One Hundred Years of Solitude Reader-Responses
Charles....@gmail.com
Years of Solitude (opposed to the initially stated five). Besides
this, you must also quote and respond to another peer's post in each
of your responses. These reflections should be approximately one
page, single-spaced and typed each.
hyor...@hotmail.com
Want for, or possession of, any kind of wealth, whether it be money,
power, material objects, or knowledge, can turn even the best kind of
man into the worst kind of man. Luckily, most men have an
understanding, patient woman behind them, as is the case of Jose
Arcadio Buendia. You can't help but feel sorry for his wife at the
beginning of this novel. He is described as having been a proud and
dependable man, one who stood up for his wife's integrity, protected
his family's pride, was a hard worker, respected within the community,
set the example for what a family and a household should be like. Once
the gypsies and their newest inventions caught his attention, he was
hooked like a fish. All else became unimportant, and his basic values
were forgotten. He sold his animals for magnets, against his wife's
pleading, used his wife's inheritance money for a telescope, then,
once he got it back, turned into a pile of burnt hog cracklings at the
bottom of a pot. He ignored her wishes and pleadings, and the well
being of his sons. How Ursula Iguaran stood it, I don't know, but it's
not like she had much of a choice, as divorces and such did not exist
in this time period. I do have to admit that Ursula and Jose Arcadio
Buendia were very well matched for marriage. Both are hard working
individuals and well respected throughout the community. Her quiet
determination matches his outspoken passions perfectly, allowing her
to undermine her husbands crazier antics. Her perseverance and
dedication helps her to keep the family prospering while his wandering
mind distracts him from day to day life. Jose Arcadio Buendia ignored
her criticism, not giving up in what he believed in, no matter how far
fetched, stayed calm during her flashes of temper, but also worked
hard to gain her trust and pride in him. Throughout his madness, he
does think of his family, wanting to make them all rich and
prosperous. You know there has to be a good man in there, due to past
behavior. At one time he was the leader of the town, leading the
movement of families who first founded Macondo. He was the
enterprising man who set up the layout of the town so well, allowing
equal share within the original three hundred inhabitants. Ursula was
a quiet woman, one who kept herself and her household busy. She
cleaned, cooked, pressed, maintained the fields, raised two sons, and
kept her husband in good health while he fidgeted with his new
inventions. Her determination kept her family together and in one
place, instead of moving. Both parents helped to create good men in
their sons. It shows how good a father Jose Arcadio Buendia was in the
fact that one of his sons remembers a memory of his father at the
moment of his death. It is also obvious that he is an intelligent man.
Armed with only maps, a compass, an astrolabe, a sestant, and a few
notes of what others have discovered, Jose Arcadio Buendia spends a
few months locked in his lab and discovers that the world is round,
not flat. It took years for some "brilliant" scientists and explorers,
armed with much more than he had, to discover the same thing.
Charles....@gmail.com
This post gets at one of the many causes of solitude in the novel; for
Jose Arcadio Buendia it seems to partially be his ambition.
Subsequent posts may want to look toward this as a template of sorts.
A warning, though, is to avoid plot summary. Focus on the debatable
aspects of the text. Good work and keep them coming!
Charles....@gmail.com
your responses.
Jami
Reader Rersponse #1
Upon reading the first few chapters, I could not help but feel that
Jose Arcadio Buendia was ambitious to the point of idiocy. He kept
himslef locked away in a room to work with and try and discover
technology that the world was obviously not prepared for. Soon,
however, I realized that he was not dumb, but quite intelligent. It
seemed as though he knew what greatness the world could achieve and he
used his intellignece and ambition to seperate himself from the daily
toils of life in Macondo. When he realized how much he had to offer
the world, Jose attempted to open simple-minded Macondo to the larger
world. Soon he and his companions set out out to "put Macondo in
contact with the great inventions"(p.10). All along Jose was well
aware of the degree of solitude that Macondo was in. Contrary to first
impressions, Jose was very astute and knew much more than what people
believed, especially his wife, Ursula. She was, from first glance,
obviuously the family anchor. Just as seperated from others as Jose,
though in a different way, Ursula took chrage of the family and even
brought Jose out of his own solitude in order to raise more
intelligent sons. Becuase of her authority, in her own home and the
community, Ursula is sperated from others by her fierce attitude and
her beliefs. Though she sees a simple world, she is not worried by it.
Simple suits Ursula and her authority. Another thing that Ursula sets
store by is family ties. She seems to be a person who will be there
for her family, no matter what they have done.
The relationship between Ursula and Jose, though sometimes
strained, is a strong one, even for those times. They both can see
the extremes that the other will go through in order to get what they
want, and occasionally they themselves push those limits. "Jose had
not thought that his wife's will was so firm"(p.14) and even still he
tries to push Ursula to see the solitude that the whole town is
suffering from, though to no avail. The more that I learn about their
past, the more I see how what they went through puched them into their
life that is so far removed fromt he happenings of the world. While
Jose soon tires of this isolation, Ursula revels in it and counts on
it to keep intact her family and the community. This shows through the
many periods of mourning that the family goes through, and I couldn't
help but feel sorry for Jose. He is constantly being caught up all
alone, when all of his dreams revolve around becoming a worldly man
and expanding his town into a center for technology and invention.
Despite their different wants for their world, Jose and Ursula work
together to keep their family a respectable one and the name of
Buendia one of authority and respect. Their name, however, seems to be
another factor that may cause them seperation in the future.
Jami
Jamilee Andel
Reader Response #2
During the large part of their childhood, José Arcadio and
Aureliano are ignored by their father. His isolation of himself, in a
way, distinguishes them from the other children. While the other kids
of Macondo were learning to read and write, the Buendías were "running
wild just like donkeys"(p.15). From that point, José Arcadio Buendía
set out to teach his children all he knew, and much more that he had
imagined about the world. Soon enough, Aureliano became like his
father in the habit of cooping himself up for long periods of times
studying alchemy. Unlike his brother, José Arcadio was never
interested in alchemy, but was separated from his brother by
adolescence. José Arcadio was described as "monumental"(p.27), and his
size soon separated him from his family, in a roundabout way.
When José Arcadio leaves with the gypsies, he separates himself from
the world of Macondo, and more than likely from his family, forever. I
wonder why he left in the first place. Was it because of his being
singled out by having such a striking appearance, or was it because he
could not stand the shame of having a child out of wedlock? In any
case, he left his family securing his solitude. When José Arcadio
returns from his 65 trips around the world, he was as vast as ever,
and yet again he was singled out. When he married Rebeca, Úrsula was
shocked, and then she gave them solitude by barring them from the
house. Colonel Buendía was not exempt from further solitude. He, like
Jose Arcadio, left his home but his reason was to fight a war for
pride. When he did come home, he made sure he was left alone by
drawing a ten foot circle around himself that no one else may enter.
This solitude continued when he returned for good, and locked him self
in his work room to resume his tedious crafting of miniscule gold
fish.
The brothers are not the only ones who bar themselves from the
company of others. Amaranta and Rebeca are just as alone as the men,
though it is not so apparent. Rebeca's earth-eating is something that
keeps her all alone. Everyone else is oblivious to the fact that she
has relapsed into her habit, as well as about her still sucking her
thumb. When Rebeca is finally happy enough to slip away from her
habits again, her reward is excommunication from Úrsula. Amaranta is
perhaps the most solitary person in her generation of Buendías. Her
virginity reminds her of that every day, in the form of her black
bandage. Perhaps she keeps her heart so guarded because of guilt, or
maybe out of the fear that she herself will be hurt.
Along with the theme of solidarity, the sons of José and Úrsula
demonstrate the theme of repetition throughout the novel. They both
have an affair with Pilar Ternera, as well as a son, and they both
disappear from the face of the earth for several years. José Arcadio,
by marrying Rebeca, shows the obvious repetition of marrying and
sleeping with members of his own family. Like his father, he married
his cousin, but they had no fear of weird outcomes of their offspring
like Úrsula. Looking at the family tree at the beginning of the novel,
I am sure this is not the end of intermarriage or incest, and that
eventually some child will be born with some unsightly animal
characteristic.
Jami
Reader Response #3
Repeating history is a mistake that most people make. The Buendías,
down through the generations, are certainly no exception. The males in
the family, like José Arcadio Buendía, all seem to find a way to get
their selves into a daily routine of solitude and repetition.
Aureliano José follows in her grandfather's footsteps, and initiates a
passion between him and his aunt, Amaranta. When turned down, he
leaves, just like José Arcadio did years before, most likely to forget
his forbidden passion. When he returns, and intends to propose to
Amaranta, it is clear that she had emotional disturbances that no one
was aware of. She turned down Crespi, after destroying his and
Rebeca's engagement; she turned a cold shoulder to Colonel Gerineldo
Márquez; and then she rejected Aureliano José. These actions continue
to deepen Amaranta's aloneness and I believe that she was more afraid
of her hurting them than them hurting her, causing her to repeatedly
turn love away.
Like the two men before him, Arcadio becomes entranced by Pilar
Ternera. Because he does not know that she is his mother, he tries to
force her to have him, only to be thwarted and meeting Santa Sofía
instead. Luckily, he was spared the repeated mistake of sleeping with
a family member. I was surprised to see that when given authority from
the Colonel, Arcadio took advantage of it. I think he did it to make
himself superior and to separate himself from all of the other men in
his family. At any rate, he continued the tradition of naming his sons
José Arcadio and Aureliano, something which Úrsula is strongly
against. I believe that she feared that keeping the same name would
bring about a repeat of just how estranged and solitary those with the
name before them had been.
As Arcadio's children grow older, it is soon apparent that they are
very similar to their grandfathers and father, with just one
difference. Aureliano Segundo is more similar to the José Arcadios
before him, and vice versa for José Arcadio Segundo and the
Aurelianos. It was surprising to me that Aureliano Segundo is less
like anyone else in the family named José or Aureliano. As you read
about his partying habits, you don't quite see how he could ever be
lead into a life of solitude and isolation.
While the twins are different than most of their namesakes, Remedios
the Beauty is different from anyone else mentioned so far. She is said
to be the most beautiful woman in all of the swamp, but she's quite
strange as well. While the colonel swears up and down that she is the
most lucid being he has ever met, I must say that I disagree
completely. She is very isolated from reality, not just people.
Remedios seems to walk around as though all was a dream and that her
solitude is what everyone should strive for. Not that she brags or
boasts, but she is just so completely her own world that it is any
wonder that she lives at all. I was surprised that she floated away
however... I can only suppose that she was a saint and most saints,
though respected and adored, die alone connected to no one or no thing
except their beliefs.
Jami
Reader Response #4
Apparitions, spirits, ghosts, imprinted images of souls that once
were... Whatever you call them, they are everywhere in One Hundred Years
of Solitude. They give me the impression that the Buendías' memories
are never gone, no matter how unconnected they are from them or how
hard they try to escape the nostalgia. They also seem to serve as
reminders of what happened to the person in life, and maybe they are
trying to save the family members that are alive from repeating their
mistakes. Another reason I believe Márquez may have included them is
to skew the illusion of time in the novel. By keeping around deceased
characters in the form of ghosts, it makes it seem as though time has
not really progressed, but just keeps going in a circle from the
founding of Macondo. The whole novel has a mixed up timeline, seeing
as it all started from a memory of Colonel Buendía. From his memory
the story progressed backwards, and it keeps going forward with
references to things that have happened already and also things that
have not happened. This keeps the story jumping around to inform the
reader of what happened, and then jumping to another time, yet again,
to get the story back to where it was. I'm not sure as to what Márquez
intended to achieve with this style of storytelling, but it keeps me
intrigued even when the book gets confusing.
From the beginning, solitude has been the predominant theme in the
novel. Úrusula, who always seemed above the sad path of a life of
solitude, has begun to slip into an isolation because of her age. As
she slowly lost her eyesight, and finally went blind, her world became
smaller and smaller. I think that here Márquez was trying to show that
not everybody who lives in isolation chooses to do so. Sometimes
nature pushes people into solitude, as it was with Úrusula.
Some people, however, choose with every fiber of their being to be
alone like Fernanda, for example. In my opinion, she is the most
annoying character in the whole book. She not only chooses to be
haughty and isolated as her fate, but as the fate for the rest of the
family as well, especially once it is clear that Úrusula is no longer
as strong or lucid as she once was. The people who I truly feel that
Fernanda messed up everything for is Meme and Aureliano(Meme's son).
They were hardly even given a chance in the world before Fernanda
snatched their choice to be sociable from right under their feet.
Their isolation was chosen for them, showing that sometimes people
drag others into solitude. I really enjoy the different ways that
Márquez shows how one can slip into isolation and how it affect the
matters of the home and community when they do. I just wonder if the
chain will ever be broken?
Arwa Joher
Jose Arcadio Buendia was a hardworking and enterprising man who had
set up Macondo in a way which would have been the most productive.
After meeting Melquiades; however, Jose Arcadio became more and more
ambitious. At first, it seems as if he is consumed by greed when he
spends everything of any value to buy the gypsy's tools; however,
later on, his ambition transforms into a desire for knowledge. His
relationship with Melquiades then seems like a close-knit friendship
as well as one of philosophers in which they debated about the future
and the Nostradamus (an ancient text).
Jose Arcadio Buendia was already pushing himself towards solitude,
locking himself up and ignoring the needs of his family, during his
many periods of ambitious dedication; however, after Melquiades dies
for the final time, Jose Arcadio Buendia starts to lose his sense of
reality to his solitude. He becomes so withdrawn that he starts to
have visions of Prudencio Aguilar, he man he had killed. Both Jose
Arcadio Buendia and Ursula had seen an apparition of Prudencio Aguilar
before they had left to find Macondo, but the apparition had appeared
because of guilt. I believe that this time; however, the apparition
appeared because of his solitude. Jose Arcadio Buendia soon could not
connect with anyone, not even Ursula. Prudencio Aguilar came to him
with "the need for company so pressing...that Prudencio Aguilar had
ended up loving his worst enemy" (84). Both seem to feel an
inescapable loneliness, Prudencio Aguilar because of death, and Jose
Arcadio Buendia because of the delirium of his own mind, that they
both seek each others company.
Jose Arcadio Buendia didn't seem to mind his solitude; however,
Ursula had suffered because of it. She unsuccessfully tried to fight
fate. She opened her house to everyone hoping to fight the solitude.
She also tried to raise every Buendia to grow up different from Jose
Arcadio and Aureliano (with little success). Throughout her old age
and with the loss of sight, Ursula became slightly clairvoyant. She
was forced into her solitude because of age but she soon began to
understand the truth and realized that her descendants were doomed.
Arwa Joher
One Hundred Years of Solitude Journal #2
One night when Ursula was carrying Colonel Aureliano Buendia in her
womb, she heard him weep. It wasn't until many years later that Ursula
realized that his tears were a sign that he would grow up with"an
incapacity for love" (267). I would have to agree with Ursula when she
believed that he was utterly incapable of loving anyone. Colonel
Aureliano Buendia appeared to me to be the most solitary character in
the novel because of this. His solitude seemed different from his
father's in that he wasn't really lost in his thoughts, but he was
unable to have an actual relationship with anyone. At first it
appeared as if he may have loved Remedios; however, after she died, he
didn't feel despair, just rage. It was the same when his seventeen
sons, all named Aureliano, had been murdered; he felt only
directionless rage. Even with Gerineldo Marquez, the Colonel's closest
companion, there seemed to be something missing in their friendship.
It didn't look as if he had ever sought out Gerineldo Marquez's
company unless he needed to end or start a war. You can see that
through out the Colonel's life, he slowly starts to become more and
more distant with everyone. When he was a child, it seemed as if had a
close relationship with his brother, Jose Arcadio. He would wait up
all night till Jose Arcadio came back from visiting Petra Cotes. After
Jose Arcadio left; however, things seemed different. He didn't really
seem all too worried about his brother; actually, Ursula seemed to be
the only one that cared.
Jose Arcadio was different from his father and brother and didn't
have an interest in the philosopher's stone. After discovering that he
was going to be a father, he changed from a communicative person to
someone withdrawn. He might have run away from Macondo out of fear of
the responsibility. He came back to Macondo as a completely different
person. He was really withdrawn from his family and after marrying
Rebeca, he was forcibly cut away from the family. Jose Arcadio seemed
to have chosen his solitude and didn't seem to regret it.
In the beginning, Rebeca ad Jose Arcadio's marriage appeared to be a
quick act of passion. Rebeca had been engaged to Pietro Crespi for
three years and seemed to waiting for any time in which they both
could get married. I felt that Rebeca would end up regretting her
marriage with Jose Arcadio; however, it seemed like Rebeca was
genuinely happy with him. They lived their quiet life together in
happiness. After Jose Arcadio's mysterious death; however, she broke
away from the world. She returned to her instinctive ancient habits
like eating dirt and sucking her thumb. It kind of seems as if she was
trying to return to the comfort of her childhood. Marquez mentions
that "She had found peace in that house where memories materialized
through the strength of implacable evocation and walked like human
beings through the cloistered rooms" (172). It seems like he's trying
to tell us that Rebeca was living in her memories and in the past and
that's how her solitude differed from the others.
Amaranta was also living in the past. She was still filled with
bitterness over Rebeca and Pietro Crespi's initial engagement. In my
opinion, Pietro Crespi wasn't the love of her life. She was just
bitter about the fact that he chose Rebeca over her and he slighted
her affections by saying that his brother was coming to town and that
he may have been a future prospect for her. Amaranta focused on
getting revenge and preventing the marriage. She was willing to do
anything to prevent it that she wished for something terrible to
happen. Remedios died shortly after that and Amaranta carried it in
her heart forever. Even if Amaranta's wish wasn't the cause of
Remedio's death, Amaranta would have always felt responsible. This was
something that had scarred her for life. Even when Pietro Crespi
finally devoted himself to her, she could not accept him. She pushed
every man out of her life that could have brought her happiness
because she was afraid. She believed she had hated Rebeca forever, but
Marquez suggests otherwise; " She worked out the plan [making a
shroud] with such hatred that it made her tremble to think about the
scheme, which she would have carried out in exactly the same way if it
had been done out of love..."(299). If Amaranta truly hated Rebeca,
would she really devote so much time to make sure she looked beautiful
in her grave? It seems like she just wanted to feel hatred towards
Rebeca, but deep in her heart, she was unable to. She was living a
vicious cycle that she couldn't break and didn't realize until the
approach of her death was announced. Amaranta had been pushed into
solitude by her initial bitterness.
Arwa Joher
By this time in the novel, the trend of passing down family names
becomes apparent. The similar names caused me some confusion in the
beginning and I had to constantly rely on the chart to follow the
plot. Once I realized that personality traits were also being passed
down, the story began to make more sense and became more enjoyable to
read. Every Aureliano born was withdrawn with a distant expression on
his face while every Jose Arcadio was impulsive and, as Ursula had
noticed later on, marked by tragedy.
Arcadio was a lot like his father. Ursula had remarked that the Jose
Arcadios were "enterprising." Jose Arcadio had taken over his
neighbors land and had collected contributions. Arcadio, as the
military leader of Macondo, collected the contributions for himself.
Arcadio also had a tragic death like his father. He was executed for
all the crimes he had committed towards his people. He was also, in
his own way, a solitary character. I think he became this way after
seeing so much solitude and hatred in the house; Jose Arcadio Buendia
and Colonel Aureliano were off in their own worlds while Amaranta and
Rebeca were silently battling each other.
Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo, as children, were
exactly alike. As they grew up; however, they soon developed
distinctive qualities. Aureliano Segundo grew up to be a large man,
like the Jose Arcadios while Jose Arcadio Segundo grew up lanky like
Colonel Aureliano Buendia. Their personalities were also the exact
opposite of their name sakes. Ursula had a strong suspicion that they
had shuffled each other's names in their childhood. It seems like a
reasonable assumption which is further proven when Marquez has their
coffins accidentally placed in the opposite graves.
Aureliano Segundo was probably the least solitary character in
the entire book. At first he seemed like he would live alone because
of the way he was drawn to Melquiade's manuscript, but later he lived
a life full of enjoyment. Conversely, Jose Arcadio Segundo had a
solitary nature. After the incident at the station, he locked himself
in Melquiade's room. He became lost in his solitude, at first, because
he had to, but later on because he needed to decipher the manuscript.
He was the only one who knew what had actually happened at the station
and no one believed his story. I think this is what drove him to his
solitude. He was searching for answers in Melquiades's manuscript.
Remedios the Beauty was the least like anyone in the family. She
didn't share any similarities with anyone. It was hard to imagine that
she was even human. Remedios had gone eight months without a name.
This might be why she didn't inherit any traits from her namesake or
even the rest of her family. Remedios was definitely a solitary
character; she lived in her own simple world. Nothing could penetrate
her solitude and she enjoyed life that way. Her flight towards the sky
was very strange nonetheless. I can't begin to imagine what Marquez
meant by it.
Arwa Joher
One Hundred Years of Solitude Journal #4
Once again, Melquiades appears to aid the Buendia family.
Aureliano, Meme's son, spends all his time in Melquiades room. He is
the only to get so far in deciphering the manuscripts. This sparked
questions in my mind about Melquiades. It becomes obvious that there
is something deeply significant in the manuscripts. Why did Melquiades
come back to Macondo to live after his first death? Why was Aureliano
the one who had discovered so much? Aureliano shares a distinct
similarity to the Colonel out of every Aureliano born. He lived in
solitude like so many others in his family because of the manuscripts.
Meme, Aureliano's mother, was not a solitary person until she
met Mauricio Babilonia. After meeting him, she began more quiet. She
didn't talk to her father and she avoided Ursula so that she could
keep her secret with herself. When Mauricio was shot, she drew herself
into her solitude and never uttered word for the rest of her life.
While in the convent, it seemed as if she was living in her memories
of Mauricio Babilonia. Her love for him and Fernanda's controlling
nature seemed to have made her yet another solitary character.
Jose Arcadio, like his sister, was also living in his memories. He
came back to Macondo after living a life of fantasy and he spent every
moment in that house surrounded by the feeling of nostalgia. His mind
was constantly back to the past, imagining Ursula and especially
Amaranta. Like Aureliano Jose, he seemed to carry deep feelings for
Amaranta beyond that of a great-aunt. He found his solitude in his
memories yet he was far from happy. He seemed miserable but even after
find the gold, he did not return to Rome.
After he died, Amaranta Ursula appeared at the house. She
seemed to share more similarities with Ursula then with Amaranta. Like
her siblings, she was also living in the past. She had this prosperous
image of Macondo in her mind and she tried everything in her power to
relive it to its original grandeur. She was married and she truly did
seem to love her husband at first. Aureliano seemed to be affected by
Amaranta Ursula the same way Arcadio had been entranced by Pilar
Ternera. Like so many before them, they committed incest (all though
they didn't know it at first) and had a son with a pig's tail. It
becomes apparent that things are constantly being repeated. It's not
that they aren't trying to prevent the mistakes of their ancestors,
but it seems more like they cannot prevent fate. I think what Marquez
was trying to convey was that time was cyclical. He tried to convey
this through the repetitive names and personalities.
Another question that came to my mind as I was reading was about
the ants. They were appearing constantly through out the story
especially towards the end. They also ended up eating Aureliano's son.
They seem to attack the house the same way time seems to attack a
person into old age. The ants also allowed Aureliano Babilonia to
finally translate the manuscripts. The line "because races condemned
to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on
earth" (448) seemed to give me a sudden burst of understanding and
seemed to tie the entire story together; however, it also brought on
more questions. Why was the Buendia family condemned to one hundred
years of solitude? Was it because of Jose Arcadio Buendia and Ursula
had committed incest, or was it because of no fault of their own and
just destiny?
Haley York
Habits formed in childhood are often hard to break, including those
of solitude. Aureliano was, from the start, different from everyone
else. His family’s status in society set apart all Buendia’s as being
“upper class.” His own birth was strange and set him apart. “He had
wept in his mother’s womb and was born with his eyes open (pg.
15).”Then, unlike most newborns, Aureliano studied the room and its
inhabitants with a “fearless curiosity” (pg. 15). After his birth, he
was ignored by his father and set apart from the other children,
including his own brother, though not by fault of his own. His
brother’s own enormity in adolescence set him apart. When their father
does spend time with them, they are set apart further from the other
children by the information he teaches them. Aureliano inherited the
same capacity for isolation that his father had, though it wasn’t
obvious right away. Both Aureliano and his father would spend hours
and days in their lab effectively isolation Jos Arcadio (the
younger). He turned to Pilar Ternara in his solitude. When Aureliano
is let in to the secret, they both stay up night after night talking,
and, when tired, “they took refuge in solitude” (pg. 33). Jos Arcadio
further isolates himself by leaving Macondo and following the gypsies.
Aureliano and his father turn back to the lab to displace their misery
and loneliness, and Aureliano also learns silverwork. Growing up,
Aureliano is more secluded. He becomes the “second” man of the house,
now that Jos Arcadio’s gone. He learns to take charge, which leads to
his pride, and eventually leading to him leaving to take charge of the
war. While away at war, I feel as if he dealt with his isolation from
his family’s love by replacing it with temporary love: he had sex with
almost every willing girl. I think that also ruined his ability to
have a real relationship, either with his future wife, or with his
seventeen male children. He felt spread out and isolated by his
children living with all their different mothers, instead of at home
with him. The war placed him in solitude from other soldiers as well.
“Lost in the solitude of his immense power, he began to lose direction
(pg. 181).” Even during the most important part of the war, Aureliano
came home with three women and basically ignored all telegraphs about
the war, no matter of what importance they might be. When he returned
to Macondo much later, it was as a prisoner, placed in jail and
awaiting the fulfillment of his death sentence. No one was to visit
him, but Ursula forced her way in anyway. After being released,
Aureliano shut himself up, making little gold fish, having someone
else sell them, then melting the coins to make more fish. This entire
process was just a means of solitude from the rest of the world and
from his own thoughts. The demanding task of creating these tiny fish
kept him from thinking about anything else, isolating himself from
himself, the most effective solitude possible.
Rosie Mate
posted on the wall... I'm not sure what's going on. I
can read the other postings but I couldn't find where
you had posted information about the assignment
... and I'm a little confused by changes in the
assignment that have been relayed to me. The packet we
picked up at the end of school said we should write 3
questions for every 50 pgs and 5 reader responses for
100 years of Solitude. Is that still correct? ... or
as I've heard, is it now only 11 question (I think
that was the number I heard) and 4 reader responses?
Thanks!
-rosie
____________________________________________________________________________________
Need a vacation? Get great deals
to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
http://travel.yahoo.com/
Charles....@gmail.com
It seems as though your post was successful. If you look at the first
post of each discussion page, you'll see the new instructions (four
reader responses and approximately 15 deeper thinking questions for
100 Years of Solitude; one response to Medea). Hope this helps; good
luck!
Devin G.
The first generation, José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán, seem
to be inquisitive and wise. Úrsula is the watcher over the house and
makes sure everything stays in line. José Arcadio is more of a
curious, light-hearted character that wants to find inventions to make
life better. Melquíades is also a unique character. Though he is not
part of the actual family, he gives the Buendías a new look at life
with his magical gadgets and even more magical presence. Despite the
conflicting personalities of Úrsula and José Arcadio, they seem to
have a happy life in a happy town.
Response #2:
The second generation, including Colonel Aureliano Buendía, José
Arcadio, and Amaranta, is a very interesting group. Aureliano started
as a quite child who enjoyed working with new inventions with his
father. He gets older and desides to take on politics and joins a
rebellion against the war. With these rebellions he causes many more
wars. He wanted things to stay the same. José Arcadio, on the other
hand, is a character that needed more from life than what he was
getting at home. When he left with the gypsies, he ended up joining
sailors and became a strong brute. After his return, the town is
different for José Arcadio, and he can't stand to live somewhere he
does not belong. He wants to always get his way. Amaranta was a
child that showed signs of Úrsula early. She is a conserved soul that
likes to keep things stable. She fell in love with Pietro Crespi, but
it did not end happily. She never found the love to live with, except
her family. The mood of this generation is slightly uplifting and
depressing.
Response #3:
The third generation, consisting of Aureliano José and Arcadio, is
quite uneventful. Aureliano José was a quieter person, as was
Aureliano Buendía. He falls in love with Amaranta, which does not
work out. Arcadio is an outrageous character, very similar to the two
José Arcadios before him. It is odd that he marries Santa Sofía de la
Piedad because she is a nicer, slightly softer character than
Arcadio. Neither Aureliano José nor Arcadio are born by their
"mother." They are both from Pilar Ternera. This makes the time of
this generation sketchy and dark.
Response #4:
The fourth generation, Remedios the Beauty, Aureliano Segundo, and
José Segundo, brought a prosperous feel to the story again. Remedios
was very beautiful and many of the men of the town unsuccessfully
wooed her. She was always odd and had a free spirit. This "free
spirit" personality is probably what made her die the way she did (by
floating into the air and dying almost as a divine being). Aureliano
and José were twins that acted alike when they were young. They
started changing their names back and forth to confuse everyone and to
cause a lot of mischief. With the way the past Auelianos and José
Arcadios acted, the two probably got their names switched up in the
long run. Aureliano Segundo is pretty outspoken and gets his way more
often than not. José Arcadio Segundo is reserved and continues
Melquíades' research. Regardless, all three made the life in the home
more pleasant than it had been.
Response #5:
The fifth and sixth generations, Renata Remedios, José Arcadio, and
Amaranta Úrsula, and then the two Aurelianos, had an uplifting
beginning but a depressing end. Renata Remedios, also known as Meme,
takes after the José Arcadio line, acting on impulse. After her love
affair behind her mother's back, she stays in a convent. José Arcadio
again broke the line, and becomes more of a solitary character and
becomes a scholar. Amaranta Úrsula plays a big role after she returns
from her European education. She falls in love with Aureliano, the
son of Meme. Aureliano spends all of his time in Melquíades' room for
the first half of his life. With the love of Amaranta Úrsula, they
produce a child, which is a rebellion against the government. With
the birth of the deformed Aureliano (with a pig's tail) and the death
at child birth of Amaranta Úrsula, symbolizes the end of the Buendías
and Macondo.
Haley York
Many of the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude seem to be
content with their solitude, or have their own ways of dealing with
it. Aureliano locks himself up in the lab, Jose Arcadio goes off with
the gypsies, Remedios lived within her own memories, Amaranta used
hers as a form of redemption, and the list goes on. Ursula, on the
other hand, was not born a Buendia, and spent her whole life (120 some
odd years) fighting what seems to be the Buendia curse. All Ursula
really wants is the best for her family. When Jose Arcadio Buendia
wanted to leave Macondo, she fought his decision and refused to leave.
She was willing to die, just to keep her family in one place. "If I
have to die for the rest of you to stay here, I will die (pg. 14)."
Later, she chases after Jose Arcadio and the gypsies, trying to bring
her son back, abandoning her newborn child to her husband. She was
gone for five months chasing Jose Arcadio, but ended up returning with
a whole new group of people. I think she tried to fight of the
loneliness and sorrow of her son leaving by introducing an entire new
group of people into Macondo. After awhile the same set of people in a
village isolated by wilderness gets kind of boring; there's only so
many times Uncle Earl can pull a quarter out of little Jimmy's ear
before Aunt Carol wants her quarter back. When she begins her candy
animal business, I think that she is just creating an excuse for her
to not just sit around the house. Ursula likes to keep herself busy,
and this business allows her to create something, then go out and
socialize while still making a profit. The whole of Macondo is now an
enterprising town, so she is just going with the flow. Something I did
find quite ironic was Ursula's response to Melquiades wanting to make
a daguerreotype of her. "...she never permitted them to make a
daguerreotype of her because (according to her very words) she did not
want to survive as a laughingstock for her grandchildren (pg. 54)."
Yet she lives to be the oldest of them all. I find it interesting that
the only two non-Buendia's (Ursula and Rebeca) live the longest
(excepting Amaranta, for different reasons). Rebeca ends up living on
her own for years, locked up in her house and letting everything decay
around her. Ursula lives through 6 generations of Buendia's, with only
one of her many children born with the pig's tail she was always so
worried about.
When Ursula finally steps away from her candy making business, she
realizes that she has a large family and a small house. The two
beautiful women sitting outside (Rebeca and Amaranta) need to be able
to be introduced properly to society. So Ursula adds onto the house,
making it more welcoming to guests. I feel this is another way of
fighting off solitude; it is no longer good enough for her to go and
find company, now she wants to have more at home. Also, this allows
her to have a big enough house for her children to stay at home with
her instead of moving out into the world and deserting her with only
Jose Arcadio Buendia, Melquiades, and the children too young to leave
the house yet. Later, Ursula deals with her solitude by going out and
visiting her husband, who is by this point 'tied' to a tree. Ursula
makes up stories, creates lives for her children that don't quite
follow reality. She believes she does this to make him happy for their
children, but I feel as if she does this for herself. Ursula feels as
if she has failed as a mother, with one son off at war, creating sons
left and right, another who came home, but marries his cousin, and
lives without proper respect to himself or his family, her daughter,
who will eventually be quite unhappy with her lot in life, and the
cousin who is like a daughter, who married Jose Arcadio. Ursula tries
to protect her family from repeating mistakes, at least by attempting
to stop the repeating of male names, which often carry the same
personality traits. Ursula's only mistake in life was being married to
Jose Arcadio Buendia, and then it didn't seem like much of a mistake.
All her worries about abnormal children were proved false (with one
exception). Only later does the full effect come into play and cause
her family to be haunted by different versions of solitude, misery,
and bad luck. Of course, Ursula gets to live throughout it all,
experiencing the full effects of their fate.
ehe...@gmail.com
Jose Arcadio Buendia is a determined man who is thirsty for
knowledge. He feels distressed after killing Prudencio Aguilar, and
moves his family and others away from his hometown. Eventually they
settle down and establish the village of Macondo. He develops a
friendship with an old gypsy by the name of Melquiades, who provides
him with equipment to help him in his science experiments. Jose
Arcadio Buendia becomes so immersed in his studies that it cuts him
off from the rest of the world. His wife, Ursula, has to look after
their children by herself, and wants to raise them not to be like
their father. She has already felt isolated because of her husband's
obsession. Despite Jose Arcadio Buendia's absence in his own family,
it appears that the kids share some of his traits, especially the
sons. Aureliano, his younger son, eventually joins him in the
workshop, showing the same passion for learning as his father, but he
secludes himself as well. Jose Arcadio, the older son, has the
strength and macho attitude of his father. It seems that Jose Arcadio
Buendia's biggest mistake was getting caught up in his scientific
pursuits. Although it is unhealthy for him socially, he finds it
fulfilling. This only contributes to his solitude and causes him to
lose his sanity. He cannot understand others, even his own wife. His
lack of attention given to his family probably negatively affected the
development of his children. Ursula did what she could to keep the
kids on the right track, but she could not do it without her husband,
who at this point does not even care about his family. Jose Arcadio
Buendia's children did not become failures, but they could have turned
out better had he attempted to look after them like his wife did. The
future generations of the family will suffer because Jose Arcadio
Buendia was more interested in trying to invent and gain knowledge
instead of being a father to his children.
ehe...@gmail.com
The characters in the second generation all have problems that put
the family in jeopardy. I can't understand why Amaranta refuses to
marry when she has been in love a few times and is starting to age.
She is indirectly responsible for the death of Pietro Crespi, because
she rejected him. Amaranta was the one who was threatening to destroy
the marriage between Pietro Crespi and Rebeca, because she liked
Pietro as well. Her decision to never marry and have children
probably contributed to the decline of the Buendia family. It drove
Pietro Crespi to his death, and Colonel Gerineldo Marquez eventually
gave up on her. She even had a close relationship with her nephew and
also refused him. Jose Arcadio runs away with some gypsies, comes
back, and initiates a sexual relationship with Rebeca, who is supposed
to marry Pietro Crespi. This causes Ursula to disown them, and puts
more shame to the family. Crespi is then left to beg the unwilling
Amaranta to marry him. Aureliano grows up to be a bloody warlord, and
influences other members of the family, most notably Arcadio, Jose
Arcadio's son. Arcadio abuses his power and becomes a feared leader
of Macondo. Ursula shows her dismay at this when she tells him: "'You
are the shame of our family name'" (125). Ursula has realized that
her descendents have a bleak future ahead of them. Now that the
children of Jose Arcadio Buendia are grown up, it seems that the
family will be lucky to hold together for so long.
ehe...@gmail.com
Looks can be deceiving. Aureliano Segundo was extremely determined
to find Queen Fernanda Del Carpio and marry her. He married her
because of her beauty, but nothing more. Once Fernanda entered the
family, things changed for the worse. Aureliano Segundo spent more
time sleeping with Petra Cortes because Fernanda was unsatisfying to
him. She wanted to be pampered, and could not relate to other members
of the family. Aureliano Segundo should have taken his time and
thought about whether he could have a healthy relationship with
Fernanda and how his family would respond to their marriage. When he
found her "'it was almost simultaneously the beginning and the end of
happiness'" (225). Fernanda only made the family more complicated.
Although she had three children with Aureliano Segundo, her life was
depressing and it affected other family members as well. She tried to
enforce her religious beliefs on the Buendias and caused Aureliano
Segundo to move out of the house and live with Petra Cortes.
Each member of the family becomes more isolated. Jose Arcadio has
little contact with the others, showing up once in a while. Colonel
Aureliano Buendia has secluded himself, making little goldfishes and
melting them, and then making them again. Eventually he dies. Ursula
is old and blind but can get around the house because she knows that
each person repeats the same action every day. Amaranta weaves a
shroud to prepare for death. The first and second generations are
starting to pass and the third generation is dysfunctional.
ehe...@gmail.com
100 Years of Solitude Reader Response #4
For the Buendia family, history repeats itself. The repeating of
names and traits is common throughout the family's existence. The
characters in different generations all have similar experiences, even
if some of them never knew each other. It seems that the events that
take place were meant to occur.
The naming of children is repeated for each generation. The males
are named Jose Arcadio and Aureliano and the females are named
Amaranta, Remedios, and Ursula (Rebeca was adopted). Characters who
take on a certain name also have similar traits. For example, the
Jose Arcadio's are very strong and aggressive; while the Aureliano's
tend to be withdrawn and passive (this is the opposite for Jose
Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo).
Incest is also present throughout the book. Ursula and Jose Arcadio
Buendia are cousins. Ursula is fearful about their children because
two of her and her husband's ancestors had a son who was born with a
tail. Jose Arcadio Buendia had a different opinion: "'I don't care if
I have piglets as long as they can talk'" (23). Eventually they
started the family that would be the focus of the story. Later on,
Aureliano Jose is attracted to his aunt, Amaranta, who nearly gives in
but refuses him anyway. Arcadio is attracted to his mother, Pilar
Ternera. In the last generation, Amaranta Ursula dies giving birth to
a son with a tail, because the father is her nephew, Aureliano (not
the colonel).
There is also the feeling of solitude for characters in each
generation. A lot of the males in the family spend their last years
secluding themselves inside a room and study or work. Rebeca lives
alone for many years, even though she was believed to be dead.
Amaranta refuses to marry, and is content with being lonely. There
are many examples of solitude throughout the book, and it is probably
the reason for the title.
All these themes are repeated, and the end becomes predictable
because of this. It was inevitable that the Buendias would eventually
fall, because incest, isolation, and the behavior of people with
certain names were repeated. The successive generations became weaker
and weaker.
cr8z...@yahoo.com
The novel as a whole was very hard and very tricky to understand. It
started out with that much confusion of the names of the Buendia
Family. Why Gabriel Garcia Marquez did made his characters have almost
the same name? Why is it so important to have each generation have the
same names?
Overall within the family tree there was a total of nineteen
Aureliano, two Jose Arcadio, Aureliano Jose, Jose Arcadio Segundo,
Aureliano Segundo, Arcadio, or Jose Arcadio Buendia. The women within
the family had also the same name confusion. The daughters either had
Amaranta, Ursula, or Remedios within their name. In our time period
now, the name of a child is very important. Most parents feel that
their daughter or son's name should be unique. In this time period, it
feels as though there is no uniqueness at all. When the 17 Aurelianos
came looking for Colonel Aureliano Jose in seek for baptism, the women
decided that they will name the children Aureliano and let them have
the name of their mother attached in the end of their identity so that
the confusion will not be there.
When the sons and daughters of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda del
Carpio, Aureliano had named the son Jose Arcadio without the protest
of Fernanda. But when Fernanda del Carpio was about to name her newly
born daughter Renata, Ursula was not happy. Ursula made sure that the
name of the daughter will had Remedios within. Now, the daughter's
name is Renata Remedios (Meme). I do not understand what is so
important in having any name of anyone that is in the Buendia family
in the newly born. Is this tradition during this time in the
village?
This can be an understandable interpretation that the reason why
Marquez might have done this was to show that amount of people in the
Buendia Family. Nevertheless, it is still confusing on how Marquez set
this up. This can also be a sign of respect when to the person who
owns the name that is being given to the child.
Other than the name confusion, Marquez has also emphasized the
magical realism within the novel. It has talked about the different
aspects of life of Remedios the Beauty, insomnia/plague in the
beginning of the book, the death of Mauricio Babilonia, Jose Arcadio
Buendia being stuck in the chestnut tree, the deaths of the
Aurelianos, and the change of life of Rebecca.
Response #2
The middle chapters, I realize that there was a great amount of
magical realism. It was mentioned in the novel that there un-natural
things that were happening. Remedios the Beauty is a great example of
the mystical and magical things that were involved in the novel. Why
was she so ungodly beautiful? Why is it that out of everyone in the
whole family she was picked to be most beautiful one? The magical and
mystical realism of Remedios the beauty was very interesting. I feel
that this beauty was a sign of her power.
The way Marquez illustrates her as though she has this calm
superiority with people especially men. Her beauty attracts so many
men that she is wanted and needed by all. The superiority and power
she had with men greatly shows when men feels that it was "worth
sacrificing one's life for a night of love with such an arousing
woman" (253). Her beauty had killed men in the past. There was one who
had watched her in the showers and was very persistent in soaping her
back that he fell of the roof and cracked his skull. When he was found
he had the odor of Remedios the Beauty within him. This odor was very
deep in his body "that the cracks in his skull did not give off blood
but an amber-colored oil that was impregnated with that secret
perfume, and then they understood that the smell of Remedios the
Beauty kept on torturing men beyond death, right down to the dust of
their bones." (252)
Another mystical and magical realism that occurred was her ascending
to heaven. When Remedios finally found her solitude within herself,
she had never felt any better. Out of nowhere, while Remedios was
explaining to Fernanda, the sheets that she was holding were opened
and Remedios the Beauty bean to rise. Remedios the Beauty was "waving
goodbye in the midst of the flapping sheets that rose up with her,
abandoning with her the environment of beetles and dahlias and passing
through the air with her as four o'clock in the afternoon came to an
end, and they were lost forever with her in the upper atmosphere where
not even the highest-flying birds of memory could reach her." (255)
She ascended to heaven as a virgin. She was never tempted to be with
anyone else. Men had always been the tempted and aroused to be with
her because of her beauty and her purity. Out of all the Buendía's her
and Amaranta were the ones who have said no to the temptation of being
in love and being with anyone. It is ironic that the two virgins in
the family both died in an unusual way. Remedios the Beauty ascended
to heaven while Amaranta died wrapped in a magnificent shroud that she
weaved.
Remedios the Beauty had ascended to heaven in body and soul and now
away from the problems that people have within. Remedios the Beauty
was not the only one who was involved in magical and mystical realism.
Mauricio Babilonia also had a magical and mystical realism within him.
There were always yellow butterflies that constantly followed him
around. How is it that these butterflies are connected with him? Is it
his charm? His power? His personality? Nevertheless, Meme had found
this as a guide to find Mauricio Babilonia when she was stalking him.
Since "the yellow butterflies preceded the appearances of Mauricio
Babilonia," she knows that she has seen them before over the garage
and she thought that the butterflies were there because they "were
drawn by the smell of paint" (308).
This magic of Mauricio Babilonia ended up being the cause of his
death because Fernanda found out that Mauricio Babilonia and her
daughter Meme had been together while she's in the showers.
Response # 3
When I first started this novel, I could not help but feel bad for
the women. It started out with Ursula being treated horribly and
unfairly in the beginning. First, Jose Arcadio Buendia would not
consult her for decisions regarding the mule and two goats. When the
gypsies came back for the second time, he wanted to purchase the
magnifying glass. Jose Arcadio Buendia took the money of Ursula that
"her father put together over an entire life of proper occasion to
make use of it" (3) into purchasing for magnifying glass. I hoped that
as the novel goes on, Ursula would be treated right. Thus I was wrong.
When Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia were trying to make another
child it would not happen. Ursula could not get pregnant what so ever.
This was hard for Jose Arcadio Buendia because the people around the
village had been talking about the hardship of trying to get Ursula be
pregnant again for the third time. He does not like it that people
were talking, even though Ursula had constantly reminded Jose Arcadio
Buendia that he should not listen because this was their business and
their life. No one else matters.
Then Pilar Ternera came in. My prospective of the women outside the
Buendia family has changed. Pilar Ternera became the woman of Jose
Arcadio outside his family. No one in the family knows about the
forbidden affair that Jose Arcadio and Pilar Ternera. Yes they are
lovers, but they never did get married. We find out later that Jose
Arcadio is ""going to be a father"" (34) of Pilar Ternera's baby. With
this news, he became afraid of being a father. It is ironic how he was
scared to make love for the first time but now that his making love
with Pilar Ternera had come to a human being he became even more
scared. I figured that with this he would marry her as for the sake
for the baby, but he didn't. He then made love with a gypsy girl. He
was so enchanted by her that he became a gypsy He was so mesmerized
with this contact with the girl that he left with them. "Jose Arcadio
wrapped a red cloth around his head and left with the gypsies" (37).
Now there is no father for the baby of Pilar Ternera.
I truly pity her when this happened, but as the book goes on; I
realize that she is huge whore. Other than sleeping with Jose Arcadio,
she also managed to be with Colonel Aureliano Buendia. How it is that
she was able to attract two Buendía's? I do not know. Likewise, the
same thing that happened with Jose Arcadio's affair with her happened
to the Colonel. She ended up carrying another Buendia in her womb.
This time Colonel Aureliano Buendia was the father. Other than Pilar
Ternera, Colonel Aureliano Buendia also had slept with many other
women because in the end of the war he had a total for 18 children,
one with Pilar Ternera, and 17 other Aurelianos with 17 different
women.
It was weird how Pilar Ternera was able to attract two Buendía's to
her bed. Even after doing so, she was still able to attract the
Buendia family within her side when they need to console on someone.
For example, Meme went to Pilar Ternera for advice when she was having
thoughts about Mauricio Babilonia. Pilar Ternera had a great
connection with the Buendia family other than her children. This
connection started with Jose Arcadio.
Other than Pilar Ternera, there was another woman that a Buendia had
as an affair in the side. Like his grand father, Aureliano Segundo
also had an affair. He was with a woman named Petra Cotes while being
married to Fernanda Del Carpio. I do not understand why the men in
this family have been having affairs. Is it too much for men to be
loyal to their spouse even in this time period?
Response #4
After I got done reading the first few chapters, I could not help but
think that in the beginning José Arcadio Buendía was a dumb man. He
was so easily mesmerized that the gypsies was able to get him to trade
his "mule and a pair of goats for the two magnetized ingots" (2) I
felt bad for Ursula because her husband does not consol her with the
things that he was doing. With the mule and the goats she uses that as
a domestic with holding. When the gypsies came back the second time,
he used Ursula's inheritance to buy a telescope. Ursula was once again
not been consoled and she very upset. If I was in her position I would
have acted the same way. It was unfair for her in her side for Jose
Arcadio Buendía to use the inheritance that her father gave her. As
the book progress I realize that Jose Arcadio Buendía is intelligent,
brave, and dumb. He is an intelligent and brave man when he was trying
to discover and find a way for a possible weapon but dumb when it
comes to his treatment to his wife.
With the telescope and magnifying glass in hand he spends his hours
in his room calculating the strategic possibilities of his weapon.
With this he was able to find a way to put "together a manual
startling instructional clarity and irresistible power of
conviction" (3). It was a great success for him. His intelligence and
bravery was able to help him grow and get even more addicted in trying
to discover things. With this, Jose Arcadio Buendía kept going. He
started having craving for things that his family does not understand.
There was a point he discovered that ""the earth is round, like an
orange"" (5). How is it that a man who would spend his time just
looking around his surroundings, trying to calculate was able to
realize and discover that the earth is round? While it took the
conquest of Spain with the help of Ferdinand Magellan and 7 ships to
discover that the world is round. It astonished me that such man has
great understanding with science in his time period.
Jose Arcadio Buendía tried to show everyone that his theory was true.
Upon doing so people thought he "had lost his reason" (5). If I was in
the villager's position I would have thought the same thing because I
feel that in this time period that they were in such ideas that
something that is unfamiliar is scary. When Melquíades returned, he
explained to the people that Jose Arcadio Buendia was an intelligent
man. This praise made the start of the friendship of Jose Arcadio
Buendia and Melquiades.
I also realize that with his great intelligence, Jose Arcadio Buendia
was also a brave man. He is a brave man because he starting thinking
outside the box. He explored and tried to discover things that many
people in his villagers are scared of. He even went against Ursula's
will so that he can discover more knowledge. I also feel that he is
also a leader of his family and his village. He set up the village
into a "placement of the houses in such a way that from all of them
one could reach the river and draw water with the same effort, and he
had lined up the streets with such good sense that no house got more
sun than another during the hot time of day" (9). He set out a journey
into exploring his surroundings when he knew all along that it will be
a hard and far expedition. He realizes that to find a better life and
explore more of the world he must take Macondo and his family to a
better place.
I value the desire of Jose Arcadio Buendia of finding and exploring
the world of science. Although the beginning chapter showed his
passion, it is sad to see that there will be few people that will
understand him. With this, his solitude will catch up him and I am
afraid to say that this might be the possible reason for the change
and separation of the family.
rosie...@yahoo.com
1. Reader Response: Extravagant Futility
On the completion of this novel one of the most overbearing themes
that intrigued me was the incomprehensible dedication of the
characters in futile endeavors. They remain persistent to the point
hat the reader and character alike can no longer remember their
purpose. Their efforts are so futile, and so meticulously repeated
that their failings take on the extravagance of legend.
Jose Arcadio Buendia is not daunted by the failure of the magnets,
proceeding to his WMD which gains him no recognition, and then to the
fruitless art of alchemy. His failure does not bother him; he simply
carries on. Colonel Aureliano Buendia, likewise, does not cut his
losses after one failed rebellion, but goes on to loose an
extraordinary 32 wars. This extravagance of failure , and of lost
ambitions marks him as a true Buendia. Every character, every
situation is given some extreme or bizarre fate. As soon as Gabriel
Marquez has aloud the reader some gasp of hope that at least someone
may be happy the brief moment is dashed. Jose Arcadio dies and Rebecca
never stops mourning... Armaranta never forgives herself... Fernanda
forsakes her only daughter... on and on in another twisted extravagance
of grief.
It is the extremes of this book, the fantastical twists, that
characterize it. Marquez creates a world where legend and superstition
hold just as much weight over reality as fact and science. Ina world
where ghosts are real, and memories inherited- where babies truly are
born with animal parts, and ascending to heaven in broad daylight is a
real phenomenon- Marquez places his characters to live out, in an
extravagance of extremes their unhappy lives.
2. Reader Response: What Was He Thinking?
I truly do not understand the purpose of this story. Marquez's
creation is unique without a doubt, but what could have inspired such
a story.!? At times it is fantastical and I would think that " well in
fantasy in anything can happen" and then the fantasy of superstition
would clash with the establishments of government and religions
erupting in some sort of dispute. Then I would think that that was the
direction the book was headed. Yet no direction appeared.
A chapter here and there would be dedicated to one topic such as the
intricacies of a relationship or the drama and intrigue of a certain
characters relationships. Then just as surely, a few passages would be
highly philosophical, and all insights very meditated and personal.
The story would switch to the growth of characters to that of the
family, and on to that of the town without pause and with no apparent
purpose. Though at time interesting parallels were drawn, at other
time the build up of unnecessary and highly complex detail would be
simply obnoxious.
Perhaps, the point of the story is that life is not always straight
forward, or interesting. Maybe the writer's baggage of detail is
supposed to illustrate the importance we give to mundane things and
acts. The family Buendia seems so overdone, however, that it is hard
for me to see them as an extended metaphor. So then what? Is it truly
a story about nothing? ... Or as the title suggests, is it about time? A
family fated for solitude? I cannot see how they are solitary as a
whole; certain members- yes, but not all of them. Yet Marquez calls
them a race, and says that those "condemed to one hundred years of
solitude" don't get another chance. Try as I might I cannot tie this
into the wandering narrative that the story was up to the last
chapter. What does Marquez mean!?
3. Reader Response: A city of Mirrors
" ...it was foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be
wiped out by the wind and exiled from memory of men" (448)
Jose Arcadio Buendia's dream of building Macondo into a city of
mirrors, at first, seems simply another one of his ridiculous and
unattainable notions. When he moves on to believing that his dream had
perhaps been ice I quickly forgot about the mirrors. In fact, there
are many more references to ice, and the gypsies who brought it, than
there are to mirrors.
As ice is repeatedly significant to the first generation, and then
again when the ice factory is built several generations later... and as
the history of our story progresses, for those of us who didn't get it
earlier... voila! Macondo has come full circle and the gypsies can bring
ice again to show off as a novelty because nobody remembers its first
revelation. Suddenly an obvious pattern emerges- the towns life is
repeating its cycle just as the Buendia family repeats its. More than
just traits are passed down with the names of the family. The original
characters appear again and again in later generations until the
reader grows along with Ursula, as to which character is now staging
the rebellions, or who is now looking for the secret of Melquiades
parchments, or who the newest couple of troubled lovers is...
All these people are reflections of each other, mirages, illusions of
a different reality set in a new time. They effect each other in a way
that keeps the cycle continuing. Eventually all those who were pulled
into the family have left or died and we end almost the way we began-
yet less hopeful for the future form the story we have learned.
4. Reader Response: Time
There are so many references to time in this novel, and it is so tied
up in theteme of the mirrors that at first I wasn't sure there was
enough to merit its own response. However, as I wrote about the
mirrors I grew even more intrigued by the reference to the anomalies
of time. Marquez has a disregard for the passage of time that puts all
of his events into a surreal setting. Macondo is placed in its own
secluded world where times does not pass as it odes in ours.
Slowly, the characters begin to take notice of this. Through
Marquez's descriptions of the things such as: the street of the Turks
where the routines are the same day in and day out no matter the
generation of inhabitant or external circumstances; the almond trees
that endure all; and most obviously the characters on their track of
history which repeats. Ursala is the first to notice as she comes out
of a period of confusion to realize that generations later her
descendents are repeating the same things. She remarks then, that it
is as thought time had ceased to pass. She remains at the center of
the family so long that she truly does hold the family together. They
orbit around her yet there cycles are so similar that at the center
she feels as though they do not move.
Other Characters come to the same realization eventually. Fernanda
also remarks that it feels as though time has stopped. Ursala lives on
well past her natural life, and people remain locked away and
forgotten for far longer than it would take to drive a normal being
insane. Such a casual disregard for something as important as the
passage of time helps set the stage for this fantastical story. Time
has no relevance in the lives of these people who are so solely
consumed by their grief and customs they have no need for it, and in a
town where even the future can be forgotten.
cyagow
Reader Response #1
Jose Arcadio Buendia is a determined man. He is determinded for
change and modernization. He ahs made friends with the gypsies who
sell him radical products intended to change the everyday lives of the
people in Macondo. Jose Arcadion Buendia seems obsessed witht the
constant attempts to change a way of life that has been the same for
years. He does not appear to care about much else, including his wife
Ursula. He lives in his own world in a shop. At the time, he has two
sone, the eldes Jose Arcadion, and the younger Aureliano. Aureliano
shares similar intrests to his father. Jose Arcadion takes a
different path. After spending time with Pilar, a prostitute, he
mysteriously leaves town with the gypsies. He is unaware that his
son, Arcadion, was left in the care of his parents. I believe that
this situation shows much contrast from our present day beliefs. Tha
actions of Jose Arcadio and the birth of Arcadion was viewed as almost
normal. Of course Jose Arcadion Buendia and especially his wife
Ursula worried about him, but the fact that they were given his seen
seemed miniscule. Aureliano was quieter. He was not interested in a
relationship. which confused his parents. The entire Buendia famil
appeared odd and different, not necessarily to Macondo, but certainly
to the readers.
Reader Response #2
Shortly after Jose Arcadion leaves, the entire village of Macondo
is plagued with insomnis. Everyone has memory loss with this plague.
Aureliano labels everything he works with so that he remebers what
everything is called and what it's function is. The plague seems to
correspond with the mourning fo rJose Arcadio's departure. Rebeca, an
unidentified orphan girl enters the house. She compulsively eats the
soil of the earth, and they can do nothing to stop her. Aureliano
finally falls in love with the very young Remedios. Even though she
has not even reached puberty, Aureliano and Rebedios announce that
they are getting married. Remedios' father trys to persuade Aureliano
to marry one of his older daughters, but he refuses because he is in
love with Remedion. Even though this is twisted in its own way, it
shows that love know no measures. We have already seen relationships
not based arouind love, and how they have failed. Aurelian and
Remedios' love is true, and it lasts until Remedios' death.
Reader Response #3
Around the same time of Rebeca's arrival, the house, Ursula had a
baby girl and named her Amaranta. Both girls grew up as sisters.
Aureliano becomes a Colonel of uprisings for the Liberal party. He
leaves with his men. He is very unsuscessful, but he becomes a local
hero. The fact that he is continuely getting beaten is destroying his
self esteem, even though he is being praised and honored. Aureliano's
character is very different from his older brother's. Aureliano
appears to be intellectual, while Jose Arcadio appears louder and not
as smart. Back at the house, Rebeca and Amaranta have become bitter
enemies. THey have both fallen in love with a man named Pietro
Crespi. Here we are beginning to see that Amaranta is very dramatic
and has an uncontrollable temper. Shw vows to Rebeca that if Rebeca
should marry Pietro Crespi, then Amaranta will kill herself. This
does not phase Rebeca, but the wedding is constantly being postponed.
Reader Response #4
When Pietro Crespi finally tells Rebeca that they should have
their wedding, Rebeca refuses his proposal, sending Pietro into
depression, but relieving Amaranta. Rebeca then marries Jose Arcadio,
who even though is not bloddly related to Rebeca, is her brother. She
gives birth to a son named Arcadio. Jose Arcadio throughout the text
is never known to make decisions based on what others felt or
thought. Even though the thought of a brother and sister marrying
disgusted many, it did not affect Jose Arcadio's decision to take
Rebeca as his wife. Arcadio grows up and marries Santa Sofia de la
Piedad, but he dies shortly before she gives birth to twin boys,
Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo. As the twins grow, they
look so much alike that no one can tell them apart. They trick people
into thinking that they are the other twin. Jose Arcadio Seguno acts
very much like Aureliano, where as Aureliano Segundo acts like Jose
ARcadio. Ursula thinks that the boys may have actucally switched
names in their earlier years of trikery. In this family, it appears
that certain names tend to have the same characteristics, wile others
have differnt but similar ones.
Reader Response #5
Prostitution must not have been looked upon as trashy as what it is
today. Many of the men in this story visit a prostitute named Pilar.
Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo both visit her, but she
thinks that she is seeing only one. Ursula is growing old. She is
over 100 years old and has been the caretaker of her own children as
well as manyothers. She begins to go blind, but does not let anyone
know that her health is deterating. Amaranta grows old as well, and
unhappy. After Rebeca denied Pietro, he began to persue Amaranta who
was more than willing. When he finally proposes she replies that she
would never marry him. In grief, Pietro kills himself. Amaranta's
character has shown that she is cold, bitter, and very cruel. SHe
never will marry, and is often rude to others.
klaura...@yahoo.com
Ethan Chambers
The beginning of the book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, has a naive,
innocence to it, as if the book itself is taking its first few steps
into life. The way the writing comes off shows how the characters are
hopeful residents of the new town, Macondo, no one has died, not
everything is named, their lives has just begun again and they are
without the bother of the outside world. In a way Marquez, the
author, writes the beginning story of the people in Macondo like a
young child dreams of the future, full of hope and wonder. Almost all
of the residents are children to the town, most specifically the
Buendia family started by Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia, while the
adult figure or force to Macondo are the Gypsies (there are many
others), bringing with them change, growth, and new ways of life. The
Gypsies show the people of Macondo new inventions and wonders, such as
a magic carpet and ice. Most importantly however, one of the Gypsies,
Melquiades, shows Jose Arcadio the art of science. This meeting
between not only two peoples, but these two men shapes the future of
Macondo and the Buendia family line and future. Science not only
piques Jose's intrest, but gives him a child-like fascination for more
and new. Jose becomes driven to learn as much as he can about the
world in anyway he possibly can. In the process of this, Jose, a once
well thought of and respected man in Macondo, becomes isolated and
closed in by his new found passion. His passion consumes him and cast
doubt on the Buendia future and family name. All the while throughout
the beginning Ursula, Jose's wife, patiently stands by him as he falls
deeper and deeper into his study. Ursula, unlike Jose and many others
of the town, acts as an adult and central piller of the family. She
alone is unmoved by the gypsies and prefers tradition. The beginning
of the book seems to allude to an eventual opening of Macondo to the
world, however not as Jose's little trip planned on finding other
towns, but an opening to the world that will change Macondo forever.
klaura...@yahoo.com
Response 1:
One of the most impressive feautures of the Buendia family is their
perpetual capability for acceptance. Everyone is allowed to pursue
their life in the manner of their own choosing. Illegitimate children
are brought into the house wihtout a second thought. Children come and
go, new relationships arise, and everyone is absorbed in their own
passion: Jose Arcadio Buendia with his alchemy, Ursula with her house
enlargement, Aureliano with his silver work, and Amaranta and Rebeca
with their constant bickering. In essence, the family is entirely
dysfunctional, for no one cares about the other. And yet, the
household remains a stronghold where all wayward children can return
to. That makes me think of my own family, which is quite the opposite
in lifestyle. We are very close, and spend a lot of time together. But
I don't think we would be able to match their openness.
The sense of family for the Buendias isn't a matter of blood
relative, it is extended to everyone who seeks shelter in Macondo,
whatever twist of fate brought them there. Ironically, their town is
so small and isolated, yet so full of spirit. People don't die, they
are simply reborn in the next generation. Nobody every leaves or is
forgotten. Everyone is allowed their quirks, and there is no standard
for how a "family" is supposed to look like. That gives the Buendias
an incredible sense of freedom, because they aren't held back by any
societal or herital stereotype.
Ethan Chambers
The change and growth of Macondo seem to be echoed in the Buendia
family, as if the two are linked in some deeper way. As the outside
world slowly comes into the lives of the family, the children of
Ursula and Jose drift from their parents to these new wonders and
people of the outside. Jose Arcadio, the first son of the family, has
a act first and think later attitude, such as when he goes to the
gypsies and "meets" the young girl or his relation with Pilar
Ternera. This attitude is much like his own father's, say when his
father melted down Ursula's gold coins. His father has experience in
life that Jose Arcadio does not, the difference between a child and a
adult. This relation of father to son is almost foreshadowing of the
rest of the siblings and how little control the parents have over the
children's futures despite being in a small town. The same can be
said for Macondo over its own future when the world learns of the
town. The second son of the family, Aureliano Buendia, shows the
slowly emerging mysticism of the town, from his gift of predicting
events that haven't happened, or premonition. Unlike his brother, he
seems to have taken his father's philosophical nature, studying
alchemy and eventually poetry and making golden fish. Here the
difference between the two names of the family can be seen, one rash
and straight-forward, while the other is calculated and collected.
However, in a strange twist of the names, Marquez chooses that
Aureliano Buendia be the son that enters the Civil War, becoming the
famed Colonel Aureliano Buendia. It is this choice made by one son
that leads the outside world to Macondo and the progeny of the other
that grips Macondo in fear.
klaura...@yahoo.com
Having gotten farther in the book, I was surprised by how many plot
changes there were. There are constantly new characters, others are
killed or forgotten, and the text is continually lurching forward into
new and chaotic situations. Why does the author feel like he needs to
keep making it more and more complex? It gives the characters less
time to develop mentally, having only been given a physical or sexual
description. The only area where the author fails at complexity is
with the names of the characters. There he steadfastly sticks to
Aureliano and Jose Arcadio, over and over. He is saved from having to
develop them by giving them a general description "While the
Aurelianos were withdrawn, but with lucid minds, the Jose Arcadios
were impulsive and enterprising, but they were marked with a tragic
sign" (197). That way, the personalities of the new characters are
already determined at birth.
Names are a very important part of the book because they form a
solitary link connecting the ever-expanding Buendia family. And while
this link could be seen as a symbol of familiarity, it is also a
curse, as each new generation is bound by nostalgia to the old one,
and is doomed to repeat their faults. The women are able to break free
of the vicious circle to some extent, and are able to develop as
individuals. They realize that the names are bound to generations of
misdeeds, and try to give their children new names and a fresh start.
But ironically, it is the men who demand to have their male children
named after their forefathers, and are therefore doomed to the vicious
circle of anonimity.
Response 3:
I was very happy with the end of the novel because it marked the
precise moment that the Buendias were no longer solitary and therefore
cease to exist. Throughout the book, the Buendias have remained
solitary characters who have trouble connecting to the outside world,
and often seek refuge within the family's territory. The only people
that they really feel comfortable and happy with are other members of
the family. However, since the beginning of the race, Buendias have
been forbidden from incest in the fear that the resulting children
will be born with pig-tails. Therefore they try to find happiness with
spouses and lovers outside the family tree, and fail. Not only are the
outsiders, including Pilar Ternera, Rebeca, Santa Sofia de la Piedad,
Fernanda, Mauricio Babilonia, and Gaston, not part of the family, but
they never can be. They are like ivy growing on the family tree,
suffocating it, but never becoming united with it. Eventually these
outsiders lose their footing and are rejected from the Buendia
household, because after all, Buendias are a solitary race and can
therefore only exist with their own species.
The love that the Buendias feel for these people is a confused love,
for it is created only becuase they believe they must love someone
outside the family. Yet eventually, all the Buendias seek refuge in
solidarity, because that ignore the family stigma and do indeed
practice incest are the only ones who do succeed in finding true love:
Aureliano Babilonia and Amaranta Ursula. This situation is almost
identical to the one two generations earlier between Aureliano Jose
and Amaranta, who also fostered a love between aunt and nephew.
However, in that relationship, the love was cut off by Amaranta and it
had to therefore wait for her namesake before being successful. This
means that had Amaranta continued the relationship with Aureliano
Jose, she would have bourn a child with a pig's tail that would have
been devoured by ants, and the Buendias would have been wiped out
then. But as it was, they were given two further generations to
develop their spirits. And when the Buendias were finally not solitary
anymore because they had found love in each other, their tragic race
had come to an end.
Response 4:
One of the most intriguing and everlasting characters of the novel
is Ursula. She is, among other things, the literal head of the family,
and raises about every generation of Buendias besides the last. She
has an impressive sense of will and purpose that is lacking in all her
starying children and grandchildren. And while she is all-knowing, the
only generation that succeeds in finding happiness is the one that
lives without her. Thus her maternal spirit was actually one that
suffocated her children, becuase they were unable to develop without
her watchful eye. But ironically, the harder she tries to shape the
characters of her many descendents, the less they resemble her
prototype. Her position as a leader of the family is strange, because
whether or not she is there, the Buendias would continue their mad
lives. One can't even call the family matrilinial, because even her
present figure does not stop the passing of traits to be on the male
side.
So what is the point of Ursula Iguaran? For the Buendia family,
Ursula is like the elixir of life, because she provides each
generation (in vain) the chance to develop into better people than
their ancestors. For each new generation, she adapts the rooms,
expands the house, and cultivates the garden so that they can grow up
in Macondo exactly the way they should. But this idea is so twisted
because while she does provide them with everything they need to keep
the family going, they cannot be happy with her there. Only Amaranta
Ursula and Aureliano find happiness without her, but as a downside
they also cannot keep the family going. So in the end, is it better to
have a large family of unhappy people or just two people who are happy
together? Ursula's figure is like a double-headed spear; one end to
point her children in the "right" direction, and the other to stop
them from reaching it. She is a lamentable character, for all the good
that is in her intention is spoiled by the impending results.
Ethan Chambers
The progression from solitude and learning has changed in Macondo with
the outbreak of the Civil War. Jose Arcadio Buendia, the father and
once patriarch of the Buendias seems to fall only deeper into his
obsessions and musings, of which he is only left to obscurity. The
town of Macondo has fallen into a state of chaos and tyranny by the
illegitimate son of Jose Arcadio and Pilar Ternera, Arcadio, who took
Macondo into a iron fist rule. Arcadio at the same time aligns with
the Liberals, the people who oppose the government during the Civil
War, and makes Macondo a base of operations. At the same time
however, Macondo is also situated with the Conservatives, or the
government forces, through the town magistrate. Arcadio's reign is
ended however when his own forces are killed by Conservative troops
and he is executed by a firing squad. Throughout the entire time
Macondo experiences wartime and killing, opposite of the peaceful
years they knew before. The town that knew very little death is
thrown into it first hand. Elsewhere, the 17 Aureliano's are born
from Colonel Aureliano Buendia's many partners while at war, showing
the lose of family value in the Buendia children. From then on each
Buendia generation seems to get only deeper and deeper into misery,
struggling to keep a unified connection beyond names.
Ethan Chambers
As the Civil War conflict comes to an end and time goes on, the later
generations of the Buendia family line still seem to mirror Ursula and
Jose Arcadio Buendia in name and personaility. Despite their own
individual struggles and lives, they all seem to lead the same
result. One of these later family members, Jose Arcadio Segundo, the
twin to Aureliano Segundo, is a quiet and collected person. More like
an Aureliano, Jose takes a role in the banana strike, resembling the
Colonel's in the Civil War, leading to a failed uprising in which he
is the sole survivor. The banana plantation exploited Macondo and its
people, foreigners abused the workers, and Segundo aimed to change the
situation. However, death comes once again to the crumbling Macondo.
Aureliano Segundo, lives differently than his twin brother by being a
more boisterous man, at oppurtunity and fortune, all the while not
learning from failure like many in the family before. The two twins
show how time is a like a circle where events happen over and over,
with no change or hope to stop it. This fate appears to Ursula and
her husband, driving him mad and leaving her to see how cyclic time
really is. The twins aimed to live well, but neither in strikes or
family and money are they successful. By great coincidence they die
at the same time, almost as if they're linked through fate. It is
clear to say that time indeed is cyclic for the Buendia's, not only in
their names and personalities, but their ultimate fates all lead them
to similiar misery and experiences. Perhaps the only family members
that truly appreciate this truth are Ursula, who lives long enough to
see it happening, and Aureliano Babilonia who translates Melquiades
texts and sees that his entire familie's fate was predicted long ago.
It seems that for Macondo and Buendias life is to live and die in
their isolation, and to end in a fate they could not escape.
arielak...@sbcglobal.net
Though the Buendia family starts out as the most respectable family in
the town of Macondo, the antics of Jose Arcadio Buendia and the
arrival of the gypsies quickly sets the family on a path that fate
chose for them years ago. Jose Arcadio Buendia quickly becomes
obsessed with all the innovations of the gypsies. But while Macondo
merely looked upon the technology of the gypsies as a form of
amusement, Jose Arcadio Buendia saw it as a way to further the world;
in a town that was not ready for such radical ideas. He becomes
immersed to a point where he abandons the town and his family. But it
is strange how everything captures his attention yet he cannot remain
focused on any one thing. He disappears inside his laboratory and the
only person that seemed to have any impact on him was the returned
Melquiades. But then Jose Arcadio Buendia begins to lose his grip on
reality. He spends hours walking around in circles talking to himself
and at night the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar appears to him. It gets to
a point where he is trying to break the house down so the neighbors
tie him to the chestnut tree and leave him in his solitude. Somewhere
along the line, he seems to have discovered Latin and often talked to
himself under his tree. Though Ursula unties him from the tree, he
seems content to spend the rest of his days sitting there babbling to
himself.
Throughout all of this, Ursula remains the rock of the family. When
her husband wanted to pick up and move the family in order to follow
one of his outrageous ideas, she puts her foot down and forces him
back to reality. She seems to be the only one who realizes that
descendents with the same name would turn out like their forbearers.
She tried to stop the vicious cycle but was unable to escape the
prophecy. Every generation she tries and fails to produce one
respectable member of the family. But she also succumbs to solitude
because she loses her eyesight and no one notices. Even when she is
blind, the rest of the family just assumes that her eyesight is
fading. She is always trying to open the house to people but nothing
positive seems to come from this. And yet through all of this she
tries to keep her family close but not too close to each other. She is
constantly fearful that the incestful nature of the family will
produce something that is as bad as or worse than having a pig's tail.
Ursula eventually gives in to the fact that the Buendias are forever
trapped in these cycles of sin.
On Jul 17, 12:23 pm, Charles.Weinb...@gmail.com wrote:
> You are now required to write four reader-responses to One Hundred
> Years of Solitude (opposed to the initially stated five). Besides
> this, you must also quote and respond to another peer's post in each
> of your responses. These reflections should be approximately one
> page, single-spaced and typed each.
arielak...@sbcglobal.net
Jose Arcadio was different from his father in the respect that he did
not care for the new inventions or for spending hours in the
laboratory like his younger brother. From a young age, he was
separated from the rest of the family by his size. His mother had
commented that "he was so well-equipped for life that he seemed
abnormal." (27) He confides his escapades with Pilar Ternera only to
his younger brother but is unable to tall him when Pilar Ternera tells
him that he is to be a father. Thereafter, he becomes lost in his own
world and tries to escape into the laboratory in which he has no real
interest. He disappears with the gypsies but seems just as distant
upon his return though he has traveled the world 65 times and met
scores of other people. After he marries Rebecca, they are cut off
from the family but don't seem to mind. But for some reason known only
to him, he kills himself though "they found no wound on his body nor
could they locate the weapon." (145)
Poor Rebeca retreats into herself and becomes as forlorn as when she
first arriving. Now there is no one to force her out of eating dirt or
the whitewash. Sometime during one of the many wars she loses all
contact with the world and is forgotten. I think the only person who
remembered her was Amaranta; either with hatred for the mess with
Pietro Crespi or with regret for seemingly killing Remedios just to
stop the wedding. She was even forgotten by Ursula who "wept with
consternation" (236) upon discovering that Rebeca had been rotting
away for years. Rebeca was alone in a different way because she was
never really like another other member of the family. They couldn't
understand why she would eat dirt when she was scared or frustrated
and I think that added to the barrier of misunderstandings around her.
But I would have to say that it is a battle between Amaranta and
Aureliano as to who can lead the most solitary life. Although Amaranta
had Rebecca for a friend in childhood, she comes to resent Rebeca when
Rebeca seemingly steals Pietro Crespi from her. But when Pietro Crespi
does show an interest in her, she pushes him away. She does this to
every suitor; leading them on and then refusing them at the last
minute. I think that she wanted to love someone but was desperately
afraid of getting hurt. She ends up as an old maid with only the
memories of poor men to accompany her. I think she finally realizes
how much her hatred towards Rebeca has destroyed her and tries to make
amends. She makes a shroud for Rebeca and puts so much hatred into it
that I think she confused it with the love she once had for her older
sister.
arielak...@sbcglobal.net
Aureliano and Jose Arcadio can be described as complete opposite.
Aureliano could never get over the idea "that his nakedness could not
stand comparison with that of his brother." (57) While his brother was
easily bored in the laboratory, he would spend hours in the laboratory
peering over unknown things and making his little golden fishes. It
always seemed that he did not care for the company of others and could
never seem to really connect with the family. He was the oddball who
was born with his eyes open and would warn the family with his strange
premonitions. One thing that no one noticed for years was that he also
seemed to have no feelings. The only person he ever seemed close to
was his brother. He even "tried to revive the complicity of
childhood," (100) but life at sea had overfilled his brother's memory.
Aside from this bit of humanity, Aureliano does not seem to feel
sadness of any kind. When Remedios dies he only feels anger. The same
feelings are revived when he is brought news of his dead sons. The
only thing that seems to please him is working on his gold fishes. But
even then he isn't happy per say, only entrenched in his solitude.
A generation later we have Arcadio, the son of Jose Arcadio and Pilar
Ternera. Arcadio was a gentle boy who turned into a vicious dictator.
Though he was baptized with the name Jose Arcadio, he doesn't seem to
display any of the traits of his father and others with his name. His
wife, on the other hand, is a quite lady who quickly blends in with
the woodwork. In contrast to her husband she seems to display the
Buendia quality of solitude. She goes about her chores absolutely
quiet. It was easy for me to forget her existence because she would
not be mentioned for long periods of time.
Her children, Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo may have
switched their names around in childhood. The Buendia family is
supposedly condemned to 100 years of solitude but I cannot see how
Aureliano Segundo would fit into this. He is such a jolly person who
gives freely. The only people that he is close to are Petra Cotes and
his daughter, Meme. But I don't take this to signify an inability to
relate to people like that of Colonel Aureliano Buendia. It seems to
give the ideas that he is open to many but trusts few or has few close
friends. During his childhood, he was an intellectual youngster and
seemed much like the Colonel but later his personality was like no one
else before.
Jose Arcadio Segundo seems to have been scarred for life after
witnessing the expression of the dying man. The expression of the
dying man had more of an impact on him than the execution itself. Near
the end of his life he is disturbed by the fact that he witnesses the
murder of thousands of people but no one will believe his story. He
tells this story to anyone who will listen until the day he dies. I
believe that he really sank into his solitude the moment he realized
that the soldier who had come looking for him couldn't see him. I
thought it was interesting how the thing this solitary man feared most
was someone burying him alive. He spent the rest of his life alone in
his room where he studied without understanding the manuscripts of
Melquiades.
arielak...@sbcglobal.net
The first Remedios was a young girl barely into puberty when she was
married to Colonel Aureliano Buendia. Before her wedding she was still
a child but was a quick learner. She took over the chore of feeding
and cleaning her father-in-law and even communicating with him in
Latin. She brought "merry vitality" (95) into the family and everyone
was sad when she died. In a way she is a girl of her own because she
never really grew up properly.
Remedios the Beauty was named so because she was the most beautiful
girl in the world. However, she was simple just like Remedios was
before her marriage. But it seemed like she was Remedios to the
extreme. While Remedios was a child pushed into adulthood, Remedios
the Beauty was a child in an adult's body. She shaved her hair and
walked around nude because it was convenient. She could never
understand why men would stare at her and would interpret all their
questions literally. Her state could be described as solitude because
no one could understand her and vice versa. But it can never be said
that she was really lonely because I do not think that she ever
understood the meaning of the word.
In contrast to the childlike innocence of Remedios the Beauty,
Fernanda del Carpio is a tough woman so unlike Ursula. Having been
raised by an aristocratic family, she is very strict and tries to
enforce her childhood habits upon those around her. As Ursula is
getting along in her years by this point, she is powerless to stop
Fernanda from boarding up the house. Fernanda is in a solitary world
of her own. Her husband had pulled her from her home to marry her
based only on looks and then decided that he liked his concubine
better. When he came back for a while she was afraid that he would
want to sleep with her again. I think she was ashamed of her
"sickness". But then she realized that he did not care for her anyway.
I felt sorry for her because she was brought here to be left alone.
She tried to improve the household with her religious ways but this
only served to turn everyone against her. She was then separated from
society after she sent Meme away because those who knew detested her
for it. She had to hide from those who didn't so that they would never
discover her family's shame.
When Fernanda's first child, Jose Arcadio, was born Ursula took the
child in as her own, wanting to be sure that at least one person in
this household would turn into a respectable priest. That didn't quite
go as planned. He started off well and was sent to the right schools
but instead skips school. He learns nothing from the seminary and
comes home to find the house virtually empty. He was described as
"still an autumnal child, terribly sad and solitary." (393) Because he
is nearly consumed by his solitude and his ghosts of the past, he
invites wild village children into his home. However, things go from
bad to worse the night he and one of the children accidentally
discovered the gold. How they found it we will never know since Ursula
had said that only the man who left it in her possession would be able
to retrieve it. Jose Arcadio would eventually follow the path of
others with his name and would die tragically.
arielak...@sbcglobal.net
The second child of Fernanda was named Renata Remedios but everyone
excluding her mother called her Meme. Meme appeared to her mother as a
docile child but was close to no one but her father. She doesn't seem
to have the "quality" of a Remedios. That is, she isn't childlike or
simple-minded. Instead she is hedonistic like her father. Though she
once shared a close relationship with her father this changed as soon
as she met Mauricio Babilonia. "[She] sank so deeply into solitude
that even her father became an annoyance." (310) When he finally tried
to talk to her, he was denied everything because Meme was so sure of
herself and her new relationship that absolutely no one else existed.
When her mother has the man shot, she becomes like the walking dead.
She was so deeply entrenched in her sorrow and solitude that no one
could save her and her mother wrote her off as dead.
As for her younger sister, Amaranta Ursula receives all the attentions
of her father's hopes and dreams after the "death" of her sister. I
thought it was touching how her father and his concubine scrimped and
saved so that he could send her off to Europe for school before he
died. Though she is named after two opposite people, I can see more of
Ursula in her than I can see of Amaranta. She is neither bitter nor
afraid of love, though she seems to have inherited some of Amaranta's
command over men as we first see her "leading her husband by a silk
rope tied around his neck." (405) In fact, she seems jolly like her
father. Upon her return, she opens the doors that had been closed by
Fernanda years ago, but the family and the town that it had borne had
begun to fall into ruins. She seems to have inherited traits from a
multitude of people. She is described as being "active, small and
indomitable like Ursula, and almost as pretty and provocative as
Remedios the Beauty." (407)
Both her and her nephew are either too young to remember the warnings
of Ursula regarding incest or have chosen to ignore her. After all,
they had used they had used their great-great-grandmother as a play
thing. And lo and behold, the last Buendia is born with the tail of a
pig. For some reason, I had been waiting for this to happen every
since I read about Ursula's repeated warnings.
Now back to the father of this human pig. "None of [Colonel Aureliano
Buendia's] children had looked so much like him...the prominent
cheekbones and the firm and rather pitiless line of the
lips." (383-384) The last Aureliano was solitary and studious. Like
the Colonel before him, he spent all his time locked up in the little
room, learning Sanskrit and trying to decipher the manuscripts. Even
when free from the confines of the house, he confessed that he had no
where to go outside. He starts out as a hermit, much like the Colonel
but is eventually pushed out of the house by his aunt I felt bad for
him because he was the first Aureliano to truly find someone he loved.
Unfortunately, this person also turned out to be his aunt. In his day,
he is totally alone, wandering the streets, trying to bring back his
wife and the past He has been chosen to discover the story of the
Buendias and finishes the prophecy as the last walls fall.
klaura...@yahoo.com
The passage of time is very interesting part of the novel, and a handy
trick the author uses to keep certain characters present for long
amounts of time. People aren't afraid of death because it isn't an
imminent threat; in contrary, some characters look forward to it
because they are sick of their pointless lives. There is no rush in
Macondo; everything will stay the same for the next 5, 10, 50 years.
After a while, the characters lose all feeling of responsibility to
their family and household, and just look for ANYTHING to occupy their
endless times-usually in the form of affairs. I think the book would
be completely different had the characters had normal life-spans
because it would have helped them put their lives into perspective,
and realized that some things are more important than others. They
would have cherished their family more, and perhaps, not been so
solitary.
Alexis Georgiadis
are five of them.
Readers Response #1
The book opens with the founding of Macondo. Jose Arcadio Buendia
leads the expedition; his curiosity is the sole factor in his
unwavering drive. His curiosity is also a factor in his downfall. His
interest in the gypsies' wares leads him to squander all his earnings,
and his curiosity in alchemy leads him to stay locked up in his room.
Looking back, we can understand how the actions of this generation map
the mistakes of the future generations of the Buendia family.
"Children pay for the sins of their parents" is a saying that is
omnipresent throughout the book. "Every time that Ursula became
exercised over her husband's mad ideas, she would leap back over three
hundred years and curse the day that Sir Frances Drake had attacked
Riohacha" (22). Ursula's marriage to Jose Arcadio Buendia is cursed
from the start, since they are cousins; Ursula realizes how her
mistakes will affect her future children.
Ursula is fearful that her children will be born with a pig's tail.
Perhaps the author uses the tail as a literary device, the tail
serving as a permanent reminder of the mistakes made. Pigs are the
most slovenly in the animal kingdom, representing how Ursula was
disgusted by her actions. The Buendias are willing to compromise their
relationships in order to cleanse their sins. However, their drive to
escape solitude leads them deeper into loneliness.
Readers Response #2
Similar to the effect that the gypsies had, an outsider descends on
Macondo and stirs up trouble. Pietro Crespi, an Italian pianist,
captures the love of many Macondo women with his talent and good
looks. One of those women is Amaranta, who finds her feelings for
Pietro are not initially reciprocated. However, when Pietro finally
falls in love with Amaranta, she rejects him. This leads to Pietro's
suicide. Amaranta can not live with her guilty conscience, so she
burns her hand and covers it with a bandage, symbolizing her sorrow.
Although I empathize with her passion, Amaranta is an extremist. She
wants her passion to be burning or ice cold. Is there not such a thing
as mild passion? In the end, this behavior causes Amaranta to be
forever alone. The characters' lives swing like a pendulum- the more
they try to escape solitude, the more the pendulum swings back to the
start again.
The themes of extreme passions, fears, and general irrational desires
are present in all the Buendia children's lives. Colonel Aureliano
Buendia starts his political domination, defending the Conservative
Party's honor. He is crude and promiscuous. He ends up with seventeen
sons. His innocence and kindness have been hardened by war. Even his
own mother is against his brutal mass- killings of innocent villagers.
Only when he returns to Macondo are his human qualities restored,
which we see when he tries to take care of his sons.
When Jose Arcadio marries Rebecca, the geophagic orphan, yet another
dysfunctional relationship enters Macondo. We are unsure why the
Buendia family adopts Rebecca. Perhaps they have the delusion that
they are being philanthropic, but I think they are trying to cleanse
the family's sins by mixing a new Buendia in to the gene pool.
However, Rebecca infects the town with insomnia and memory loss. This
shows how the Buendias need to forget their past and worry more about
their present actions.
Readers Response #3
Another relationship involving incest is born with Aureliano Jose and
his Aunt Amaranta. I think Aureliano gravitated towards his Aunt,
because she was the closest woman to him, and she would be easy. When
she rejects him, he joins Colonel Aureliano's army, so he is not alone
anymore. He thinks the camaraderie felt between soldiers will help his
escape his solitude. Instead, he becomes hardened by the war.
Aureliano was a soft-spoken, shy, and polite boy who then turns into a
controlling dictator. Between unhealthy romantic and familial
relationships, and the perils of war, the Buendia boys are forced to
mature very quickly.
Arcadio marries Santa Sofia de la Piedad; I thought the meaning of
her name was interesting. "Sofia" means "wisdom", and "Piedad" means
"pity." These are traits Arcadio needs, but he puts no time into the
marriage. We see the inferiority in Macondo women's needs and desires.
When Sofia finally leaves Arcadio, she walks out the door, practically
unnoticed. Once again, we see how the actions of Jose Arcadio and
Ursula cursed the future Buendia relationships.
Readers Response #4
Santa Sofia de la Piedad and Arcadio have one daughter Remedios the
Beauty, and a set of twin boys, Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio
Segundo. Remedios is the envy of all the women in Macondo, and is
considered the most beautiful woman in the whole town. Men throw
themselves at her, but out of ignorance she rejects all of them. Once
again, the meaning of the name of the character is ironic. "Remedios"
means "remedy." Her potential suitors want her to help "remedy" their
lonely, desolate lives. Remedios, however, rejects all of them, out of
ignorance. All the rejected men mysteriously died tragic deaths. They
will forever be left to exist in the most permanent form of solitude,
death. Remedios does not understand her power over men. Perhaps it is
fate; she is too beautiful to ever be happy. The characters are
opposites. Either they are beautiful like Remedios, or brutal, like
Colonel Aureliano.
Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo are twins, with opposite
personalities. Jose Arcadio Segundo is similar to his great- great
grandfather Jose Arcadio. They are both cock fighters and have the
personality of a recluse. Jose Segundo even goes back to Melquiades'
study, wrapped up in old prophecies. Aureliano, however, takes after
his great-uncle, Colonel Aureliano. Aureliano is a brute fighter, and
as a kid, enjoyed watching massacres. He marries the pious Fernanda
Del Carpio, despite keeping his relationship open with the prostitute
Petra Cotes. When Fernanda finds out, she desperately tries to make
Aureliano righteous again. Despite her best efforts, she can not fix
the Buendia family. Once again, the sins of the grandparents torture
the grandchildren.
Reader's Response #5
Fernanda Del Carpio tries to raise her children into righteous
people, since she had failed to do so with her husband. She is
convinced her son, Jose Arcadio, is destined to be the Pope. We the
unrealistic, overly ambitious, and extreme personality show. There has
never been a Pope from Latin America, and Jose Arcadio is not likely
to be the first. Later, he daughter, Amaranta Ursula, returns from her
European trip with a Belgian husband, Gaston. She, too, tries to fix
the Buendia family, but they are fated for eventual ruin. Gaston
leaves her after she has an affair with Aureliano Segundo, the son of
Meme and Mauricio Babilonia. We see the double standard between men
and women. If Meme cheats of Mauricio, it is looked down on, and he is
free to leave her. However, when Aureliano cheats on Fernanda with
Petra, there is no controversy. It is considered acceptable behavior.
Aureliano (by Mauricio) was the spawn of the rebellious Meme after
she disobeyed her mother and continued her relationship with Mauricio.
When Mauricio is shot and paralyzed, it seems as if it is punishment
for their relationship. The mistakes of the Buendia family are finally
catching up with them. When Amaranta gives birth to Aureliano (by
Aureliano), he is born with the tail of a pig, and she dies in child
birth. Her great-great grandmother's fears of a disfigured baby
finally come back to haunt the last generation of Buendias.
Meanwhile, Aureliano (by Mauricio) solves Melquiades' prophecy. The
Buendias have comes full circle, and there is finally hope again.
Unfortunately, it is too late. "The city of mirrors would be wiped out
by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment
when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and
only then, everything written on them was unrepeatable since time
immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to 100 years of
solitude did not have a second opportunity on Earth" (448). Even
Aureliano (or " the golden one") could not change their fate.
Gabe
I was surprised when I first read that Jose Arcadio Buendia and Ursula
Iguaran were cousins. However, as the novel progressed, I got more
used to it, and it became less of a major issue.
Jose Arcadio Buendia was a difficult character for me. He was
fascinated with technology and mysticism, and at some times completely
disregarded everyone and everything else for them. This, in fact, is
what drove him mad at the end of his life.
The fact that Jose Arcadio Buendia and Ursula Iguaran did not want to
have sex was also surprising to me. If they loved each other enough to
marry, even if they were related, then having sex should really not be
such a big deal. However, Ursula saw otherwise, as she did not want a
deformed child.
Reader Response 2:
Why are the people in the Buendia family so violent? This was a major
shock to me. First, Jose Arcadio Buendia kills a guy for insulting his
wife's ability to bear children. A few chapters later, Ursula beats
Rebecca, her adopted daughter, in order to try to get her to stop
eating dirt.
Not all of them always acted on these violent urges, though. While
Amaranta wanted to kill Rebeca when they were teenagers, because they
both liked the same guy, she ended up not doing it. This showed me
that some of the characters could control their emotions, even if all
of them couldn't.
Reader Response 3:
Why does Colonel Aureliano Buendia sleep with so many different women?
The most shocking to me was the young girl, Remedios Moscote.
Actually, what surprised me most was what she did to get his
attention. This was before she even hit puberty!
I found the plight of the Colonel's 17 sons to be quite humorous,
actually. The government gets mad at the Colonel, so it goes and kills
the 17 kids he never really cared about in the first place. I found it
especially ironic that the sole survivor or this carnage was killed as
soon as he came out of hiding... on the doorstep of his family's house,
no less!
Reader Response 4:
The strange interpretation of time in One Hundred Years of Solitude
confused me a lot. I wasn't sure when a lot of the events were taking
place. However, I also found it very interesting how everything kept
repeating. Names are the most obvious representation of this, but also
various events repeated over and over. For example, memory loss is
constantly repeated. Also, at the end, when Aureliano III had a pigs
tail, that was what Ursula had feared so long ago.
On Aug 29, 10:49 pm, Alexis Georgiadis <alexisgeor...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
Michael Chau
My initial reaction to José Arcadio Buendía was that he was just a
naïve wannabe inventor. José had some crazy ideas, whether it was
using magnets to collect gold, or using a magnifying glass for solar
warfare - all failures in execution. He went on with his crazy ideas
even though Melquíades advised against it. I feel sorry for Úrsula, as
José wasted away what little wealth they had on his schemes.
José just seems like the kind of person that doesn't listen till it's
too late. He goes on his merry way without any heed of advice. The
insomnia plague is an example of his ignorance; when being warned of
it by Visitacion, José simply brushes it off saying, "That way we can
get more out of life" (48). While he was joking, the matter was not
taken seriously until the plague had spread all over town.
While José does see things a different way, he is an accomplished
leader and explorer. He was one of the founders of Macondo and even
planned out how houses were to be laid out. José was quite neglectful
of his children at first, but for a short time he was able to give
them some attention - teaching them to read and write, and the
workings of alchemy.
José is headstrong, no doubt about it. He marries Úrsula, not caring
how their children will end up. I was impressed at how level headed
José had demonstrated to be. He did not choose violence against Don
Apolinar Moscote - on the subject of painting the houses blue instead
of white - but settled thing diplomatically. My opinion has changed
about José after getting further in the book. It's quite inspiring to
read how dedicated he comes toward his work or inventions.
------------------------------------------
100 Years of Solitude: Reader-Responses #2
I was surprised at how Aureliano Buendía, José Arcadio Buendía's son,
turned out. He became a colonel and led a rebellion against the
Conservative Party; an interesting change of occupation from a
silversmith. The colonel plays a rather large role throughout the
novel.
Aureliano while a soldier; still had artistic and philosophic traits.
He wrote poetry throughout his travels on the battlefield. I think it
shows Aureliano has a much more open line of thought, that isn't
entirely focused on war - as he eventually surrenders.
After fighting the war so long, Aureliano loses his way. He fights
the war out of pride, saying, and "The important thing is that from
now on we'll be fighting only for power" (183). Perhaps due to
Aureliano's inability to love - crying in the womb, and death of
Remedios - he compensates by thirsting for power.
The colonel lives a long time and has a hard time dieing, surviving
things such as poison and gunshot wounds. What a stoic. I enjoyed
reading at how Aureliano progressed throughout the novel and how war
can have such a strong impact. Especially considering how many battles
the colonel has been through. After the war is over, Aureliano becomes
more isolated, going into a world of solitude. Maybe on the
battlefield a part of him died?
------------------------------------------
100 Years of Solitude: Reader-Responses #3
Arcadio sure ended up being something. I sort of saw it coming, he
was just a schoolteacher but having a uncle in the rebel forces must
of affected him in some way. Corruption of power was that way.
When Colonel Aureliano Buendía was heading out, he had put Arcadio in
charge. Things got sour fast. Being in charge of the town had
apparently gone to his head and he started ruling like a tyrant using
the school children as his enforcers.
I wonder what made the author turn Aracdio into such a tyrant.
Aracadio's zealotry is demonstrated when he attacks the church and it
about to persecute Conservatives like Don Apolinar Moscote. This shows
very well how people when given a high position of authority, begin to
abuse it.
------------------------------------------
100 Years of Solitude: Reader-Responses #4
Fernanda del Carpio, an outsider to the Buendía family. While not as
shocking as some of the other characters, I can only feel kind of
sorry for her. Her husband, Aureliano Segundo doesn't really love her
and the family doesn't accept her. That is quite sad, after all you
wake up everyday and there's no one that really cares.
I often wonder why Fernanda puts up with the Buendía's. Though she
and her husband - Aureliano Segundo - choose to pretend to close for
their daughter Meme, and Fernanda often sends José Arcadio letters
telling him everything is great. So she does care about her children.
But she becomes way too controlling, especially with Meme. Not
approving of her relationship with Mauricio, she has him shot, and
then sends Meme away. I think Fernanda needed a companion, maybe a
dog.
> ...
>
> read more »