Monday, November 17, 2008
One Hundred Years of Solitude
I believe that the question for tonights blog involved the article we were handed and the question of how Jose Arcadio Buendia's life illustrates the ideas of that article. In addition, I believe we had to continue the discussion regarding how war and violence is critiqued in the novel.
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Jose Arcadio Buendia's life features the confusion mentioned by Gerald Martin in this article. "...nothing ever turns out as people expect; everything surprises them; all of them fail; all are frustrate..." Jose Arcadio believes in the ideals of the revolution and the goals of his party, but he fails in their implementation. He struggled so greatly with finding his own sense of personal identity that he ran away to travel the world with a band of gypsies. In addition, his actions seem to be circular in the sense that no matter what he does he ends up accomplishing nothing.
In many ways Marquez shows the negative affects of way in the novel. Following the introduction of the war, the novel loses both its magical and comedic property. The only comedic part in this "second part" was when Jose Arcadio's mom smacks him upside the head and takes control of the revolution and the leadership of Macondo. In addition, we had seen almost no death until the beginning of the war, and with war death abounds.
The confusion that the article talks about is interesting. The idea that people fight over ideas and kill each other for their beliefs. However, most of the time, after all of the fighting is over, when it is finally time to put into place the things that were being fought over, problems emerge. People either don't do what they originally sought out to do or the ideas that they were fighting for turn out to be stupid in practice. The net result of these types of conflict is nothing, just useless destruction. Marquez uses this idea in his critique of war in the novel. When people begin to die they die in ridiculous ways, especially when blood doesn't get the carpet dirty which clearly shows how Marquez believes war is ridiculous and not necessary. The loss of the magical aspect of the novel in the war section also evidences how war can sort of remove the innocence of a group of people or a place and destroy it.
I really thought the ideas of solitude and forgetfulness were not only true in the novel but as well as real life. This article does a really good job of explaining it, "in the face of events like this, we might observe that what takes place in the pages of Marquez's "magic realism" is in many places not so far from the cruel fantasies of killing and forgetfulness still..."I believe that we try to forget the past which is full of horrible things in order to recreate our history into a brighter one. This article is describing how Marquez's magical realism is not so different in fact from what is going on in the world. In a sense, "magical realism" is not any different than reality.
Jose Arcadio Buendia is a man obsessed with the world outside of everyday life. He finds the monotony of daily life so disappointing that he partakes in many strange pursuits ranging from exploration to playing with magnets to alchemy to try to escape it. This matches up with the idea expressed in the beginning of the article, that the daily war against one’s surroundings cannot be all there is. The patriarch’s interests are pushed aside by the war, along with the much of the rest of the mysticism of Macondo. He becomes a minor, mostly inactive character, and it is his sons who become involved in the conflict. He does not participate, not because of his age, as we see that his wife manages to stay active long after her husband’s death, but because it represents the ordinary world he despises. All of this can be tied to Marquez showing that war destroys the natural beauty and wonder of life. It is not the ideals of the Liberals or Conservatives that are worth living for, but the existential, stranger draws of life.
One section of this article that really stood out for me was "The difficulties of his life he finally deals with by opting out of history and settling for the uncertain territory, not of history but of nostalgic solitude, a "magic" reality ..." As soon as war is introduced to Macondo, I became disappointed with the novel and longed for the comedic, magical aspect it held when it had begun. I felt as if this quote described Jose Arcadio Buendia dealing with a similar issue: as soon as life became difficult for him he longed for the days when he was entranced by the magical inventions of others as opposed to creating them himself. I think One Hundred Years of Solitude is designed this way, with the magical aspect so tempting yet still bittersweet, to help us better understand the plight of Jose Arcadio Buendia, as Sound and the Fury forced us to empathize with narrating characters. Even after he loses his sanity and is tied to the chestnut tree, he remains a central character to the novel, and as soon as we are beginning to forget him, he resurfaces somehow. Jose's transformation from the "man of great energy, ambition, talent, and imaginative vision" to one who must be contained by separation from society is significant. In order for us to understand this transformation, Marquez structures the novel so that the reader faces a similar dilemma, emphasized by this article.
I liked the part of the article that discussed experiencing one's history as a fantasy. I believe that it is an interesting statement because, when you really consider it, some of the most heinous, unthinkable acts, are those that happen in real life, and become a stain upon history. And while fantasy is supposed to be beyond the relm of what is real, the crimes against humanity that have been commited throughout history are beyond the relm of comprehension, and even the most twisted fantasy cannot being to justify them in any means. However viewing history as a fantasy one can see it as a less real creation of the real world, and thus something that is easier to grasp. I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone, myself included, but what can you do?
The people in Macondo definetly seem to be searching for something. It is as though, in their isolation they are reaching out to touc something just beyond their grasp. Some person, some idea, or some understanding that eludes. It seems that war is they only way they find to try and gain that connection and reach those understandings, though it only leaves them more lost. It is if they are looking for something to fight for, so they start wars, thinking that it will bring a reason about sooner. This makes me think of the idea, you know when people talk about how some people hurt others just to feel connected. I'm not sure exactly how to best put it, but basically it's as if I was isolated and removed and I decided to punch someone in the face just for that momentary connection. So it almost seems to be like the people in Macondo kill and fight each other to have that touch and human connection (especially when you think about the fact that they are fighting with kitchen knives and making flower pot cuts). Take a whole town of lonley, isolated people, who's only way of feeling connected and purposeful is physical connection stemming from violence, and poof you have the many years of Macondo's waring. This seems even more likley to me because I cannot seem to find many big defining events that lead to war, they all seem to stem from small incidents blown out of proportion.
Also the idea that Latin Americans are concerned with the idea that they are not real people and that their world is not real contributes immensely to the theme of solitude in the novel. I feel like being aware of that concern sheads a new light on the text and makes the plight of the people more understandable, for at times I found myself questioning their feelings of anguish and isolation, I can understand how doubts of that proportion would exasperate certain situations.
All in all I really enjoyed this article. I feel like I understand a new dimension of the characters, and they seem less flat to me (I believe this especially when the ideas of isolation and failure as they are discussed in the article are viewed in terms of Aureliano's life). I also feel better about the waring and it's place and purpose in the novel. Before I was quite angry about it, but now I feel better.
: )
The second to last paragraph says, "Ploughers of the sea, they are unable to make their lives purposive, achieve productiveness, break out of the vicious circle of their fate. In short, they fail to become agents of history for themselves..." The article discussed people living their lives through other people's values bringing forth solitude, which I think is true and is represented well by the clear lineage with the names. Even the names overlap, so clearly the families are intimate enough to share values. But, I think that Jose Arcadio Buendia actually was an agent of history, contradicting the article. He shifted more towards a modern world, specifically when he chose to spend more time in his science laboratory rather than watch magical flying carpets that the gypsies brought to Macondo.
I think Marquez does a successful job in leaving a strong sense of tragic futility. Jose Arcadio Buendia dies tied to a tree. Then, it starts rainging yellow flowers. It is just depressing and sad, but the imagery is powerful.
"...nothing ever turns out as people expect; everything surprises them; all of them fail; all are frustrated...". I think this is true throughout the novel so far. Specifically looking at Jose Arcadio Buendia's case, I had no idea that he would appear as a ghost and that his sense of time would disappear, so that constantly time is overlapping.
I thought this whole reading was interesting, but after tonight's reading, one section in particular caught my eye: Gerald Martin's. I thought that when he says, "Ploughers of the sea, they are unable to make their lives purposive, achieve productiveness, break out of the vicious circle of their fate. In short, they fail to become agents of history for themselves..." that really relates to Jose Arcadio Buendia in particular. Later, Martin mentions circularity as a theme. One aspect of Jose Arcadio Buendia's role in the novel is his futility. He has all these amazing ideas for inventions, but he is never able to realize them. He loses his sense of self, and he goes running off with gypsies. Of course now, several generations later, his inventions have meaning, with the ice factory and trains...just not to him.
wow svt we are the same person. we would choose the exact same quote.
sorry ms siegel! not intentional.
When of the aspects of One Hundred Years Of Solitude that I enjoy is the realism of the situations. Whether it's through family interactions or the war that's occuring, the situations that arise all seem pluasible. What resonated with me in regards to Jose Arcadio Buendia's life and the article was about how war in South America impacts its inhabitants. The people in South America that are part of the wars feel as if they're living in a "dream"; they're not connected to any central, tangible aspect. I found that to be interesting because it resonates highly with the novel. The conflict that emerges between the Liberals and the Conservatives stems from politcal ideology, which consists of ideas. I felt that article analyzed South American culture well and, in the context of Jose Arcadio Buendia, made an interesting point.
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