Active Reading Chapters 4-6

CHAPTER FOUR

Magical Realism: For starters the magical element of a fairy is brought up in this chapter. Jose the son thinks that Pierto Crespi is a fairy only by the way he looks. He also begins to daydream about his fantasies and get lost in time. This is magical by how he supposedly literally got lost in time and in actuality, you seem lost in time but you're not.

Character Development: There is little character development in this chapter other than the children expressing their feelings for the opposite sex.

Plot Summary

In this chapter Rebeca and Pierto become engaged to each other and so does Aureliano and Remedios. Jose the father is the one who goes to Remedios’ house and asks her father to marry her. The family is shocked and wants one of their older daughters to marry him, but Aureliano wants Remedios. Rebeca and Pierto become involved and Amaranta becomes jealous. She threatens to do anything in her power to prevent them from wedding. Ursula then plans a trip to take Amaranta’s mind off of their relationship. Pilar also announces to Aureliano that she is pregnant and he will recognize him as his child. Jose the father becomes very involved in trying to get a music box to work, and when that happens he finally loses his mind and thinks time is standing still, and sees the ghost of the man he killed. He goes crazy and his family is forced to tie him to a tree in the backyard where he would carry out the majority of the rest of his life.

Quotes

1. "I'll find some way of stopping you from getting married, even if I have to kill you". - This quote shows how radical Armanta is now that she's has an interest in the oppopsite sex and in my ow opoinion, I think it is weird.

2."I've come to sleep with you."- This quote is from Aureliano and this was his way of asking Pilar to have sex and it stuck out to me because it shows the extremely low standards that she has set for herself and supports the female sexuality theme.

Themes

Love- Aureliano shows that he is in love with Remedios when he takes the time to care for her, and teach her. Rebeca also in love, shows great affection to Pierto whenever she can.



CHAPTER FIVE

Magical Realism: Madness (mentally) is very big part of the magical realism aspect of the book. The one that suffers the most from it is Jose Arcadio Buendia the father. He goes crazy and is still tied to the tree as in the previous chapter. He can’t even communicate in his language anymore. The only thing he can speak is Latin, and lost memory of his family to that of his own identity as well.

Character Development: Aureliano changes a lot emotionally in this chapter from a man in love Remedios, to a man who is grief-stricken when she dies. Then he gets inspired and becomes dedicated to the war. Rebeca goes from being in love Pierto to being in love with her play brother Jose the son. Jose the father changes to a man who is completely lost within himself. He is no longer the man he used to be.

Plot Summary

Aureliano and Remedios get married. She fits into the house well. She even announces that she will be having a baby. Amaranta and Rebeca even stop fighting to make clothes for the baby. Remedios then dies, and Rebeca and Pierto's marriage is then put on hold, and while she waits she falls in love with her brother Jose the son, and marries him. Gathering what I call sloppy seconds, Amaranta and Pierto become engaged. Aureliano tells his momma that Amaranta’s marriage should be put on hold. During this period Jose the father in law urges him to remarry. He refuses. Aureliano then becomes involved in the war, and leads the revolution and becomes Colonel Aureliano.

Quotes

1."You are a woman little sister." This quote can either show how people are developing or it can show the incest that is among the family. However Rebeca and Jose the son are not biologically siblings, they are spiritually and it is still weird in my book.

2."Now I'm Colonel Aureliano Buendia."- This just goes to show how a title change con go to someone's head. It's ironic that this sort of thing still happens in today's society.

Themes


1. Love- This theme is still displayed by how the "siblings" are together. Also by how people get matched up like a deck of cards is showing us that love is not as important as what people believe it is.


CHAPTER SIX

Magical Realism: Colonel Gregorio could fight off a fleet of opposing troops, with just himself. It seems very magical that one man could get rid of a large number of men with weapons.

Characters Development: Aureliano changes into a military man, and becomes devoted to the war. With his experience in the war, he becomes wiser. Ursula begins to run the household. She steps in and beats Jose the son for becoming brutal and is about to assassinate a man. Jose Arcadio the son goes from a kind little boy into a man who punishes people for petty reasons.

Plot Summary

Chapter Six starts off with Colonel Aureliano Buendia fighting different battles of the war. While away he leaves Jose the son in charge of Macondo. During his rule, he went power crazy and hurt people for silly reasons. He had he intent to beat Don Apolinar Moscote, Ursula found out and started to beat him. Amaranta and Pierto are strengthening their feelings; however she denied his request to marry. In response to the heart break, he commits suicide. Jose and his sister Rebeca had three kids. The opposing army invaded the town, captured him and then they shot him.

Quotes

1. " I am not a Buendia." - This shows the development has gpone bad because now Aureliano hates his family and that is a part of his identity.

2."Go to hell, friend."- This quote makes me laugh because Marquez has found a way to to insult someone politely and that's what I like to read.

Themes

Change is the evident theme of this chapter and we see this by how Aureliano has comppletely distanced himself from his family.

Active Reading Chapter 3

Chapter Three


Magical Realism: The first aspect of magical realism that I found was how one little orphan, Rebeca can have such an impact on a whole village. One little girl who has the power to make people forget things is magic to me because most females especially young ones do not have that kind of effect on anyone. Secondly, Melaquaides the gypsy comes back to life and yet again blesses the family with a picture thing. Also he is magical by how everyone is under some sort of spell until he comes back and just so happens to have the anecdote to cure them.

Character Development

Aureliano has become a man and yet has never seen or been with a girl. Also the family as a whole has developed economically by now having the ability to take pictures. Armanta begins to gather an interest in the opposite sex in the form of a man named Pietro Crespi.

Plot Summary

Macondo begins to get better when they find the route to civilization. It gets new people including Arcadio Jose the son's son and Rebeca an orphan whose past is unknown. Rebeca somehow gives the whole village insomnia and Jose the father and Aureliano put signs all over the village to remind them about what things are and they even have a sign reminding them that god exists. Melquiades then comes back from the dead and gives the town the cure they have been in desperate need of. Also Melaquiades brings the Buendia family a daguerreotype which gives them their1st family portrait. Now Melaquaides joins Jose the father in the lab as they try to find a way to take a picture of God. Meanwhile Aureliano learns how to be a silversmith. Ursula decided that she wants to re-model the house so that all her kids won't have to leave her once they get married. In the middle of it all she gets a letter from the government telling her that the house must be painted blue. Ursula must not like blue because she gets Jose the father to run the guy who told her the house had to be blue out of town. He gets denoted from his government position and comes back to settle in the town as a regular citizen. Aureliano becomes attracted to one of the guy's 9 year old daughters. Out of sexual frustration he sleeps with Pilar Ternera and tells her his secret. She helps Aureliano asks her to marry him and Remedios says yes. Also, Aramanta and rebeca become interested in the same guy, Pierto Crespi. He decides to marry Rebeca and Aramanta gets very angry. Melaquiades is the first person to die in Macondo and after they bury him, Aureliano teaches Remedios how to read but Pilar tells him that she is pregnant with his baby. Jose the father fails to get a picture of God and in turn messes up the lab and tries to burn down the house. Twenty men hold him down and tie him to a tree and Ursula built a shelter for him and leaves him there.

Quotes

1. "I'm thinking about Prudencio Aguilar again."- This quote sticks out to me because I don't understand why he's thinking about him again and I'm wondering whether or not he is going to be remembered throughout the whole book.

2. "The image of Remedios, the magistrate's younger daughter, paining him in some part of his body. "- This quote makes me wonder whether or not he really likes her or is he just attracted to her young personality.

Themes

Revelations seems to be the driving theme of this chapter. They find out many things in this chapter such as the arrival of a new family member and the symptom and cure for the insomnia that they all suffered. Lastly, Melaquiades has arisen from the dead.

Relflective Journal #2

March 5, 2007

After reading chapter three of the book I am confused and upset because now I know for sure that this should have been a movie. This book sounds juicy but I cannot keep up with it unless I see different people. This book would be so much more enjoyable if they could just have diffrent names. Somebody please make this book into a movie or play quick so that my class can go a field trip to go see it before we graduate and have to leave each other.

Active Reading Chapters 1-2

CHAPTER ONE

Magical Elements: The character of Melaquiades is the first magical element of the book. Melaquiades' ability to resist getting sick during the worst conditions shows us that magic has to be a part of this Gypsy's life and his travels. Also a magical element of the book is Macondo and how everyone there was under 30 and never died.

Characters

Jose Arcadio Buendia: The Founder of Macondo who is strong and reminds me of a scientist by how he is so curious about things and how he is always in the quest for knowledge.

Ursula Iguaran: The matriarch of the Buendia family who is the mother of the mother of José Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, and Amaranta. She is a supportive wife but at the same time has her limits.

Melaquides: The gypsy who gives Jose Sr. technological things such as a magnet, a metal detector and a magnifying glass.

Plot Summary

Chapter one begins with a flashback of how Macondo was found. The gypsy Melaquiades gives Jose Arcadio Buendia a bunch of tools that can help him in the future. In turn, he begins to engage in scientific study even though his wife, Ursula doesn't want him to. He tries to get involved in alchemy, the art or science of making gold out of other metals. His studies keep him from his family more and more as time goes by. He proclaims that the world is round and everyone begins to question whether or not he is crazy. Furthermore, Jose begins to strive for civilization and contact to the world outside of Macondo. The guys that live in Macondo begin to trek through trees and shrubbery and only find antiques. Jose wants to move but his wife refuses to leave. After that he begins to focus more on his kids: Aureliano Buendia is the oldest and is just as strong as his father as well as mysterious. On a family outing, he takes his children to a gypsy fair where they all see ice for the first time and finds out that Melaquiades is dead.

Quotes

1. "Look at the state they're in, running wild just like donkeys." This quote sticks out to me because it shows how Jose's negligence is affecting the kids in Ursula's eyes. Also it reminds me of how my grandmother talks and it makes me laugh.

2. "That was a period in which he acquired a habit of talking to himself, of walking through the house without paying attention to anyone....." This quote shows the theme of isolation as well as the severity of his condition.

Themes

1. Isolation- This theme is shown through Jose Arcadio Buendia and how he separates himself from the rest of his family when he is studying alchemy and how Macondo is an island separate from all other civilization.

2. Time- The book has many flashbacks and the characters in the story are affected by them.

CHAPTER TWO

Magical Elements: The child born of incest is an example of magical realism because even though children can be born with deficiencies they cannot be born with body parts of different animals. Also Jose Arcadio Buendia kills a man and afterwards sees his ghost which haunts him until he decides to leave the place he lived before moving to Macondo.

Characters: The father Jose begins to actually take care of his children while Ursula was away. Jose the son begins to physically mature while Ursula got over her fear of incest defected babies and gave birth to Armanta, her first girl.

Plot Summary

Chapter two takes us back to when the Buendia couple were young. Ursula is afraid to confirm her marriage to her cousin because of a she was told about her relatives who gave birth to a child with a pig's tail. People began to make fun of Jose A. Buendia and one day his rival made fun of him and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. He kills his rival Aguilar by stabbing him with a sharp stick. His rival's ghost haunts him until he realizes that he can't take it anymore and decides to leave, little did they know they would discover Macondo. Also, Jose and his son Aureliano go back to studying science while the older son Jose is getting involved with Pilar Ternera a local who only likes Jose the son because he has developed a large reproductive organ. He also falls in love with a gypsy lady but before he met her he had sex with Pilar and gets her pregnant. Before their child is born he runs away with the gypsy lady and Ursula tries to follow them because she is sad that her child has left her. She returns five months later to find out that there is a path to civilization through a swamp.

Quotes

1. "Ursula, before going to bed, would put on a rudimentary ind of drawers that her mother had made out of sailcloth and had reinforced with a system of crisscrossed leather straps and that was closed in the front by a thick iron buckle."- This quote describes not only what she went through each night but how far out of her way she had to go just because she is afraid of having an defected child by incest. This quote is rather disturbing to me because of how uncomfortable she must have been physically and emotionally especially during that time of the month where comfort is a must.

2. ....he made his way through the crowd up to the first row, where the gypsy girl was, and he stopped behind her. He pressed against her back. The girl tried to separate herself, but Jose Arcadio pressed more strongly against her back." This quote makes me laugh because it is yet another example of how history always repeats itself because I can name a handful of teenage boys who either have done or is doing that to a pretty girl as we speak. Also this is a unique quote because he has a very large reproductive organ and pressing up against a girl who is seemed to be petite is a very awkward moment especially in public.

Themes

1. Females- Females in this chapter have been used only in a sexual and reproductive way.

Reflective Journal #1

February 26, 2007

Today I read chapter one of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I got to meet the characters of Aureliano Buendia and his wife Ursula as well as a gypsy called Melaquiades. When I started reading I realized the beginning was a flashback from Aureliano Buendia's life. This confused me because I now consider what is a flashback every time I read. Throughout the first chapter I thought that this book would be better understood if it were a film. I also wondered about Melaquiades and whether or not his small role was a gift from God or just good timing or is it both. Also I would like to know why he had to die from a fever after surviving so many other disasters.

February 28, 2007

Chapter two begins with yet another flashback of Ursula's great-great grandmother reacting to Sir Francis Drake beating up Riohacha. Afterwards I found out that the couple from chapter one are cousins. This is incest and Ursula is scared to have sex with her husband because they believe that there are birth defects. I'm no doctor but if you did not want to have sex with your cousin than why would you marry him. This part of the story seemed like an old family myth that gets passed down forever. I'm sure later on in the book this will have more significance but as of right now I don't see any significance and I was not entertained by the extra pages to read. However, I like how Buendia gets made fun of for not having sex and kills the guy. This leads to him finding the village he lives in.