Allende's story and Chilean miners comparison

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First, to respond to this assignment, think of the story Allende told, and what the story had to say about the volcanic mudslide situation that also applies to the story about the trapped Chilean miners. What role did the government (el Presidente) play in the story, and what role did the modern day Chilean president play in the rescue of the miners (he was there, and was very supportive)? I suggest that you add that part to this suggested beginning essay, to add your own voice, personality and ideas, so that the response you submit to your professor is uniquely your own. I approached this response as the "real" stories of both events, and discussed the similarities and differences between them. This allows you some room to add material of your own from the stories, to practice. Please feel free to edit or change this example model response in any way you see fit, to more closely match what you think about both stories. I have included one quote from each source, which leaves you room to add any other quotes which appealed to you or which you thought were especially moving or significant. The URL reference for the msnbc.com article about the miners' rescue, if you would like to take additional quotes from it as well, is included in the story. I used APA formatting for the msnbc.com in-text citation. If you are supposed to use MLA instead, please edit the citation to match that protocol instead.

Isabel Allende wrote "And of Clay Are We Created" as the final story in a collection of short stories narrated by a character in an earlier novel named Eva Luna. The collection of short stories is called "The Stories of Eva Luna" (1991). The stories were created and told/written by Eva Luna at the request of her lover, Rolf Carle, and he tells Eva in the book's prolouge, "You think in words; for you, language is an inexhaustible thread you weave as if life were created as you tell it . . . . Tell me a story you have never told anyone before. Make it up for me" (pp. 4-5). Eva Luna creates the stories to teach her lover about communication and love, as part of the process of helping him to heal emotionally from the traumas of family abuse and the horrors of war that he has experienced in the past. Eva Luna is the narrator of "And of Clay Are We Created." This particular story is based upon an actual event, and even more tragically, an actual person. Omayra Sanchez was a Columbian girl who was caught and trapped in a mudslide that occurred as a result of a volcanic eruption near her hometown in Columbia, which killed many thousands of people in the city. Omayra, trapped in the mud up to her neck, survived for several days while rescue workers labored to save her, to no avail. This story made international news, and Isabel Allende took Omayra's story, changed her name to Azucena, and told it to the world as one of Eva Luna's healing stories for her lover, Rolf Carle.
The fictionalized version of the true story features Rolf, in his role as a television reporter, sent in his helicopter to cover the Columbian tragedy for the news. Rolf is initially among the detached bystanders who watch the rescue workers try to save the girl. Eva Luna narrates, or tells us the story, as she watches Rolf report the news on her television screen. She is able to interpret Rolf's voice and ...