Active Reading Chapter 15

Magical Elements

The fact that the soldiers could not see Jose Arcadio in Mel’s room. Everyone else could see him, but not them.

Characters:

Jose Arcadio Segundo – had been hiding underground to be able to lead a revolt – was the only survivor of the attack on the crowd of 3000 people – went into the old obsessions of his uncle and his great grandpa, JAB

Summary:

I guess that Mauricio got Meme pregnant, because she has a son now. After Mauricio got shot, Meme never spoke again. Fernanda made Meme leave Macondo. She took her back to her old home, to the house that she grew up in as a queen. Jose Arcadio 2nd was almost killed because he quit his job at the banana factory and sided with the workers to not work on Sundays. But after that attempt, no one heard from him. Aureliano and Fernanda had fought because he thought that she had forced Meme to join the convent, but Fernanda showed him that Meme did it of her own free will. Then a nun showed up with baby Aureliano, the son of Meme, which Fernanda claimed to everyone else that she found him floating in a basket in the river.
Then Jose Arcadio came out of hiding to hold a strike against the banana factory. He got arrested though. But he was set free after a while because the government and the factory could not come into an agreement. Chaos was occurring, so a new army was put in order of Macondo. Chaos occurred again, with an eminent civil war in the air. But then the gov’t sent some leaders to try to fix the situation. But it was a set up. Three thousand were gathered in a closed off area that was surrounded by army and guns. There was an order to shoot to kill, and then the army fired off. The crowd finally started running away. Jose Arcadio was knocked out, and he awoke on a train next to corpses. There were cars full of corpses, and soldiers on top of them to shoot anyone else. He jumped off the train, and walked the long long way back to Macondo, where he stopped at some lady’s home. But the lady told him that there were no dead, and have not been since the time of the Colonel. He went back home and his mom set up Melquiades’ room for him. Aureliano did not believe the events his twin told him, for their had been a nationwide proclamation of the peaceful meeting of the gov’t and the workers. The festivities to mark the peace terms were to be after the rain stopped, but it did not. The soldiers however were coming into homes to take the rebels against the factory, and they would never come back, but the gov’t kept denying that they were doing anything bad. They went to search the Buendia house, where Jose Arcadio was, but they did not see him sitting on the cot. The war ended after that. But Jose Arcadio stayed in Mel’s room, and studied his old manuscripts. He stayed there with no fear. But he was still sure that the three thousand that were in the crowd were all killed.

Quotes:

“‘We will tell them that we found him floating in the basket,’ [Fernanda] said. ‘No one will believe it,’ the nun said. ‘If they believed it I the Bible,’ she replied, ‘I don’t see how they shouldn’t believe it from me.’”
This was funny for me to read, so it stood out. She was talking about finding Meme’s son Aureliano.

“’When the rain stops, [Mr. Brown] said. ‘As long as the rain lasts we’re suspending all activities.’”
That stood out because the rain never stopped! It’s like he knew it would never stop, so that is why he said it.

Themes:

Death – The three thousand people in the crowd are killed.

War – That is a small war going on, with the soldiers killing people who threaten them.