The setting of “House Taken Over” took place in Buenos Aries, in a large house. For example, the narrator says that “eight people could have lived in that place and not get in each other's way” (Cortazar 38). This setting follows Cortazar's magical realism by providing an exact realistic location to make the story feel real. The unknown element is what makes the story Magical Realism by adding something false to the realistic story. This unknown element enters the story through a “mute and indistinct chair that is overturned onto the carpet” (Cortazar 39). In this case we don't know what it is or why it is in the house but something is there. After the first time they hear the noise they move to the other side of the house to live. It seemed like a very strange thing to do because they don't care what's in their house and they think that if they live on one side of the house and the thing on the other side, plus it doesn't come from their side, they're fine living in home, without knowing what it is. Then, when the sound gets closer and comes from that side of the house, they run out in fear and “locked the front door and threw it into the sewer. This makes the story even more unreal because the narrator and his sister leave everything in the house and do not care about what is inside the house. This unreal element in the seemingly realistic story makes the story fall into the Magical category