You must post 2 times before next Wednesday, April 27th. Your first post is to be in response to one of the prompts below. The second time you post, it must be in response to or in reaction to the post of another student.This novel presents several striking leitmotifs (frequently repeated phrase, image, symbol, or situation in a literary work which supports the theme). Leitmotifs in One Hundred Years of Solitude include cyclical patterns, prophecy, illegitimacy, fantasy, and of course solitude. Consider one or more of the following:
1. What patterns of behavior are emerging among the characters and how are these recurring patterns affecting life in Macondo?
2.) What events in Macondo, if any, have been prophesied with precision or at least seem likely to come true?
3.) List the many ways fantasy plays a part in the characters' lives. Are these elements of fantasy every ironic?
OR
Identify elements of the story that you find particularly confusing, interesting, or worthy of discussion. Pose your own questions. Include portions of the text that you feel contribute to your questions/your point. Cite page numbers.
It is obvious that with passing down of names comes the passing down of the relatives personality as well. The people who have the same names, also have the same characteristics as the person before them. Ursula picks up on this and tries to warn the family members to avoid repeating names for fear of the same result. She doesn't want history to keep repeating itself.
ReplyDeleteThe destruction of the city is prophesied. It is reflected in all the acts that the characters choose and act upon. The passing down of names show that there will hardly be change because they all show the same characteristics. Families are falling apart, the town is suffering, and people are dying. The city will fall under destruction if nothing is to change.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Hannah because you can see the same personalities and characteristics in each character with the same name. When Ursala warns the family I don't think they believe her right away and she is the only one that sees it. Us as the reader saw it a long time ago. History repeats itself all the time but if it continues to do so there will be nothing left but sorrow.
ReplyDeleteThe names that are passed down also have similar personality in the corresponding characters. Solitude is a very common element in the story. All characters experience it at some point in the novel whether it is JAB and the tree or Ursula and her blindness or the other characters who find themselves in solitude due to the loss of a lover. Problems reoccur due to the repetitions and passing down of traits.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Evan. That is exactly how I pictured the worms in the milk pot that Ursula found. I found this part very interesting in the story. I am beginning to really like magic realism and I think it makes stories more fun and interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hannah as well. I like how Ursala notices this and wants to change the names up a bit. I think it will be interesting to see what characters listen to ursalas request
ReplyDeleteI think that since all the characters names are being repeated along with their personalities, i find it confusing to keep track of all of them. Everything seems to be very repetitive and boring
ReplyDeleteThis book has lost all of my interest due to the repetitive names. I don't understand the importance behind all of the names ending with "Arcadio", beside the fact that it carries the family name on. It would be a much better book if this were not the case. Good story line, and interesting, but the characters ruin it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah in response to the fall of the city. If they want anything to be like it was in the past, they will need to step up. The city isn't even ran by the people of Macondo anymore.
ReplyDeleteCharacter traits are very noticeably passed down from generation to generation in the extended Buendia family. Meme and her father, Aureliano Segundo, clearly share an eccentric trait. When Meme brings home 72 friends from school one day, we see that she is a lot more like her father than her mother, Fernanda, who she appears to despise as her father does.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why they don't just use different names. Not only would it prevent all these bad things from happening, it would make the book a lot easier to read.
ReplyDeleteI agree with nick. This book is almost impossible to follow because of the names.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Nick that the repetition of names throughout the book lessens my interest. It seems like I'm reading the same thing over again, only at a different point in the plot...
ReplyDeleteLike everyone has been saying the names have been repetitive, but I like it. It connects the book and makes it seem like it's all happening relatively close together in time, yet people are dying left and right, and kids are being born all the time. It keeps my interest and makes me remember things I usually wouldn't, because I am keeping the names straight.
ReplyDeleteJake
Click Clack I Think They Hear Us Coming
There seems to be a pattern of characters migrating to Macondo over the course of the book. JAB, Rebeca, Pietro, and Mascote are all examples of this. They come into the story and provide drama and interesting story lines. All of these characters shake up daily life for the Buendias over the course of the book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anthony. Throughout the book the names are being continuously repeated. At first it wasn't as confusing, but as the book goes on it gets more and more confusing and harder to follow. I think its true that bad things keep happening because of the names. History will repeat itself as says Ursula.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter, certain personality traits have definitely been passed down over the course of the book. Encompassing the whole family seems to be a "crazy" gene because each generation has someone really weird and who does questionable things.
ReplyDeleteI think its funny how almost half of the characters are dead and Ursula is somehow still alive. She must be really old. I think its cool how even though shes blind she is able to hide it from everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone is saying about how confusing this book is because all the names are so repetitive. I get the story lines mixed up and confused and can't keep all the characters straight in my head.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Griselda it must be really hard for Ursula to keep it hidden that she is blind thats pretty tough.
ReplyDeleteI dont know what is going on in this book. It seems like this book is getting more ridiculous ever time i ask derby what is going on in the book
ReplyDeleteI really dislike how every name in this book is the same. It is starting to get extremely confusing
ReplyDeleteI agree with Griselda, Ursula's got to be like a million years old. She's still smart, and alive, both are impressive. I mean with my high level income and advances in medical technology it isn't crazy to say I could live to be 250, 300. What Movie? But anywho, Ursula is an interesting character who has lasted a long time.
ReplyDeleteJake
Click Clack I Think They Hear Us Coming
The names in the family are definitely passed down. This can be seen through each generation, where only about 5 or 6 names are continuously repeated.
ReplyDeleteAlso, incest is frequently an issue within the family's history...this is also something that can be traced clear back to the first generation of this book...JAB and Ursula.
I agree with Nick, the repetition of names and personality traits make it extremely difficult to keep the characters straight.
ReplyDeleteThis story is too confusing!
It seems that all the people named Aureliano in the book are terrible people. Colonel Aureliano starts out in the story as a creepy guy who falls in love with a small child, then he fights a war out of pride and fathers 17 illegitimate children. After the war he becomes a bitter old man who doesn't takl to anyone or care when all his children are murdered. Aureliano Jose ignored his psychic mother and was shot by government soldiers. Finally, Aureliano Segundo ditches his wife to live with his mistress and gets really fat.
ReplyDeleteAmaranta's life has been predicted to be over after she is done stitching her own shroud. She came up with the idea to receive and give letters for the dead from the people that are living in Macondo. This idea has caused the people of Macondo to believe her, so they actually write letters to the dead
ReplyDeleteAn event that has been forshaddowed multipule times in the book is that Macondo will turn into a town made of ice. In the first line of the book, it says that "...as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." Earlier in the book, when JAB and Jose Arcadio discovered ice, JAB said "This is the great invention of our time." Aureliano Centeno begins experimenting with ice on pg. 221. JAB has a dream on pg. 24 that shows him that Macondo would have houses made of ice and the town would be a wintry city. Because the idea of ice is brought up many times, I think that this prediction might come true.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Megan if they wouldn't have passed down the names and wouldn't have passed down the traits they wouldn't have so many problems in their family
ReplyDeleteI hate how everyone has the same name. It is hard to keep them all straight. I think it's cool that some characters have certain things about them that make them unique like the yellow butterflies or the traveling blood.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Vinny, i didnt really notice all the refrenses made towards the ice but as Vinny pointed out, it makes me think more about about it and i agree. I think the ice prediction will come true also.