Journal: Meaningful Passage

Meaningful Passage:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Chapter 20, pages 378-383

This passage is about the birth of the last Buendia, the son of Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano. It was disgusting for them to be having a child, especially since Amaranta Ursula is Aureliano’s aunt. My first impression was that the baby could mean a fresh new start for the Buendia family, but then I learned that the baby had the tail of a pig. Then, Amaranta Ursula began to bleed excessively, and I knew there was no hope, since it seemed that all the Buendias were destined to die in some bad way. It was sad though, that she died when they were so much in love and so happy together.
Aureliano responded to her death as any loved one would act to the death of a significant other. He went into a stupor, a depression that only ended up causing more pain and suffering for him. He forgot about his newborn son which pissed me of. How could he forgot about an innocent baby just because the mother is now dead? I do understand somewhat, but that does not excuse his behavior. Why did the baby have to be carried off with the ants? That was so sad, that the baby Aureliano had to get eaten in such a disgusting matter and painful way too. But I guess this had to happen, since it lead Aureliano to discover his true identity, and how he was really the nephew of his lover, and that is how the tail came about. I always wondered what the title One Hundred Years of Solitude meant. I understand when Aureliano understood that a family was always destined to go through the life he went through, and that there was no second chance to fix their mistakes. Macondo was to be destroyed, and , already almost dead, the Buendia family.
It was sad to see that there was no happy ending, but I know that the point of the book was not to have a happy ending. I just wish that the family learned from their previous mistakes, but it does not seem that way, since Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano committed incest. But then again, they never knew their true parentage, so this is somewhat understandable. But then again, they were both searching for Aureliano’s parents, but they gave up because they thought it would bring about too much pain and suffering for them. Well, they probably should have kept looking, so as not to have what happened actually happen. They could have prevented it. But they did not. So it is on them two that the Buendia line ended the way it did.
I wonder how Marquez came up with this idea for a book about all this stuff. It was interesting, and I did find it funny to read. I just think that the work was too excessive. I could have found it, the book, so much more interesting if I read it through its entirety in one sitting, and not stretched out like this. I did like the fact that this book was so far off what I usually read. I probably would have not read it anytime in my life if it had not been assigned. This book, unlike the others from the summer, and the previous summer, was not boring and lame. It was good, and I kind of liked it.

Journal: Character Analysis

Character Analysis of Ursula Buendia:

Ursula Iguaran marries Jose Arcadio Buendia. She remains a virgin within her first year of marriage, for fear that her child would be a result of incest. This is understandable, since the two were cousins. Yet, out of fear of being raped, she wears a chastity belt made out of metal and that clasps all over her waist. This might be going to the extreme, especially since her husband does force himself on her, as to not succumb to the rumors that he was incompetent. Ursula hopes that her child does not have a tail, or for that matter, any animal features. Her prayers are answered when she gives birth to a son with all human features, Jose Arcadio. She has another son, Aureliano, who, at birth, is as alert as ever to everything in the world.
Ursula Buendia lives being a mother. She notices things that may seem nothing, and keeps her sons’ best interests at heart. This is shown through her dedication to follow her son to bring him back to Macondo after he leaves with the gypsies. She does not succeed, but at least she tried. This shows her love for her kids, wanting the best for them. Yet, when she followed her son, she left her newborn daughter to fend for herself, which shows her not too much in a good light. But she does come back after a while.
Ursula Buendia has her own way of dealing with things. She begins working in her candy making business, and seems to forget about her daughter Amaranta and the other girl who seems to be some kind of distant relative, Rebeca. They are getting older, but she is too busy to notice. This again does not show her to be good mother. But as she realizes that her kids are growing, she wants to enlarge the house for them to all live happily. This does somewhat seem a little selfish, because she wants them to stay with her forever. However, she makes her kids happy by bringing the finest furnishings for them to enjoy, but this also has some selfish qualities to it. She wants to show off the new mansion to everyone in Macondo, and make them jealous. I believe she does succeed, because Ursula makes some townspeople feel inferior to her, since they are not allowed in the new home.
Ursula Buendia is upset when her favorite daughter-in-law dies, and mourns for her death. But then her son comes back and she is overjoyed when she sees Jose Arcadio. Any mother would feel this way at seeing their prodigal son. She was disappointed at his adventures, as he escaped death on different occasions. As a mother and a grandmother, she demonstrates all of the regular feelings, disappointment, happiness, and, more than anything, worry. Yet, she never seems to give up on any of her children or grandchildren. She looks out for them as best as possible, but when they hurt her more than anything, she disowns Jose Arcadio and Rebeca for getting married. This seems to be an overreaction on Ursula’s behalf, since they are really not related despite the fact that Ursula has raised Rebeca like another daughter.
Ursula Buendia is a stubborn mother. She does not understand the ways of her daughter, Amaranta, that she refuses love. A confused Ursula questions her kids’ actions. Therefore, when, Amaranta loses herself to solitude, her mother gives up all hope. That may have been a good idea, since Amaranta does nothing to make herself happy, and Ursula would have not been able to do anything for her either. This unhappiness and disappointment is further felt when she finds out that her grandson has a wife and a daughter. She is upset over that, but when he is in danger, she attempts to protect her. Yet he ends up protecting Ursula when she is put in danger herself. A good grandma protects her kids at all costs, even at the cost of her own life.
Despite all the hardships that her son has put her through, Ursula is very sad at Jose Arcadio’s death. Ursula’s role was not just limited to motherhood, but a wife too. Jose Arcadio Buendia is sill alive but is crazy. Yet when she learns of his prominent death, she takes care of him until his dying day. This shows that despite the fact that she did not get along with her husband any more, she still cared about him enough to care for him in his time of need.
As everyone grows older, and grows apart, Ursula still maintains the home for whoever wants to live there. She suffers still, as more death occurs, but never loses her love for her descendants. She begins to lose her sight, but realizes that everyone does the same routine everyday. This helps her get along through life, and helps her live to a ripe old age. She eventually loses her sense of time and reality. But after a few years, Ursula regains her health. She returns to living the way she used to, taking care of everyone and the house. But, on Good Friday, Ursula Buendia dies of old age.
Ursula Buendia served as a good mother and a good wife. She had two sons and three daughters, who gave her both joy and anger. Her eldest gave her the longest line of descendants, but her middle son gave her many grandchildren, although all were brutally murdered. Her great grandchildren were not as disappointing as others, and she got to see them blossom, and even saw one of them ascended into heaven. Ursula had the opportunity to watch her great-great grandchildren grow as well, before she died. Therefore, Ursula Buendia was the kind of person who wanted what was best for her children, who did everything in her power to keep them happy, and was very stubborn in her ways. Her stubbornness is what drove her to many of her actions and decisions concerning her family of fellow Buendias.

Reflective Blog Chapters 11-20

Reflection Chapters 11-20:

First off, it was a good book. I would have preferred to read it all in one sitting, because I would have been more into it. The whole idea was funny, that there was one entire family that was dysfunctional but that they all. Or most of them, loved each other, and they definitely proved their love sometimes, if you know what I mean. There was a lot of drama in the complicated family, but they all come through it, but not necessarily alive. It was unfortunate that the entire family line had to die. It was pretty bad that they got executed, and that the family suffered a lot. I was hoping for some happy ending but I guess that was impossible, with the way the family was destined to be that family that goes through the one hundred years of solitude, cut off from the rest of the world because of their habit of falling in love with their family members. I noticed that a lot of the deaths lead to the particular loved ones to be depressed, and fall into a funk of solitude. The town of Macondo is changing, but everything else stays the same. The people do the same thing over and over again, because time is repetitive. That is also one of the major themes. But also, the magical realism is another theme, with dead people walking around and coming back to life, and other things like that. Family also remains together through the affairs, like when Aureliano 2nd was with Petra, but came home Meme to see that him and Fernanda were one happy family. But Meme saw through it anyways. But it did show that he cared about his daughter enough to arrange his life to make her happy. It sucked that Meme’s man, Mauricio, was killed. That was so bogus of Fernanda to do that. Her daughter was happy with him, so what that they were having sex and unmarried? That is so old school, that parents can’t let their kids be happy just because they don’t like their significant other. I guess that Aureliano 2nd is a pimp, because he is with Petra, but impregnates Fernanda. But that does not really change their situation. Amaranta still confuses me. She just made herself so damn unhappy, but still hates Rebeca, like it was her (Rebeca’s) fault. It’s like Amaranta keeps herself alive out of spite for Rebeca. But she still ends up dieing before Rebeca, when she had begged God to let Rebeca go first. Then Meme had a baby. It sucked that she got sent to the convent like that, and that she never spoke again. Then all that drama with the civil war stuff went on. I was mad that the gov’t acted like nothing ever happened to them three thousand people that they all killed. Uhh, that just annoys me that gov’ts always lie like nothing, like no one is going to remember, as if no one cares. Ursula is getting older, which is expected. I’m surprised she lasted this long. JAB died a while ago, I’m not sure what chapter, but it was a while back. Then all the rain happens, and it screws Macondo up, so that the town is unable to get to how it was before. Then again, everyone starts dieing. Ursula, Rebeca, and the twins all die in the same year. Then Fernanda dies and Santa Sofia leaves to die somewhere, and Jose Arcadio, the pope one, comes home to Aureliano. It was only them two, and Amaranta Ursula living, left over from the family. Then Jose Arcadio is killed by the kids he might have molested. I got that from the text, but I don’t know if it is true. But I was just reading in between the lines. Then AU and Aureliano get together despite that they are family and that she is married. How much damn incest is this family going to commit? There is only so much a reader could take. Did the author Marquez have to illustrate it so much? (It being the incest.) I really did not like reading that, but I guess the book was meant to be controversial. It was sad, though, that AU had to die, and I was so mad that the baby died. It was all Aureliano’s fault. He forgot about his kid. How could he do that? That is his son!! The line has to end there. The family was destined to end there. I wonder why it was so tragic for their family. But now I completely see why it was called One Hundred Years of Solitude. This was a good book, I just hope that I learned something from it, like how to blog. And it helped me because it took so much of time, and it continues to cause me to stress out unnecessarily too much. I hopes this means I get an excellent grade for this for all the hours and time it took, and I hope that grade makes me feel like it was worth losing out so much of my life to do it, which I doubt. I hope that if you assign this project to another class, at least cut it down, because I don’t want others to feel like I do right now. All this work for the preparation of the AP exam I am going to take, and for college. I just hope that I succeed in furthering my ability to read a book.

Active Reading Chapter 20

Magical Elements:

The baby boy born to AU and Aureliano has a tail. Obviously magical realism.

Characters:

Aureliano – is at his happiest with AU – they are closer than anyone else – they get freaky, but stay in their comfort levels – he is searching for his true identity, but stops because it would cause too much drama for them – impregnates AU – has a baby with her, but AU bleeds to death and he goes back to his depression – loses his son, but that is all on him since he did not stop to think about his son who had no one to take care of him

Summary:

Pilar dies, buried in her rocking chair, with no marking or age or anything, and buried within her building, as well as jewelry from her students. The death of Pilar was the beginning of the end for Macondo, since it is already in that dead state. Aureliano stays friends with those kids, and teaches them more stuff that he knows. The old store owner goes back home, and writes to them all the time. But then a letter later on comes to Aureliano and AU, which remains unopened, but tells of his death. Aureliano and AU are so happy together, and they get so close and so comfortable being with each other, and they do crazy things that are just plain weird (sexual or not) but they are so damn happy so whatever. Then they have to come back down to reality when Gaston says he is coming back home. AU had never told him anything before, but since they are both unwilling to lose each other, AU tells Gaston about her and Aureliano. He responds that he hopes that they are happy, but that they should not be giving in to temptation. Then they find out that AU is pregnant. They are overjoyed, but also this leads them to search for their real relation to each other. Aureliano is unable to find much, and decided not to look any more to save them from hurt and pain and more sinning. AU goes into labor, and gives birth to a baby boy who they name Aureliano after the Colonel. But when the baby is turned over, they see the tail that the boy has, which means that the baby was a product of some kind incest. But then they realize that AU has not stopped bleeding. They do everything they can to stop the blood, but she knows that she’ll die soon. AU dies of hemorrhage, but at least she dies smiling. This death of his joy, the love of his life, pushes Aureliano into a depression. He gets drunk, and gets completely depressed. Then he remembers his newborn son, but thinks that the midwife was taking care of him, But no, she was not. The ants were taking care of the baby, and the baby was eaten by the ants. Poor baby. Stupid Aureliano. How could he forget about his baby? Then Aureliano finds his history, everything about his family line. He sees how he is conceived, from lust, and how he gave into lust for his aunt, and how this was their downfall for the entire Buendia family. The Buendia family was doomed form the beginning, for a family had to go through all of this, with the incest and the death, for one hundred years, which would separate them from all other families. This is why the book is called One Hundred Years of Solitude. I finally understand that. Good book this was.

Quotes:

“In the afternoon, after 24 hours of desperation, they knew she was dead because … her profile became sharp…and she smiled again.”
At least Amaranta Ursula died happy; she had a son and had been really happy with Aureliano.

“The first of the line was tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants.”
This stood out because it was so true. This statement pretty much sums it all up, the whole life story.

Themes:

Incest – The baby that was born from a nephew and his aunt having relations has been cursed with a tail due to that.

Death – Amaranta Ursula dies, as well as her newborn son.

Active Reading Chapter 19

Magical Elements:

The greenhouse of illusions has magical elements to it because Pilar could see the past and the people from it.


Characters:

Amaranta Ursula (AU) – has come home living a European style life – does whatever she pleases at her ease – has no real worries – walks around with her husband on a leash – is more of a boss than anything in her marriage – rejects at first Aureliano but gives into lust and pleasure

Summary:

Amaranta Ursula (AU) has come home, with new stuff, personality, and husband. She sees right away that only Aureliano lives there, and immediately sets out to fix and restore the house to what it was before. She still lives the way she lived out in Europe and dresses that way too. Her husband of six months, Gaston, does everything he can to please his bride. He allows himself to be carried around on a leash (who does that?). AU does whatever she feels like, but always keeps busy no matter what. Her husband starts to become a little bored in Macondo, but she refuses to leave, because she wants to live there and die there at an old age. Gaston tries to befriend Aureliano, but is unsuccessful. So Gaston tries to establish an airmail service. But since her return, Aureliano begins to feel attracted to his cousin (?). He tries to avoid her, so he goes out and about the town. He finds someone who lived there a long, long time, and befriends him and his great granddaughter. The friendship continues despite the death of the guy, and while he keeps thinking about AU, he turns to the great granddaughter, Nigromanta. He pays her for her love, (as in she is working as a prostitute), and she does love him. She knows about AU, and Aureliano’s fascination with her, but it only made her yearn for him even more. This went on while Gaston and AU were getting freakier. They would make love on the piano and the floor, and it only bought them closer. Aureliano found some young friends, one of whom he was very close to (Gabriel). But he still worked in the lab, and one day AU came to see him. But when he tried to hit on her in an oblivious way, she rushed away to do more chores. But this pushed Aureliano to be more with AU and Gaston. But when Aureliano began to get suspicious of Gaston, and told AU how he really felt, she pushed him away disgusted, and tried to leave. Aureliano turned to his great-great-great grandma, Pilar. She told him that it was unavoidable, to be attracted to AU, since he and she were Buendias. Aureliano went back home to find AU after her bath, and he took off her robe, while she defended herself against his touch. They fought for a while, until she stopped, and let him do what he was doing to her, I guess, well, sexing her.

Quotes:

“‘Good lord,’ [Amaranta Ursula] said, more gay than alarm, ‘it’s obvious that there’s no woman in this house!’”
Again, I find that so damn sexist! Is it only a woman’s job to keep the house? This book is written in the 70’s, so it does not have to be all sexist, but maybe that was Marquez’s point in writing it like that.

“‘Hello cannibal,’ [Amaranta Ursula] said to [Aureliano], ‘back in your cave again?’”
Oh yeah, that is a nice thing to say to your nephew, “hi cannibal.”
Notice the sarcasm.

Themes:

Incest – Aureliano is falling/lusting for his aunt, AU. And then, at the end of the chapter, they end up having sex. Incest, anyone?

Active Reading Chapter 18

Magical Elements:

Mel coming back to visit Aureliano in his old room, and when he dies, the room is susceptible to dust, rats, etc.

Characters:

Jose Arcadio – came back from Rome, but I’m not sure if he left it or was like, kicked out or something like that – comes back with a kind of superiority – tries to do everything his mom had done to keep Aureliano in the house (I think) – befriends kids when he should not have – ends up being with them too much, but when they mess up, he goes berserk, and kicks them out – upset the people who killed him and robbed him

Summary:

Aureliano deciphered the manuscripts of Mel. Mel would come visit him occasionally. Santa Sofia was alone, trying to keep the house clean, but was unsuccessful. So she left Macondo and no one heard from her again. Fernanda had to learn how to do things on her own, since Santa Sofia. Stuff kept being moved around and she thought it was elves in the house. Fernanda was getting lost in her old ways. Then when Jose Arcadio came back from Rome, he found her dead for four months, her body intact, with a letter. I think that the book is saying that Jose Arcadio left Rome, and was not preparing to be the next Pope. Jose Arcadio bought kids to the house and they played around there, bothering Aureliano occasionally. Then when one of the kids was in Ursula’s room, the gold coins were found. Jose Arcadio used to money to restore the house, but then the kids ended up destroying his room and he grew enraged, and got sick because of his asthma. Jose Arcadio was constantly thinking about Amaranta. Aureliano kept shutting himself up in the lab. Jose Arcadio tried to befriend him, but was unsuccessful. Then one day, the only remaining son of the seventeen sons of the Colonel came by looking for refuge, but they refused him because they did not recognize him, and then that last Aureliano (Amador) was killed. Then another day, while Jose Arcadio was taking his ritual daily bath, the four kids he had been friends with before came into the bathroom, and they drowned him. So it was only Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula left of the Buendias.

Quotes:

“‘So’ [Jose Arcadio] said with a voice with a touch of razor in it, ‘you’re the bastard.’ ‘I’m Aureliano Buendia.’ ‘Go to your room,’ Jose Arcadio said.”
He would call his own nephew hat. So what that Meme, Jose’s sister, had a kid out of wedlock? I mean, even though he may have been studying to be the next Pope, does he have treat everyone like they are less than him? Isn’t that you are to treat others like you would want to be treated? Jose Arcadio should take that advice.

“On several occasions [the four kids] would get into the pool to soap [Jose Arcadio] from head to toe as he floated on his back thinking about Amaranta…[thinking] about the caresses of Amaranta in the bath and the pleasure of being powdered between the legs with a silk puff…”
EW! Double EW! The kids would get into the bath with him and do what exactly? That is so nasty! And what is up with Jose Arcadio thinking his great-great aunt? She took care of him too much, because she knew she should not be “caressing” him in any sort of way…ewww!

Themes:

Incest – There is a continuation of thinking about other relatives. Jose Arcadio thinking about Amaranta and how she would treat (caress) him.

Death – Jose Arcadio is killed. The line of Buendias is decreasing.

Active Reading Chapter 17

Magical Elements:

The twins dying at the same moment has some magical element.

Characters:

Jose Arcadio 2nd – feared that he would be buried alive – kept on insisting that those three thousand were killed
Aureliano 2nd – wanted to send his kid away to school so he died trying

Summary:

Since the rain stopped, Ursula has gotten better. She is getting back on her feet. She cleans up the house to its old way, and finally gets into Mel’s room, where Jose Arcadio is still locked up. Jose Arcadio refused to leave the room, and Ursula let him be, but cleaned it and him everyday. Then Fernanda got news that her son the other Jose Arcadio would be coming home. Aureliano had moved back to Petra’s. They made a raffling off their animals to scrape a living, and the people grew accustomed to the raffles. Aureliano and Petra fell back in love and relived their old loving romantics, and always put Fernanda’s needs in front of their own. Ursula kept getting crazy, and was shrinking. They knew she was going to die soon. And she did die, on Good Friday. Rebeca died that same year. The whole town was dreary, as was the Buendia home after Ursula’s death. Fernanda has her telepathic surgery, and her invisible doctors tell her that nothing was wrong with her except she had to take pessaries. Amaranta Ursula was sent to school, while Aureliano stayed at home, and Santa Sofia took acre of her son Jose Arcadio in Mel’s room. Jose Arcadio taught Aureliano how to read, and taught him all he knew. Together, they believed the incident that left those three thousand dead. Aureliano 2nd flet his throat getting tight, and thought that Fernanda was practicing witchcraft on him, so he took her pessaries, and she thought that the doctors were trying to punish her. Then Aureliano 2nd figured out that he was dying, and he had wanted to send Amaranta Ursula to Brussels to study so he worked harder than ever to accomplish it. He finally figured out a way to send her there, and he did. Jose Arcadio 2nd died in Mel’s room, in front of Aureliano. At the same time, his twin, Aureliano 2nd, died. The twins were buried together, in identical coffins. Santa Sofia made sure that her son was not buried alive, so she cut Jose Arcadio’s throat. But then the people buried them in the wrong graves.

Quotes:

“‘Lord save us!’ [Ursula] exclaimed. ‘So much trouble teaching you good manners and you end up living like a pig.’”
This stood out because I had already forgotten about Jose Arcadio 2nd and thought he had died already…I guess not. J

“’I’m alive!’ Ursula said. ‘You can see,’ Amaranta Ursula said, suppressing her laughter, ‘that she’s not even breathing.’ ‘I’m talking,’ Ursula shouted. ‘She can’t even talk,’ Aureliano said. ‘She died like a little cricket.’”
That was bogus what they were doing, playing around with Ursula like she was already dead, but she was not. But it was pretty funny, too.

Themes:

Death – Ursula, Rebeca, and the twins all died.

Active Reading Chapter 16

Magical Elements:

The rain that lasted for almost five years. Mr. Brown had unleashed the storm on Macondo. Rain can’t last that long with no stop. This is magic.

Characters:

Petra Cotes – she has gone from a woman so confident about her lover, and that he won’t leave her for his wife – but now she is keeping herself alive with a hatred for that lover – he turned his back on her, and she forced herself to stay alive – seems to still want her old lover, the other twin

Summary:

The rain lasted for almost five years. Aureliano was losing weight. The little Aureliano, the grandson, was accepted by his grandpa, and was seen as the newest Buendia. Fernanda was going crazy with no correspondence form her invisible physicians. Ursula says that she will wait to die until the rain stops. The animals that Petra had were dieing in the floods, and Aureliano came to stay with her for three months. But then he moved back home with all his stuff. Aureliano spends all his time with Amaranta Ursula, his youngest daughter, and his grandson, little Aureliano. Fernanda continues with her craziness. She bugs Aureliano to the point where he breaks everything in the china. Ursula was completely losing her mind, mixing up the past with the present. Then Aureliano remembered that Ursula had buried the gold that had been in the saint and she had told no one. Then he found out that there were like seven thousand coins buried under Ursula’s bed, but they could not be dug out until the rain stopped. So now he became obsessed with finding the gold coins, despite the fact that Pilar had told him that he would have to wait at least three years to dig them out. The rain finally stopped, but it left Macondo in ruins. Together, everyone bought Macondo back to its original state. Petra had kept herself and her mule alive by feeding off her hatred.

Quotes:

“…his wife told [Aureliano] that there were only three pounds of dried meat and a sack of rice left in the pantry. ‘And what do you want me to do about it?’ he asked. ‘I don’t know,’ Fernanda answered, ‘That’s men’s business.’”
Uh! That is so sexist. Like a woman can’t figure out a way to feed her family when there is a flood going on.

“Aureliano asked them… what the devil they had done so as not to drown,… and…they all gave him the same answer. ‘Swimming.’”
I thought that was funny. But it is true. There is a flood that is pretty deep, so you’d figure you had to swim to get places.

Themes:

Magical Elements - The rain is magical, and that is one of the major themes.

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.

Active Reading Chapter 14

Magical Elements:

The butterflies that are always around when Mauricio is around Meme. Magic.

Characters:

Meme – sees the changing relationship between her parents but stays quiet – starts going out more and more, getting drunk and sleeping with Mauricio – tells obvious lies like she wants to get caught – seems to really dislike her mom, but still appeases her at times

Summary:

Meme comes back home in time to mourn her great great uncle’s death. Aureliano goes back to Fernanda’s and a year later, they have another little baby named Amaranta Ursula. Meme got her degree as a concert clavichordist. The relationship between her mom and dad is noticeable, but she lies cleanly and tells them that she is happy in her family. Meme spends more time out of the house, and gets drunk one night. This helps start a new better relationship between Meme and Aureliano. They spend a lot of time together, but Meme never goes to see Petra, as promised to Fernanda. More Americans come to Macondo and they befriend Meme. Aureliano does everything to keep his daughter happy, and buys her American stuff like makeup and curling irons and encyclopedias.
Amaranta grows older as the years pass by. She begins to sew a shroud for Rebeca, who she wants to die before her. Then Death comes to see her, to inform her that the night she finishes her very own shroud is the day she will die, most likely before Rebeca. Amaranta stretches this out for more than four years. She finally understands what the Colonel went through his last days on earth, living a repetitive life. She finished up on February 4th, and decided to do one last thing before she died at dusk the next night: she would give letters to the dead. People delivered their letters and messages to an un-grieving Amaranta. Some did not believe that Amaranta was going to die, since she went about preparing for her own funeral in a jovial sort of way. Before her daughter died, Ursula shouted that she had no sins to confess because she was still a virgin. Then Amaranta died peacefully.
Meme was growing into a woman already. Fernanda one night caught her kissing some guy at the theater, after seeing that her daughter had lied to her. The guy Meme was kissing was Mauricio Babilonia. They had a weird start, since Meme had hating him because of his arrogance. But now she found herself wanting to see him, to embarrass him, but he would not allow that. They saw each other not too much, but he drove her crazy so that she lost her appetite and her sleep. Meme went to go see Pilar, her great grandma, who showed her how not to get pregnant, and that they could sleep in that old canopy bed of hers. Meme did sleep with Mauricio after a while, and this went on for a couple of months until Fernanda caught them in the theater. Fernanda locked her in her room, next to Ursula. Ursula then noticed that Meme took baths at night, and there were always butterflies there. Fernanda thought this was suspicious, and put a guard in the backyard. Mauricio was shot trying to get into the bathroom, where Meme waited for him, naked, to make love to him again, as they had done for the months she had been locked up. Mauricio was put in bed for the rest of his life, without a complaint, and alone.

Quotes:

“‘What do you know,’ Aureliano Segundo said laughing [to Meme], ‘If your mother only knew.’”
This was how her dad responded when she told him a secret, but then she stopped telling him stuff. She should have not stopped, because it could have prevented the solitary death of her lover, Mauricio.

“‘Let no one have any illusions,’ [Ursula] shouted so that Fernanda would hear her. ‘Amaranta is leaving the world just as she came into it.’”
This stood out because Ursula did not know about the weird stuff that Amaranta had done, touching her nephew Aureliano Jose and Jose Arcadio.

Themes:

Death - Amaranta and Mauricio died.

Solitude – They both died alone. Neither of them complaining of their solitude.

Active Reading Chapter 13

Magical Elements:

The ghost of JAB, the patriarch of Macondo still walks the earth. Everyone sees him except his son, the Colonel.

Characters:

Ursula – almost one hundred years old but still active – is blind now – helps out as much as she can without her sight
Fernanda – rules the house like it is her little kingdom – is very stringent with her guests
Aureliano 2nd - leaves his wife – moves in with his mistress – but after a near death experience he goes to see his wife everyday – still throws his ludicrous parties

Summary:

Ursula is growing older, and is losing her sight. But she realizes that everyone in the family does the same old routine, so she uses all her other senses to get through life. She realizes that the dying Colonel never loved anyone, and that he did things only out of pride. She realized that Amaranta was scared to love. Jose Arcadio left to go to seminary school, while Meme went to the nunnery. Fernanda imposed her strict rigid-ness for the guests. This pushed Aureliano out of the house to his mistress Petra. His relationship with her went back to how it was at first. Everyone knew that Aureliano had left Fernanda for Petra. He got fat, rich, and threw parties continuously, and slaughtered many animals on a daily basis. He even got into a eating competition with a lady known as the Elephant because of his pride and his big appetite. But he passed out as he overate, and wanted to go to Fernanda’s, where he recovered after a few days. He switched up the way he lived, visiting Fernanda everyday, but still living with Petra.
Amaranta sewed her own shroud everyday, and lived as a marked virgin, with her burnt bandaged hand as her cross.
When Meme came home from school, Fernanda and Aureliano acted the married happy couple. One vacation, she came back with seventy-two people from her school, without warning. Those days were hell for the family. There were shifts to eat, to use the bathroom, to shower, and just about everything else.
Jose Arcadio 2nd still worked in the banana factory. He saw the Colonel a lot but was unable to get him out of solitary. The Colonel buried himself completely in his work. He would build two fish, melt them, and then reconstruct them. Then he would sleep and dream the same dream he dreamed for years. The circus came one day, he saw them, but when he tried to remember, he could not, and he died standing against the chestnut tree that JAB had been tied to for years. Santa Sofia found him dead the next day.


Quotes:

“‘Shit!’ [Ursula] shouted. Amaranta…thought she had been bitten by a scorpion. ‘Where is it?’ she asked in alarm. ‘What?’ ‘The bug!’ Amaranta said. Ursula put a finger to her heart. ‘Here,’ she said.”
This stood out because Ursula felt that her heart was bad, like loving was wrong, and that she had kept herself pure all those years for nothing. That’s why it stood out.

“Amaranta was on the point of causing panic because one of the nuns… asked what those handfuls of white powder were. ‘Arsenic,’ Amaranta answered.”
I thought that was hilarious. That is why it stood out. It was weird that someone as lonely as Amaranta would say something that funny.

Themes:

Death – Death has occurred again. The Colonel has died.

Active Reading Chapter 12

Magical Elements:

The town of Macondo changing overnight. A town can not change that fast.


Characters:

Macondo – the town is transforming into a city like overnight – there are more gringos coming – people from all over the world are coming to Macondo – they have wooden houses with zinc roofs


Summary:

The town, or probably now the city, of Macondo is changing with the times. They now got trains and phonographs, that the people think are just new tricks of the gypsies. And some new guy is there, Mr. Herbert, who examined the banana like he had never seen one before. Then he went hunting for butterflies. Then some more guys came, including a Mr. Jack Brown. More gringos started arriving, bringing their culture and their families. The gringos are rearranging the city, moving the river to behind the cemetery, bringing Babylonian whores, and other strange things. The town changed overnight that the own inhabitants could not recognize it. Aureliano 2nd was ecstatic over the foreigners. Ursula arranges for food to be made when the trains come in. two more sons of Colonel Aureliano came. Only Remedios the Beauty was not affected by what was going on with the gringos, who were planting banana trees. Remedios tried to get away from that, and cut off all her hair. (A Britney Spears lapse?) But despite this, she grew more beautiful, and caused more men to want her more than ever. Remedios has this kind of aura that the foreigners notice, she has a scent that follows her around, and makes the guys crazy for her. But she does not seem to care about that, and goes on like nothing bothers her. She had a routine of taking a bath to pass the time and one day, a foreigner climbed onto the tiled roof and removed a tile to watch her bathe. She told him to be careful, that the tiles were rotten, but he kept removing tiles, until he fell and cracked his skull and was immediately killed. Another incident occurred where Remedios and some friends were chased and one guy scratched Remedios across the stomach, and after gloating about it, got killed by a horse. This helped lead to the legend of Remedios the Beauty, whose beauty was fatal. Then one day, while helping Fernanda, Remedios rises into the air and goes to heaven I think. Everyone is shocked it seems.
Two more sons, Aureliano Serrador and Aureliano Arcaya, stayed in Macondo. Their dad did not want them to stay, but they did anyway. Things continued to change, and the factory was instilled. Policemen were replaced by assassins, and this caused Colonel Aureliano regretting not continuing the war. Colonel Aureliano was getting upset at the brutal policemen. He was preparing his boys to go against them when they were all killed, shot straight in the forehead where their ash crosses were, like little bulls eyes. The “invisible enemy” only targeted the brothers with the crosses, and it turned out that only the oldest was still alive. His name was Aureliano Amador, a carpenter. He had been shot at, but they had missed, and he escaped through the mountains.
Colonel was pissed that his sons were all mostly dead, so he started to get people to go to war again. He stopped working on his fishes, and started to go around trying to get a lot of money, but no one would give it to him. He reached out to one last friend, but was turned down in his feeble attempt to start another revolution.

Quotes:

“‘Look at the mess we’ve got ourselves into,’ Colonel Aureliano Buendia said… ’Just because we invited a gringo to eat some bananas.’”
This stood out because it was funny. But it was still true; everything that occurred, the transformation of the town, was due to Mr. Herbert.

“‘One of these days,’ [Colonel Aureliano] shouted, ‘I’m going to arm my boys so we can get rid of these shitty gringos!’”
This stood out to me because this was the statement that led all but one of the seventeen sons to be killed. Their deaths could have been prevented, if their father had been a little more secretive.

Themes:

Solitude – Aureliano buries himself in his work, but then his sons get killed, and he becomes enraged.
Time – The town of Macondo has become a city, and it happened almost overnight.

Active Reading Chapter 11

Magical Elements:

• When Petra and Aureliano 2nd have relations the animals always multiply. Magic, no need to explain this.

Characters:

Aureliano Triste – triste means sad, so does the name mean that? - the only son that stays to live Macondo – wants to buy/live in the old empty dead house of Rebeca and Jose Arcadio – brings in the railroad

Aureliano Centeno – another son of Colonel Aureliano who stays to live in Macondo – breaks everything without even touching it – fast worker/producer of ice

Summary:

• It starts off telling about the marriage of Fernanda and Aureliano Segundo. It says that their marriage might have not lasted that long because of Petra. It also gave a history of Fernanda's life, saying that she had come from a very rich family, had gone away to study as a queen would, and then came home to be sent away by her dad. Aureliano 2nd saw her, and when she left, he searched endlessly for her until he found her once again. It took Aureliano 2nd a while to sleep with her, but she did get pregnat after a while. Fernanda also knew about Petra and her husband, and because it made him more successful, went around pretending she knew nothing of this extra- marital affair.
• No one in the family really liked her. Fernanda and Amaranta hated each other immensely. Fernanda got the family to eat as a family all together, praying the rosary before dinner and only eating at the big table. Fernanda became the one who would determine the family's destiny. It was her way ot the highway, just like my mom. :) She had a girl, and named her Renata after her own mother, but then everyone else called her Meme. The kids got gifts from their grandpa. One of the gifts they got was a big old box, which turned out to be the coffin of Fernanda’s dead dad, his body all icky and decaying.
  There was going to be an anniversary of the signing treaty, and the president was coming to give Colonel Aureliano an Order of Merit. He did not care for it at all though. He only wanted his chance to say something (or do something?) to the President. But it seems like it scared the President off, because he cancelled his trip. The ceremonies take place, while Colonel Aureliano locks himself in his lab, working, when Ursula brings him his seventeen sons from seventeen different women from seventeen different areas. Is that not funny? He’s a pimp! J But he does not really recognize them, and mistrusted them, but he gave them all little gold fishes as a recuerdo, a souvenir. Aureliano 2nd noticed that they were all kind of wild, and were hard workers, and offered them to work for him, but only one stayed. Then Amaranta got them to go to church for Ash Wednesday, but then none of the seventeen sons could wash off their ashes on their foreheads, yet everyone else could.
  Aureliano Triste stays to live in Macondo, sees the house of old Rebeca and Jose Arcadio, and goes in it. But there is still Rebeca in there, pointing a gun at him, and telling him to get out. Aureliano Triste tells everyone what happened and Ursula is overjoyed, I think, that Rebeca is still alive. Ursula had forgotten about her, but not Amaranta. She never forgot about Rebeca, and hated her constantly.
  The next time the sixteen sons returned, they went to go fix up Rebeca’s home. She did not stop them, and sent them coins for the repairs, which were so out of date. Another of the sons, Aureliano Centeno, stayed in Macondo. He would always be breaking things, especially plates and stuff like that. He was a fast worker, though, and made so much ice that Aureliano Triste decided to expand his business of ice production, and also to build a railroad. So Triste left with money to build a railroad track, but no one heard anything from him in like eight months. Then one day, a big old whistle sound was heard and a big old yellow train was coming into Macondo, with Triste waving form the front of it.

Quotes:

“’We are immensely rich and powerful,’ [her mother] told [Fernanda]. ‘One day you will be a queen.’” I found this ironic because it was the complete opposite of what happened to her. She went off to study to be a queen, but when she came back, she had nothing to rule over, and was sent away, and then she tried to be the queen of the Buendia family. At least that mostly worked for her.

“‘We have to bring in the railroad,’ Aureliano Triste said.” This just stood out because I do notice that time is cyclical because all of these new inventions yet they are living the old lifestyles and stuff like that. I just find that weird.

Themes:

Time – Time is once again cyclical. All new inventions yet not that much tie (years) have seem to passed.

Solitude – Colonel Aureliano buries himself in his work as always. Also, Rebeca is still alive and alone.

Reflective Blog Chapters 6-10

In Chapters six through ten, a lot of things are happening. Arcadio turns into a straight jerk (a nice word for him), and becomes all power-obsessed. He turns crazy I guess, just to be all powerful. It went to his head. Especially when he tries to sleep with his own mother, Pilar. But she cuts him out, and sends some other virgin, and he marries her and impregnates her with girl. Amaranta turns down Pietro but I do not understand why. She is in love with him, and yet she makes herself unhappy by turning him down. I do not get it.
It was weird that even though Ursula had whipped Arcadio, he pushed her out of danger. He was killed but he still had his head up when it happened. But it sucked that his daughter was not named his dying wish name. It also was sad that Colonel Aureliano got captured and was almost sentenced to death. But then it turned out that they were all on the Liberal side. That was real good. At least the family did not have to keep mourning for a death once again. But that did not last long. I was shocked when Jose Arcadio was killed, and no one knew who did it. It was even worse that Rebeca locked herself in her home, and that she just like gave up on life. That was real unfortunate. And then more death occurred. JAB died. That was too bad, because he was the start of this crazy, big, weird, and very complicated family. Eww, it was nasty to read that Amaranta and Aureliano Jose were messing around when they were aunt and nephew. Why does that keep happening? Did the author really think that people were going to like the incest drama? Uh, I hope not. That is not something that is really interesting, and it is very disgusting. And then seventeen different sons of Colonel Aureliano turned up. I was like damn, how many different women did he sleep with? And did he intentionally spread his seed around the country or what? And what keeps going on with Amaranta? Why is she determined to keep herself unhappy? She keeps turning down these guys, so it must mean that she wants to die alone. It is funny that the twins were so alike growing up, and then so different as they grew older. And why was Aureliano 2nd’s wife okay with him being with Petra? Yeah, it’s true, Petra made him all successful, but why you any woman let her husband carry on an affair in the open? I mean she did know right, Fernanda knew, right? Or was I reading too much in between the lines? But so far, I do like the book. It is interesting and I now see the point of the title, One Hundred Years of Solitude. This is my reflective blog for chapters six through ten.

Active Reading Chapter 10

Magical Elements:

§ The fact that the laboratory had been locked for like twenty years and yet it was like brand new in there. No dust, no mess, and even the air was fresher than the rest of the house. How else is that possible? Magic all the way.
§ Aureliano 2nd’s animals that give birth to triplets and hens having eggs twice a day, and the pigs getting fat so fast is definitely some kind of magic.

Characters:

§ Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo – identical twins that would switch around their name bracelets to confuse everyone – were very synchronized – did everything at the same time – Aureliano grew up to be big like his granddads and Jose Arcadio grew up to be bony like the colonel
§ Aureliano 2nd – revived the laboratory of Melquiades
§ Jose Arcadio 2nd – did not like the war stuff after seeing his first execution

Summary:

§ It starts off with the twins that switched their names around and how they are growing up in different ways. When Aureliano 2nd was in the lab, he saw a 40-year-old Melquiades, watching him. From then on, they would visit together almost everyday, for many years. Jose Arcadio 2nd started spending time with the priest, and in cockfights, and he had his first communion. He got more into that, while Aureliano became more secluded with his sessions.
§ Then a woman came to see Jose Arcadio, but she was with Aureliano and had been sleeping with the both of them. But both twins got sick, and got cured separately and secretly. This led to the end of her and Jose Arcadio, and the start off the relationship of her and Aureliano. Her name was Petra Cotes. Aureliano got married to Fernanda. After that, Ursula tried to forbid the sons being called Aureliano or Jose Arcadio, but Aureliano had his first son and he was given the same name.
§ Aureliano began to be a prosperous man, and very respected in Macondo. His animals too were very prosperous, due to Petra. He kept her close to him and his animals, despite that he was married to another woman. He was continuing his relationship with Petra, and was always with her, and sleeping with her. Then one day, Petra wanted to raffle off the rabbits, and they gave birth to many little bunnies. Then the cows were raffled off, and they gave birth to triplets. So this was how Aureliano 2nd began to have huge pastorals and land. Jose Arcadio 2nd began to be fascinated with water stuff and he built a boat, the first ever in Macondo.
§ Remedios was proclaimed queen of the carnival they were having because of her beauty. A guy from some distant country came to get Remedios as his bride, but she did not care for him at all.
§ Colonel Aureliano goes back to his making of his gold little fish and he is happy with that. He does not want to hear of news of the war.
§ During the festivities of the carnival, some strangers came. But then they pulled out rifles, and shoot up the town. There were rumors that the government had sent them, but no one knew anything. The queen that they had bought with them was Fernanda del Carpio, the most beautiful of five thousand beautiful women. Then Aureliano 2nd married her with a celebration that lasted twenty days.

Quotes:

· “Later on, Ursula had put candles on [the life size saint Joseph] and had prostrated herself before it, not suspecting that instead of a saint she was adoring almost four hundred pounds of gold.” I found this funny just because Ursula was all trying to be religious-y and yet she was worshipping money. The irony is funny.
· “’Right here,’ [Colonel Aureliano] answered. ‘Waiting for my funeral procession to pass.’” This stood out because the Liberal people came by during the carnival and were in a way celebrating him.

Themes:

§ Solitude: Colonel Aureliano buries himself in his work again. Jose Arcadio 2nd has never been with a woman besides Petra.

Active Reading Chapter 9

Magical Elements:

• The fact that the bullet missed all vital organs when Colonel Aureliano tried to kill himself. I guess it seemed like the doctor thought he would kill himself in the heart, so he kinda had seen the future. Magical to see the future.

Characters:

• Colonel Gerineldo Marquez - was one of the guys that was left in charge - stayed in love with Amaranta - lost hope in the war - got bored of it
  
• Amaranta - keeps refusing the proposal of Gerineldo for marriage - is determined to keep herself unhappy and alone because she has already turned down two different guys who asked her to marry them - was in love with Pietro but he committed suicide when she turned him down - and now is getting used to having Gerineldo around but still turns him down

Summary:

§ Colonel Gerineldo Marquez is bored already of the war. He keeps asking Amaranta for her hand in marriage but she refuses for four years. Remedios the Beauty is the most beautiful person in Macondo. Aureliano does not seem to care about anything. He is uncertain about everything. He is more alone than ever. Colonel Gerineldo is sentenced to death because of his betrayal to Aureliano. Ursula threatened to kill him with her two hands if he did not stop the execution. Aureliano did, and promised to stop the war. It took about a year to end it.
§ Aureliano goes to sign the peace papers, and after he does, he shoots himself in the chest where his heart is. He still survived, because the bullet missed all vital organs. He recovered after a couple months, and had a guard at Ursula’s house. When Ursula saw that Aureliano was there to stay, she had the house fixed up with the help of the guards. But one day, a soldier is found dead under Remedios the Beauty’s window.

Quotes:

§ “’How awful,’ [Colonel Aureliano] said, ‘the way the time passes!’” It is awful how the time passes, especially for the Buendia family. They grow old with unhappiness, and in their solitude. That’s why it stood out to me.
§ “’That was my masterpiece,’ [the doctor] said …, ‘It was the only point where a bullet could pass through without harming any vital organs.’” The doctor saved Colonel Aureliano’s life and he was still pissed at him.

Themes:

• Solitude: Amaranta is completely determined to die unhappy and alone. She keeps refusing the proposals of marriage and yet she is in love with those men. She's crazy.

Active Reading Chapter 8

Magical Elements:

• The time is changing, from no technology to all kinds of technology. There are telegraphs and stuff like that. Yet, not much time has passed for such inventions to be used. It went like from the sixteenth century to like twentieth century.
  

Characters:

§ Aureliano Jose – fascinated by his aunt Amaranta’s body – used to take baths with her – started a relationship with her that included caresses, and sleeping naked in the hammock together, and kissing
§ Amaranta – had a playful weird relationship with Aureliano Jose – cut it off after she realized that this was not supposed to be happening

Summary:

§ It starts off talking about the relationship of Aureliano Jose and Amaranta. Then it tells about the secret armistice, for peace terms in exchange for three seats in Congress. Colonel Aureliano is against it, and he leaves with Roque Carnicero and Gerineldo Marquez in the dead of the night. Aureliano Jose left with them. It was years after they left that Ursula heard from her son, after Vistacion died. He was in Cuba.
§ Macondo had a mayor, General Jose Raquel Moncada, who helped Macondo prosper even more. Ursula had her pastry business grow, and filled her gourds with pure gold. Then one day, Aureliano Jose showed up after leaving his dad, and with him, he bought a determination to marry Amaranta. She did her best to avoid him as much as possible.
§ A woman came to Macondo, bringing with her a five year old boy, who was the son of Colonel Aureliano, and a spitting image of his father. They named him Aureliano. But more sons came, all sons of Colonel Aureliano, who had been born to virgins that their mothers had sent to the soldier’s bedrooms. It turned out seventeen sons.
§ Aureliano gave up on his aunt, and went around not doing much. He knew his mother was Pilar, and he often went to her home. One day, Pilar told him to stay at home, for she saw death in her cards. He went to the theater, and consequently got shot. The one who shot him was also killed.
§ Colonel Aureliano came back, and was determined to destroy the Conservative Party. The party was sentenced to death, and so was Jose Raquel. Ursula tried to intercede on his behalf, but was unsuccessful. Colonel Aureliano went to go see him, and promised to return his belongings to his wife. Then, he gave the order to shot Jose Raquel.

Quotes:

§ “’As long as God gives me life,’ [Ursula] would say, ‘there will always be money in this madhouse.’” It is just funny for me to read that, so that is why it stood out.

§ “’Long live the Liberal Party! Long live Colonel Aureliano Buendia!’” Well, it stood out because I had thought that Colonel Aureliano only fought for his pride and not for the Liberal party.

Themes:

§ Incest: Aureliano Jose is in love with his aunt Amaranta. They do some things together, but they are still related.

Active Reading Chapter 7

Magical Elements:

• Colonel Aureliano's ablilty to see the future, i.e. his execution. He foresaw his death, and felt like he had already walked through the streets of Macondo already, when he came back home. His power of premonition is magical.
• The blood of Jose Arcadio when he got shot was spread like through the entire town until it got to Ursula’s home. How is that possible? It’s magic.
• The raining of the little yellow flowers after JAB died. Obviously magic.

Characters:

• Colonel Aureliano Buendia - has come home but only to be executed - was in charge of the original rebellion - looks like a beggar -

Summary:

• Ursula realizes that Aureliano is still alive and prepares a homecoming for him, but when he comes, he comes as a prisoner, who will be executed for starting the rebellion. Ursula goes to see her son in jail, and brings him a pistol, just in case. He does not want his mom to cry for him. However, the sentries were afraid to shoot him because they feared it would start up an entire new rebellion. The sentries drew names to see who would be the one to carry out the sentence, and in turn, get killed for it. It was Captain Roque Carnicero.
• Rebeca thought that the sentries would kill Colonel Aureliano in the middle of the night against the cemetery wall, the same place that they killed Arcadio. Jose Arcadio thought they would not, but then Rebeca saw them come out to kill Aureliano at five in the morning. Jose Arcadio went out with his gun, but Captain Roque Carnicero told him not to shoot, that they were with the Divine Providence. This meant that they were all on the same side, I guess, since they all went together to free the revolutionary general. But when they got there, he had already been shot. So the soldiers named Colonel Aureliano chief of the revolutionary forces. But then they fought a lot, and most were wiped out, and there were rumors that Colonel Aureliano had been killed. But after many defeats, he had an army and called for total war against the regime.
• They come back to Macondo and the house is full of kids. The widow of Arcadio, Santa Sofia de la Piedad, had her daughter Remedios, and her twin boys, Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo.
• One day, out of the blue, Jose Arcadio was killed while Rebeca was locked inside the bathroom. Ursula had seen the blood flow, and followed it to her son’s home, where his body had no wound, and smelled profusely of gunpowder. They could not get rid of that smell, and the whole town still smelled like it. Rebeca was devastated by it, and never left her home. The town eventually forgot about her.
• Colonel Aureliano one day was poisoned with something that would have killed a horse, but he recovered after four days. Then he realized that he was fighting because of his pride, not for the Liberals. So he left with Ursula’s money and left Colonel Gerineldo Marquez in charge instead. He had proclaimed his live for Amaranta long ago, and Ursula encouraged Amaranta to marry him. But again Amaranta turned down another proposal, but he would insist in it.
• Aureliano wrote one day to his mom to take care of JAB because he was going to die. So Ursula took JAB back to her home, and took care of him. But for JAB, Prudencio was the one who talked to him, and took care of him. One day JAB got stuck in his fantasies of mirror rooms, and no one could wake him up. He had died. After he died, there was a rain of little yellow flowers that buried the town and had to be shoveled away like snow for the funeral.
  
  

Quotes:

• “’I’m not going to marry anyone,’ [Amaranta] told [Colonel Gerineldo Marquez], ‘much less you. You love Aureliano so much that you want to marry me because you can’t marry him.’” I do not understand how Amaranta keeps forfeiting her happiness. She likes the Colonel, and he likes her. So why won’t she allow herself to be happy?
• “’I have come for the exequies of the king.’” This is right after JAB dies, and right before it rains flowers. I guess it stood out because it seemed that they thought that JAB was some kind of king.
  
  Themes:
• Death: JAB died and Colonel Aureliano should have died but he did not. A lot of death occurs in the Buendia family.
  
  

Reflective Chapters 1 - 6

One Hundred Years of Solitude:
My first impression of the book was that it would be a little confusing. The people had the same names and I hoped not to get them confused. Once I got into it, I did not want to put it down. I'm not sure how the title fits the book so far, but it will probably make sense later on. The book does not seem boring, though, as I thought it would be. It is a lot going on, but it is still comprehend- able. The first chapter was good. I did not like the fact that Ursula did not support her husband. I did not understand what JAB's obsession with alchemy was for. It got him no where. Ursula was really stubburn in her decision to stay, but she did not want to move again. I notice that JAB does a lot of crazy things. He is really ignorant and naive. It was nasty that JAB and Ursula were cousins. I understand why she was afraid to have sex. I found that there are a lot of magical elements, with the ghosts and the alchemy,and the flying carpet,etc. I just don't like the fact that everyone has the same name. It is a bit confusing. There also is the fact that you are not a man until you become a father. But is Jose Arcadio still a man for abandoning his unborn kid? It was also nasty that he was having sex or going to have sex with some young girl. That is completely disgusting! But then again it does take place in the like sixteenth century, so this was ok back then. But I just don't like it. Ursula going to look for her son shows that she is a good mother. But then, later on, when she is too busy to be a mom, she does not even notice how big Rebeca and Amaranta got. Rebeca arives and this is the start of a lot of weird things. She is always eating dirt, which is probably very nasty, but she must like it if she keeps eating it. Rebeca also brings with her her insomnia. This is spread throughout the entire town of Macondo. But this does not bother anyone. It was funny to find out that Aureliano is still a virgin. You would think that at his age, he would have already been with some chick. It was strange to me that there was so much order in Macondo. There is no war at this time, there is technicallly no leader, and yet, it is all peaceful. But again, this is in the sixteenth century, so this could not occur nowadays. But there are similar things back then and now. Like Ursula wanting her mansion to be all big, and beautiful, and all flashy. She has all these imports from all over the world, just to show off. And then she invites the people she wants to see the new home, and does not invite others. She just wants her family to be associated with the good well-off people. Then Pietro comes, and both Rebeca and Amaranta fall in love with him. They are giving women a bad rep. Especially when Amaranta says that she will to great lengths to prevent Rebeca's marriage and happiness with Pietro. This is upsets me. Could not she just be happy for Rebeca? But no, I guess not. Then Aureliano starts falling for like a nine year old girl called Remedios. Uh!? That is so DISGUSTING! It is so hard for me to understand how old men could like little kids. That makes my skin crawl. But whatever, that is life though, isn't it? I guess I just have to deal with it. Aureliano and Remedios were to get married until after she hit puberty, which most likely was when she got her period. She did, they got married, and then she got pregnant but died before giving birth. JAB went crazy. I guess it had to happen sooner or later, that JAB would lose his mind. All those weird obsessions and everything.

I was unable to finish this too. The library is closing....

Active Reading Chapter 6

Magical Elements:

• The smell of Pilar Ternera, that she smells like smoke all the time. That is how she is distinguished. I do not think that someone smells so strongly like smoke that they can be sought out in the town, like Arcadio did to Pilar.

Characters:

• Aureliano - leaves Arcadio in charge - goes off to war for a long time
• Arcadio - goes crazy bad with his rule - becomes the cruelest ruler ever - but runs from his grandma Ursula when she whips him
• Ursula - becomes the new ruler of Macondo - tries to back to its old ways

Summary:

• Aurelaino goes off to war, leaving Arcadio in charge. But Arcadio does bad stuff, having a firing squad, and whipping people. Ursula yelled at him and whipped him, and became the ruler of Macondo herself. Ursula still attends to her crazy husband, JAB. She tells him lies,and tries to actually believe them herself.
• Amaranta and Pietro are going to get married. They finally have that deep relationship that Amaranta had wanted. They were going to adopt Aureliano Jose, the son of aureliano and Pilar. But she ends up rejecting him and her planned marriage to him. Pietro goes crazy trying to win her back, but when he doesn't, he slits his wrists, killing himself in his depression.
• Ursula is saddened by his suicide. So was Amaranta, but Ursula ignored her. Amaranta even burned her hand purposely, but it did nothing for her. She would wear a black gauze oh her burnt hand until her death,most likely as a reminder of what she lost.
• Arcadio is lost, he no longer does anything, but feels that he was never a Buendia, since his dad abandoned him, and Pilar Ternera was his mom. He turns to his mom, but because he wants to sleep with her. She does not want to, but agrees to do it later that night. In the dark, Arcadio waits for her, but instead, he feels another girl, a virgin. He gets with her, and she has a daughter later on after he is named civil and military leader. No one knows about it, but Jose Arcadio and Rebeca. But Ursula finds out that he is building a house and that he has a six month old daughter, and that his girlfriend is pregnant again.
• Then a stranger comes to town, and tells Arcadio that Aureliano wants to surrender the town of Macondo, but allow the Liberals to live. Arcadio wanted to fight until death. The town was attacked. Ursula tried to protect Arcadio,but she couldn't. He was killed against the cemetary. But before he died, he named his unnamed daughter Ursula, and his unborn kid Jose Arcadio if it was a boy and Remedios if it was a girl.

Quotes:

• "'We leave Macondo in your care,' was all [Colonel Aureliano] said to Arcadio before leaving. 'We leave it to you in good shape; try to have it in better shape when we return.'" This stood out because Arcadio turned out to be the cruelest ruler that Macondo had ever known. So he did not do as his uncle said, but madeit even worse with its rule.
• "'I dare you to, murderer!' [Ursula] shouted. 'And kill me too, son of an evil mother. That way I won't have the eyes to weep for the shame having raised a monster.'" I guess that it stood out because you see to what lengths a mother will go to to set her kids or grandkids straight.

Themes:

• Solitude: Amaranta turns down Pietro with his proposal of marriage even though she is in love with him. She just wants to be alone.