Questions

[Iman Sharabash]

1- Why would the so called "ice" bought by the gypsies be boiling hot,
as stated by Aureliano? What is it if not ice?
2- How exactly does Jose Arcadio Buendia figure out that the world is
round like an orange when he's never really traveled past Macondo to
see for himself?
3- Why is it necessary for Rebeca to bury her parents bones? Does it
really cause her distress? Is Rebeca's arrival on the family home what
causes Amaranta to be so jealous?
4- How come it's so easy for Pilar Ternera to sleep with everyone?
Does Pilar Ternera's personality have an affect on the Buendia lineage
at all?
5- Why is it that Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia can see Prudencio?
Is it hallucination or a guilty conscience?
6- Why does Don Moscote's arrival on the scene bring Jose Arcadio
Buendia out of his reverie? Is it because his arrival threatens his
decision over the town of Macondo?
7- What really causes Remedios to die? Amaranta feels guilty for her
death...was it a curse that she dies from?
8- When Jose Arcadio Buendia goes insane, how does he know Latin all
of a sudden?
9- What really makes Amaranta hurt the people around her the way she
does? Is it Rebeca or is she just naturally like this? Does she refuse
Pietro Crespi because Rebeca was his first love? If so, why doesn't
she ever accept General Marquez?
10- How exactly does Jose Arcadio die? How come Jose Arcadio chose to
settle down with Rebeca when he had whoever he wanted for so many
years? Did he finally get fed up, or was it true love?
11- Twins Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo are alike during
their childhood. What contributes to this oddity during their
childhood? And what, in the end, make them go on two completely
different paths?
12- How is it that Aureliano Segundo can see Melquides and Ursula
can't? Is Aureliano Segundo going crazy when he's in the lab reading
different stories?
13- Remedios the Beauty is sought after by many men. Is she the
representation of love and its desires who's themes are repeated
throughout the entire book? Does her complacent attitude show
unimportant such fickle desires are?
14- What causes Remedios the Beauty to levitate when she does?
15- Aureliano Jose gets into a forbidden love. How come Amaranta
allows their "child's game" to go on the way it does when he is
younger?

[klaura...@yahoo.com]

One Hundred Years of Solitude Questions:
1. Why do the male characters tend to harbor feelings for girls much
younger than them and hardly mature?
2. Was Jose Arcadio really able to escape the Buendias secluded world,
or will he be forced to return? Can any Buendia truly "escape" the
family?
3. What comfort does Rebeca find in eating dirt? What is her relation
to the Buendia family?
4. How did Rebeca acquire insomnia without encountering an infected
person first? Does insomnia ever go away? How do you prevent
infection?
5. Why does the old Jose Arcadio Buendia let himself be tied up to the
tree? Is he truly mad, or is he just misunderstood by the preocccupied
family?
6. Why don't Ursula or Jose Arcadio try to dissuade Aureliano from
marrying Remedios when they know it is an impossible relationship,
based mainly on physical attraction?
7. What is Aureliano hoping to achieve by joining the Liberals? Who/
What is he truly fighting for?
8. What is the significance of the frequent references to ice? Is it
really ice that they are talking about, or some other substance with
reflective properties?
9. Why does Amaranta stop herself from loving?
10. How can Petra Cotes be the controller of fertility in her animals
and yet never have children herself? Why doesn't Aureliano Segundo
just marry her?
11. What is the meaning of Colonel Aureliano's little golden fish? Why
fish?
12. Why does Remedios the Beauty, if she is such a pure and heavenly
creature, cause so much pain and suffering?
13. Why doesn't Meme keep her promise and tell Aureliano Segundo the
truth about Mauricio?
14. Why doesn't Fernanda leave if she feels so disgusted by the
Buendia family? What is holding her back?
15. Why does Fernanda rely so much on her correspondences with the
invisible doctors?
16. Why does Gaston give Amaranta Ursula up to Aureliano so easily?