noël, during a lucid moment of his metamorphoses found a truth that seemed to lie at the principle of his thoughts. The truth was that all in all, as much as you try to distract yourself with false illusions, there is no escaping the harshness of reality. After having recalled all the experiences he had in life, Ti Noël came to realize that though to be human meant to encounter unsettling occurrences, he must cherish what he is and has. For if his illusions were to crash abruptly he would not be able to handle the cruelty of the real world. Everything in this gamble called life if up to chance, to fate, and though people may not be able to change it themselves, events that develop in our lives keep our fates constantly changing: making it all the more likely to come across a fate that one would embrace with their