Entry 61: Taken Over

In the story "House Taken Over," I think the thing that was really taken over was the speaker and his sister's lives. Their lives, which were regular routines and basically nothing else, were invaded by either some outside forces or their own minds. However, the fact that after they heard the mysterious voices they could hardly sleep well, suggested that whether or not the noises are outside, they sank into the minds of the characters. Irene talked in her sleep, and every time she did the speaker woke up and couldn't fall asleep again. The brother and sister seemed to be living in their own worlds, but they are aware of the outside world. That's why when the speaker heard the noises he and Irene were not surprised. They knew how it was when other things mess up their regular lives. When they had lost the back part of the house, they simply adopted a new schedule to fit the situation. But, as the unknown forces grew nearer, they had to leave the house. They didn't want to change their ways of life, or the state of minds, even at the last moment. They avoided the problem instead of dealing with it. I did some research, and I think the author Julio Cortazar was indeed trying to capture the strange feeling in dreams.