Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude"
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Week #3
As we begin to explore the second and perhaps even the third generation of the Buendia family, I expect you to dig deeper, to unearth and expose the roots of their twisted family tree. Remember: two required posts and one additional for extra credit, if so desired. Some of you need it!! All postings due by Friday, at the start of class. No late work accepted, no exceptions.
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I was thinking about the gypsies coming to Macondo and bringing their inventions while I was reading the most recent chapter of the book and I thought of a role that Marquez could have devoted to them in this book. When discussing the questions of magic and reality in class, I noticed that the line between those 2 was almost not noticeable. The gypsies played a transition role from one event to another. They also serve as a link from past to present and most importantly, from the outside world to the tiny village of Macondo and back, therefore making the coexistence of ordinary and magical things possible and acceptable by the reader. The gypsies were one of the few reasons why the villagers and Macondo itself were progressing. They brought all those inventions and introduced the civilization to those people. After this episode, I began to realize that Marquez didn't just insert things in the book, every little detail could possibly have a far greater meaning that a reader can sense at first.
ReplyDeleteI would like to talk about the beginning of chapter 12 when the villagers are angered by the story of movie. Villagers are outraged by the resurrection of the main character. They end up banning the movies in Macondo. It is funny how villagers mistakenly interpreted the movie as reality. This incident is another isolation from outside influence but it is special. A movie is not a real thing; whether they knew that it was real or just a show, their accustomed focus to reality rejects the outside influence. There is reason why the villagers are very against the story of the movie. They already know that resurrection is not possible because Melquiades' theory of eternal life was wrong. The gypsies also did not have good impressions on the villagers. It is very likely that the "death" has become one of their inevitable destiny and there is no way evading or coming back from it
ReplyDeleteToday in a class discussion, Sydney brought up a quote about Fernanda,who was hiding her identity. Everyone in the class was asked a question: why was she doing it? Was she ashamed or embarrassed or were there other reasons? WhileIm still not sure about the answer to that question, I've noticed some other moments in the book where she pretended to be someone she wasn't and had to lie about things. When she came to Macondo, she brought a gold chamber pot with her as a sign of wealth and possibly even a royal status. As Ive said in my previous blog, I realized that Marquez didn't just throw the items in the book, they meant to represent something else or be symbolic of something. So if we dig deeper, like Mr. Sheridan wants us to, even though the pot was golden it was still a pot, something generally used for fecal wastes. Is Marquez trying to imply that Fernanda was full of those "wastes", a liar who was trying to hide everything about the real her? My guess is that it's exactly what he's trying to tell us. Later on we come to even a bigger discovery, when Jose Arcadio Segundo trying to sell the pot, finds out that even the goodness of it is fake; there are just thin plates made of gold around a regular pot. So is there anything real about Fernanda because all we've seen so far is just a big lie!?
ReplyDeleteStacey/ I also believe that gypsies are very important in this book, especially keep connecting the outside world with isolated Macondo. Gypsies are the ones that triggers events. Imagine how would Macondo be like without any influence from gypsies; there would not be any storyline forming. Marques also used Gypsies to create humor; the reactions of the villagers towards the various things that they bring to Macondo are quite funny. However, I am quite amazed how the villagers are stuck to the reality that they do not bother to study the mechanism. (except some of the Buendias)
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea that Mintae brings up in his blog. He also brings up the topic of death that is inevitable. However, the word "death" doesn't really exist in the village. It is more like a quote by Andy Warhol: "I never think that people die. They just go to a department store uptown and it takes them a little longer to come back". Even though, like Mintae said, there is no way of coming back from it, death is not really accompanied by mourning and taken as a tragedy. It's more of a transition point between the living and the dead. The way people die draws one of the strongest parallels to religion in the book. First,Jose Arcadio dies tied to the "tree of knowledge" and now Remedios, liken angel, is just "taken by the skies". She was heavenly beautiful, very selfless, pure and innocent throughout her life. She plays more of a symbolic role in the book. The reference to religion explains the appearance of ghosts and make it possible. If there is heaven and hell, there must be an in-between. Mintae said Melquiades was wrong about the eternal life, but was he? He appears very living to the villagers of Macondo. He might have not been able to live forever as a human but he can spend an eternity as a ghost. Marquez challenges the idea: "the one who's gone is gone forever" multiple times throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteFernanda's childhood was truly an odd one. Instead of spending her time playing with friends, she spent it with the abnormal work of weaving funeral wreaths. Even though she received an excellent education at school she was completely sheltered from the cold reality of the world outside her house. In addition, she was repeatedly told by her mother that she would one day become the queen and constantly reminded of her family’s excessive power and wealth. Because she was brought up in an extremely religious and aristocratic household, these principles were so deeply ingrained that she eventually tried to impose them on the Buendía family.
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that Macondo’s location is completely isolated from other societies, it is becoming increasingly obvious that its placement is no longer enough to keep the influences of the outside world from affecting them. The construction of the railroad represents the integration of the modern world with the secluded Macondo. In many ways this integration is advantageous and allows Macondo to advance technologically. But Ursula is the first to recognize the fact that with the people of Macondo’s growing fascination with the industrial modern world they are slowly losing their magical and mythical quality.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 12, one of the passage said “ It was as if God had decided to put to the test every capacity for surprise and was keeping the inhabitants of Macondo in a permanent alternation between excitement and disappointment, doubt and revelation, to such an extreme that no one knew for certain where the limits of reality lay.” I think that this passage try to explain about how all these magical and unreal things that happen to people in Macon do are kind of the test from God to the village, but as well as a combination of good and bad things that suppose to happen to the villagers. Overall it is just like God been playing around with them, confuse them and try to let them figure out themselves about all these magical things that's happening around them.
ReplyDeleteThe important thing that is mention in Chapter 13 is about Ursula becoming blind without anybody knew about it. In the passage " No one knew exactly when she had begun to lose her sight. Even in her later years, when she could no longer get out of bed, it seemed that she was simply defeated by decrepitude, but no one discovered that she was blind. She had noticed it before the birth of Jose Arcadio." This explain how Ursula is getting more older and older without anyone paying close attention about her. It can also representing that the sense of magical realism is fading away from Macondo as time goes by and influence from the outside world coming in.
ReplyDeleteAnother good point in Chapter 13 is when Colonel Aureliano Buendia watch the parade pass by him. In the passage said " He saw the clowns doing cartwheels at the end of the parade and once more he saw the face of his miserable solitude when everything had passed by and there was nothing but the bright expanse of the street and the air full of flying ants with a few onlookers peering into the precipice of uncertainty." The passage explaining about his solitude and how he cannot remember anything about the circus that he just saw. His short term memory representing his isolation from everything except the moment with the chestnut tree.
ReplyDeleteAs I read Chapters 10 and 11 I noticed a change in the theme. Like Anastasia said in her blog the gypsies in the beginning of the novel set a statement for the book showing that the village was so new that it needed people to come and show them inventions and so on because they had no way of communicating with the outside world. Better known as solitude. And this theme of solitude starts to decrease throughout these chapters. One example is the railroad that was built. Aureliano Triste builds a railroad connection, decisively linking Macondo with the industrial, modern world. Also another example is when the ice factory is built. Macondo started out cut and dry isolated community and now it is developing into a modern society.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of chapter 13 Ursula starts to lose her eye sight because she if growing old, old enough where she lost count of her age. As Ursula was losing her eye sight she thought that "it seemed that she was simply defeated by decrepitude".What was interesting during this chapter is how she secretly took marrow syrup and put honey on her eyes, was this upposed to heal her vision? As her vision got worse and worse she began to accept it and started using her other senses to be able see without seeing but using her senses. With the sun rotating around the earth, the villagers have to move every so often to be in the sun. Ursula walks into Amaranta but remembers that date so she doesnt do it again. Ursula uses her senses and remembers certain things to live her life.
ReplyDeleteI also found many different quotes that I found were important referring to my previous blog.
ReplyDelete“All that remained at that time of Jose Arcadio Buendia’s ancient village were the dusty almond trees, destined to resist the most arduous of circumstances, and the river of clear water whose prehistoric stones had been pulverized by the frantic hammers of Jose Arcadio Segundo when he set about opening the channel in order to establish a boat line” pg 193. This quote does a good job at showing the difference in the beginning of Macondo to what it is beginning to turn into. Another quote that shows this is, “the innocent yellow train that was to bring so many ambiguities and certainities so many pleasant and unpleasant moments, so many changes, calmaties, and feelings of nostalgia to macondo.”
Continuing on what Ailish was saying about Fernanda's childhood, one ordinary day she was just brought there by a military officer as her parents had hidden this from her for many years. When Fernanda returns home she locks herself in her room and she swore to herself that she would keep herself locked in her room until she died. Aureliano Segundo soon came to her and the only clues that he is given is that she is a weaver of funeral wreaths and this began Aureliano's search for her. As Aureliano searched from house to house, all the womens daughters he thought would be her he was becoming lost not physically but mentally until he finally reached her. Aureliano and Fernanda eventually get married.
ReplyDeleteAs I have been reading these past few chapters I’ve been thinking more and more about the presence of the theme of solitude. In the beginning, the theme of solitude appeared as we learned that Jose Arcadio Buendía and Ursula moved inland and founded Macondo to isolate themselves and get away from the guilt of killing Prudencio. As the chapters have progressed, I’ve noticed that there has been some form of individual solitude with almost every character we’ve encountered. Ursula, for example, is now beginning to grow old and she is becoming blind. That is her personal form of solitude because it isolates her from the life that she has known up until this point.
ReplyDeleteIve also noticed that even though the individuals in Macondo have been becoming more and more isolated, the town in general is beginning to have a more populated and modernized feel. The train has come into Macondo and with it it has brought the modern world. It has brought of course more people but also the banana plantations and the movies and those sorts of things. Its ironic that Macondo was orinigally supposed to be to get away from the modern world but now the modern world has literally strolled into Macondo.
ReplyDelete