Reader Response #3

[Marla Westervelt]

Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo are very similar in
appearance, but not so much in personality. The two are easily
mistaken, so much so that they are able to sleep with the same woman
with out her knowing. However, Jose Arcadio is scared away from the
woman after contracting a disease and is headed in more of a religious
direction. Ursula proclaims that one day he will be pope. Aureliano on
the other hand is very passionate about this woman. This passion pays
off and his livestock seem to be bolstered by this relationship.
Remedios the Beauty is symbolic of the Macondo's former innocence.
She is oblivious to the world around her and pays no mind to the daily
politics. In a way, I think she is also symbolic of the lack of
intelligence with beauty. She seems to have no personality or
intelligence. She just floats around while men throw themselves at her
feet. Her lack of mortality and humanness is even more emphasized as
she floats off the ground to heaven.
At this point in the book, the small innocent town that once existed
is completely lost in the past. Now there is an intense feel of
modernization. A railroad now exists that connects Macondo to the
outside world. There is no longer the awe and splendor that was once
prevalent with each visit from the Gypsies. It is kind of reminiscent
of the Old Testament. Adam and Eve originally lived in the Garden of
Eden where no wrong could be done, then, they ate from the tree of
knowledge, just as the patriarchal figure Jose Arcadio symbolically
did. He had a thirst for technology and a connection to the outside
world, two things that have now been fully realized.