Active Reading Chapter 2

Magical Elements:

• The ghost of Prudencio Aguilar is magical realism. The ghost is trying to clog up his hole, the place where JAB stabbed him. Ghosts are superstition. It's magic.
  Ø The flying carpet has magical elements. This is just plain magic.
  Ø An empty flask that was in a shelf got so heavy that they could not move it. It’s empty, so it has to be magic.
  Ø A pot full of water boiled, despite the fact that there was no fire under it. Then it completely evaporated. How is that possible?
  Ø Amaranta’s basket was moving when no one was touching it. Again, this is magic.

Characters:

Ø Ursula – hated the fact that she was married to her cousin – afraid of the fact that if they consummate the marriage, they’ll end up with animal-like kids
Ø Jose Arcadio Buendia (JAB) – thought to be impotent so he made Ursula give him some – killed Prudencio for insulting him
Ø Jose Arcadio – does not care much about anyone else but himself – sleeps around with Pilar
Ø Aureliano – worries a lot about his brother
Ø Amaranta – the newest addition to the Buendia family – looks like a newt, but with human features

Summary:

Ø A history of how the ancestors of both Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia met through an attack.
Ø An aunt of Ursula’s married an uncle of JAB, and had a son who bled to death in his attempt to cut off his tail. This brings out a fear in Ursula to have kids that are strange.
Ø Rumors spread that JAB is Impotent, so after his fighting cocks beat Prudencio Aguilar’s cocks, Prudencio insults JAB, and JAB kills him with a spear through the throat. JAB threatens his wife, and they finally consummate the marriage.
Ø One night, when Ursula wakes up, she sees Prudencio’s ghost attempting to clog up the hole in his throat in the yard. Then JAB saw his ghost too in the same place. The ghost kept torturing JAB with his appearances, so finally JAB told him that they would leave so that Prudencio would be able to rest in peace. So that’s why they left, and how they eventually ended up in Macondo.
Ø During their wandering, Ursula gave birth to Jose Arcadio, who looked human. Then after a long while, JAB had a dream that he took to men that they were to stay where they were at and to found the village of Macondo there.
Ø Ursula saw her eldest son naked, and felt shame; she thought he was too big, too abnormal. She got pregnant again for the third time, so a lady came to help with the chores. Ursula told the lady about her son’s size, and the lady went to see for herself.
Ø Jose Arcadio couldn’t resist to be with the lady, so he went to her room in the night and slept with her, trying to see her face, but only came up with the image of his mother. The lady’s name was Pilar Ternera.
Ø Jose Arcadio did not share his dad’s and brother’s interest in alchemy, and when he told his dad what he thought about his invention, he got hit. Pilar tried to make him feel better without hurting him, and he wants to be able to be with her alone, and with the lights on. He wants to tell everyone that they are together.
Ø Ursula gives birth to a girl called Amaranta. Within the next forty days, the gypsies return. They bought a flying carpet. As they watched the flying carpet, Pilar told Jose Arcadio that he was going to be a father. Jose Arcadio did not take the news well.
Ø He went back out like nothing, and saw a gypsy girl, the most beautiful woman in the world, and wanted to be with her. He pressed against her back, and when she felt him, she went with him to her tent. They kissed and got naked. But before they did anything else, a couple came in and the lady told JA that he was blessed with his size.
Ø Jose Arcadio decided to eave with the gypsies. Ursula searched for him, and left the village to follow the gypsies. JAB finally realized that she was no longer there, went searching for her, did not find her, returned home, and took care of little Amaranta. Ursula finally came back after five months, with people just like them, from the other side of the swamp, where there was mail, and towns, and also she had found the path that JAB had never found.

Quotes:

Ø “Aureliano…asked, “What does it [love] feel like?” Jose Arcadio gave an immediate reply: ‘It’s like an earthquake.’” An earthquake? How is love like an earthquake? That answer was so unexpected, so that is why it stood out for me.
Ø “Pilar… told him… “Now you really are a man.” And since he did not understand… she spelled it out for him. ‘You’re going to be father.’” Just because you get some woman pregnant does not make you a man, especially since he technically did abandon Pilar and his kid. Would a real man do the same? I doubt it. That’s why this quote stood out.

Themes:

• Incest: Ursula and JAB are cousins, and she is afraid to consummate the marriage. There is a fear of incestral things going on, with strange things happening to the kids who had parents who commited incest.