One Hundred Years of Solitude

final thoughts, week funf.

2009-03-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

I just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude today, and I must say, I was very pleased with the ending. I really appreciate it when an author can compose a satisfying ending, because so many times I feel like they are insufficient. It did leave me asking, however, were Melquiades parchments the novel itself, and we have been reading the entire time the history that he wrote? Or are these separate? It would be more exciting, I think, if they were the parchments themselves.

I also liked, in a sad way, how we witness the entirety of the Buendia family line, from Jose Arcadio Buendia to the last Aureliano. However, that can't really be true, because of course Jose Arcadio Buendia had to have ancestors as well. Still, it makes the realm of the book have more meaning and feel more complete, and less random. One of the things that the novel brings up consistently is how history repeats itself. It would be interesting to discover if this really happened as much in real life. People don't really name their children repeatedly the same things all that often, though.

I enjoyed reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was beautifully written and I loved how we saw the creation, progression, and ultimate destruction of Macondo.

Week Five

2009-03-23T11:29:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Week Five, and our last week week of blogging. This week's post should be on your overall thoughts about the book. It must be a ten sentence summary. You do not need to comment on anyone else's blog, but your post should be up here by Sunday, March 29 You should have made up any missing work by then as well.

week four!

2009-03-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

why do you think love gets so easily 'passed around' in this book?
for example in chapter six, and slightly in five, everyone seems to either find love or lose love and get remarried. is it just the lifetstyle of macondo? or is it the way things operate outside of America? is Marquez trying to make a statement about human nature, or was it just coincidence?

open ended question - week quatro

2009-03-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Is the unruliness of Macondo the people, the times, or the result of a fictional town?

It seems like some kind of uproarious activity or scandal is taking place in Macondo. The intense war and all of it's side effects, the multitude of deaths, the interactions between lovers and friends. Are these events a byproduct of the people and their personalities? Or is it because it was a different time period than ours? Or is it because Macondo is fictional, so Marquez could make anything spectacular happen that his heart desired? Or something else entirely?

Discuss.

Week Four

2009-03-17T11:23:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Week Four!

For this week's blog you will post a thought-provoking question that does not have only one answer. Remember that you must make 10 comments this week, not 5. Please do not leave this until the last minute, you have the whole week to get it done.

week three!

2009-03-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

Personally, I'm getting along very well with this book, despite previous posts/comments where I have insisted on its puzzling nature. Marquez's poetic long sentences are usually chock full of figurative language. Sometimes, though, I find it hard to distinguish metaphors from his fantasical world. So far one of my favorite sentences is "The new house, white, like a dove, was inaugurated with dance." The house is personified, and Marquez uses a peculiar verb, inaugurated, to demonstrate the house's sort of "dance". The sentence is very simple really, and pretty far ahead in the book (only page 59) but I have remembered it through out the story. In some books it seems like the author has to think about their similies and metaphors, and they seem forced and not connected. But with Marquez, it seems as though he slips them in and the sentence works quite well with them.

week three ~ figurative language

2009-03-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

The figurative language in One Hundred Years of Solitude is weaved throughout the story. You don't always realize while reading how much of there it is, but going back and specifically looking for it, I found plenty. Marquez uses the language to make everything seem more fantastical. There are bright descriptive words and illustrating similes.
On page 118, of Pietro Crespi, it says,
"Sometimes, over a watercolor of Venice, nostalgia would transform the smell of mud and putrefying shellfish of the canals into the warm aroma of flowers. Amaranta would sigh, laugh, and dream of a second homeland of handsome men and beautiful women who spoke a childlike language, with ancient cities of whose past grandeur only the cats among the rubble remained. After crossing the ocean in search of it, after having confused passion with the vehement stroking of Rebecca, Peitro Crespi had found love."
That's an example of his descriptive qualities, molding floaty sentences with colorful words that help you picture whats going on and enjoy reading it all the more.
There is a constant flow of paragraphs such as this. On the next page, an obvious use of figurative language, is the simile comparing Amaranta to a small animal.
"Amaranta did not tremble at the contact with his icy hands. She withdrew hers like a timid little animal and went back to her work."
This shows us that Amaranta pulled away quickly and bashfully, like a small forest creature might. It enhances the prose greatly. If Marquez had simply said, "she withdrew hers and went back to her work", not only would it have been more boring, but we wouldn't have known how Amaranta reacted to his cold touch.
Marquez expertly blends and integrates his metaphors and descrpitive language with the story of these people's lives. It adds a lot to the reader's understanding of the events, as well as makes the telling of it more beautiful.

Week Three

2009-03-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Week Three of the Discussion! This weeks discussion will run from Monday, March 9 to Sunday, March 15.

This week's discussion will be on figurative language and literary elements in your book. Please find an example of these in your book and POST a 10-sentence comment on it. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, please don't wait until the last minute.

week two! : setting

2009-03-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

Marquez seems adament about creating a fairy tale sort of feeling with his book. He describes Macondo "At that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point." and everything seems mystical and magical. The world, in the novel, seems so strange, but that's most likely because we're "seeing" everything from a completely new view. The residents of Macondo seem so sheltered, but in reality they made themselves that way, securing the city away from anything except a few gypsy camps. Though it is curious that the gypsies can enter and find the city while no other groups of people try it. Perhaps Marquez was trying to symbolize something with that but one can not be sure, maybe the gypsies were the only ones who cared enough to make it to Macondo. The setting fits in very well with the story, slightly patchwork and eclectic. I am quite impressed with Marquez's style of writing and am pleasantly surprised by how much I like this book.

setting (week two) :]

2009-03-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

Setting definitely plays a huge role in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Macondo, the fictional town the majority of the story takes place in, is, like I mentioned on Linnea's post, a character itself. The mountains and swamps surrounding the town give a proper sense of isolation needed for Macondo's strange ways to keep prospering separate from the rest of the world. Their only visitors are various travelers and gypsies, who bring strange things from other towns. Because of Macondo's isolation, everything that these travelers bring seems magical and wondrous to the characters.
The fact that Macondo was created to be an ideal city, with all of its perfectly laid out streets and houses, makes it a sort of utopia for the citizens, even if they are cut off from society in general. In this way they are allowed to create their own private society, with their own sets of morals, or at least until there are more frequent visitors, and the war starts.
Another part of the setting is the world in general that is portrayed in the novel, mostly through the gypsies' stories. They make Jose Arcadio Buendia feel like he is missing out on the discoveries and advancement and excitement of the rest of the world, causing him to want to move, which Ursula objects to.
People who visit Macondo often end up staying there longer than they planned. This makes it seem like Macondo is a very appealing city, and Jose Arcadio Buendia and the other founders were successful in making a quality city, with it's own unique characteristics.

Week Two

2009-03-02T11:34:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Week Two of our discussion. This discussion will last from Monday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 9th.

This week's discussion is on Setting. Please POST a 10-sentence comment on setting. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, but waiting is not recommended!

Week One!

2009-02-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Week 1 of our Discussion. This discussion will last from Monday, February 23rd to Sunday, March 1.

This week's discussion is on Character. Please POST a 10 sentence comment on character. Don't forget to comment on 5 other posts on this blog. You have all week to complete this assignment, but don't wait until the last minute!!!

ARE YOU GOING TO READ THIS BOOK?

2009-01-29T08:23:00.001-08:00

ARE YOU GOING TO READ THIS BOOK?

If so, please comment on this post with your name and hr and answer the following 2 questions by Monday, February 2nd.

1. Why do you want to read this?
2. How are you going to acquire the book?

Welcome!

2009-01-27T12:03:00.001-08:00

Welcome to 3rd quarter OR. The book we will be discussing here is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Here is a brief summary of the book.

"The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendía family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America. Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel García Márquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master. Alternately reverential and comical, One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race." Courtesy of:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/One-Hundred-Years-of-Solitude/Gabriel-Garc-a-M-rquez/e/9780060883287/?itm=1