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.

Lesson Plans

Available at Ruffles' site.
We ended up meeting up.

One Hundred Years of Solitude: Due Dates

One Hundred Years of Solitude: Due Dates

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?