Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude"
Monday, May 9, 2011
Week #5
As we begin the last section of the novel, focus on the theme of change and the patterns/cycles that Macondo seems to be undergoing. What events and/or ideas have brought about these changes? Is history repeating itself? Or are we seeing a dramatic rebirth of this strange village? Blog postings, as always, due Friday by the start of class.
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In Chapter 17, one of the important thing is about Jose Arcadio Segundo and how he has become more isolated than in the past after the massacre. Jose Arcadio Segundo lock himself up in the laboratory without coming out at all, so Ursula try many ways to get him out but nothing work. In the passage said "Only then that Ursula realize that he was in a world of shadows more impenetrable than hers, as unreachable and solitary as that of his great-grandfather." This passage show how Ursula start to think that Jose Arcadio Segundo start to become more like Jose Arcadio Buendia by become more solitude and preventing himself from the outside world. It is like he either scare to face the truth or he just start to become more like his ancestor.
ReplyDeleteAnother part in Chapter 17 that we been talking in class is when Ursula died and people in the village of Macondo start to become lazy and sad. This period of sadness changes many things to the people, for example Fernanda as she lock herself up inside the house and refuse to talk to anyone. Amaranta Ursula in opposite way having a happy time with restoring Macondo and trying to bring back the life of the village. The passage said "With Ursula's death the house again fell into a neglect from which it could not be rescued even by a will as resolute and vigorous as that of Amaranta Ursula who many years later,being a happy, modern women without prejudices, with her feet on the ground, opened doors and windows in order to drive away ruin, restored the garden, exterminated the red ants who were already walking across the porch in broad daylight, and tried in vain to reawaken the forgotten spirit of hospitality." This explain that there are some of the new generation people who still haven't been effect by the solitude yet, so they are still believe that they can change something about the village and start the new beginning. Basically this sadness can bring both sadness, as well hope to the village.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 18, the situation of the Buendia's family is getting worst because at the same time getting better. First is that Aureliano ( by Mauricio Babilonia) as he study Melquiales work he becoming more solitude, but because of Jose Arcadio their relationship start to become more stronger because they start to get along well with each other. Then later on the tragic incident happen which is the death of Jose Arcadio. He was killed by his four children that he had expelled from the house, by drowning him in his bath and took all his gold that he founded under Ursula bedroom. As the time goes by the Buendia's family start to lose their family members one by one.
ReplyDeleteAs we stated on our quiz there are many examples throughout the book that show how history is repeating itself. One major example is how in the beginning stages of macondo there were no outside resources and as the years went on the society expanded but once there was a flood everything went back to the beginning. Like a cycle. Also the names and generations of people throughtout the years repeated and carried on the same names which was also a cycle.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 17 it becomes quite apparent just how old Ursula really is. In her old age, she has lost her eyesight and shrunk in height a great deal. She appears to becoming more and more like an infant, in both appearance and in the way she acts. She is described as being so small that her family compares her to the baby Christ. Her mental state has declined for she is no longer able to differentiate between the past and the present. Also she gets closer to her death she becomes more connected with the land of the dead because shes having conversations on a regular basis with ghosts. Her death, in my opinion, represents the rebirth of Macondo.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 18, Aureliano finishes translating Melquiades’ manuscripts. The manuscripts are written in a language called Sanskrit. Aureliano describes the manuscripts as an encyclopedia because of the amount of information contained within them. “He remained shut up, absorbed in the parchments, which he was slowly unraveling and whose meaning, nevertheless, he was unable to interpret.” Aureliano understands what the manuscripts are saying but he doesn’t see what the underlining meaning of them is. at this point he says, “everything is known.”
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