You must post 2 times before next Monday, December 5th. Your first post should be submitted by Friday, December 2nd. It 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.1. One Hundred Years of Solitude is seeped in symbolism, allegory, hyperbole and parable. (These literary terms are defined below.) Why do you think Gabriel Garcia Marquez chooses to write his narrative in this way? Choose an aspect of the novel that makes use of one of the aforementioned literary devices then attempt to give meaning to it.
Symbolism: a word or phrase referring to a concrete object, scene, or action which also has some further significance associated with it
Allegory: a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. The principal technique of allegory is personification. In written narrative, allegory involves a continuous parallel between two or more levels of meaning in the story. An allegory may be conceived as a metaphor that is extended into a structured system.
Hyperbole: Exaggeration for the sake of emphasis
Parable: A brief tale intended to be understood as an allegory illustrating some moral or lesson.
2. Choose a particular character to evaluate. Determine whether the character traits you have noted are ultimately positive or negative, or both. Explain your reasoning. For example Jose Arcadio Buendia: He is inventive and spends many hours alone on his alchemy experiments trying to discover already known science. This is ultimately negative, because he isolates himself from his family and eventually goes mad.
3. 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.
I think Aramanta is a very interesting character. She struggles with jealousy. Pietro and Rebecca's relationship drove her crazy enough for her to try to stop the wedding multiple times, the letter and the poison. She also played with Pietro's heart and that is wrong, she was probably just mad that she wasnt his first choice. I think that this quality that she contains is very negative and this just leads her to be unhappy and treating others wrong, and also doing hurtful things to herself.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would like to comment on in a mature matter is the weird element of family members having sex with eachother. Ms. Dale talked about how this book is based off of people that the author knows. I can honestly say I don't know anything like this and it makes me feel a little weird and awkward that he would know so many people or maybe even his family members that do this... Food for thought
ReplyDeleteI think Gabriel G. Marquez writes his narrative with a lot of symbolism, allegory, hyperbole and parable because it makes the story more interesting and intense. Even though some of his descriptions are long and and wordy, it still makes it interesting and it helps the reader get into the book more. Although it can be confusing sometimes because he goes back and forth a lot. For example, he would be telling the story and then he gets side tracked and tell another story and then goes back to the main story. He also uses all those literary terms because his grandma did too, I think, when she told stories to him when he was little, and that inspired him to do that too because it just creates more excitement and suspense to the story. An example of symbolism that he uses in the book is the character Jose Arcadio Buendia and how he compares the character to himself. For instance, the people in Macondo thinks that JAB was a mad, crazy man so they tied him to a tree, and our class thinks Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a sick dude for writing such book making each character have sex with each other and such which makes us post hateful comments about him and the book such as Brandon's comment above.
ReplyDeleteim going back to the whole love is a disease thing and im going to say that i think it is more of a virus. Almost everyone in this story is falling in love with eachother even though they are relatives. I dont think anyone today would fall in love with their aunt.
ReplyDeleteJose Arcadio: He is a different person with weird actions. He slept with the maid (Pilar, then went off with some weird gypsy girl. He ran off with this girl away from his family. He then randomly returns and he's very manly and gruff. I think he had a positive effect on the family because when he ran off, his mom went in search for him, didn't find him, but found new members for their community. Also when he returned, he was there to save his brother and his brother's friend from the firing squad.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Amaranta, in my opinion is a selfish character but at the same time she is very caring. She seems like both a negative and positive trait. She's positive because she takes care of Aureliano Jose and raises him for Pilar. But, she is very selfsih because she wanted to break up Pietro and Rebeca because she wanted him for herself. When Pietro wanted her, she said no. Same situation with Aurelaino Jose. I hate Amaranta's character.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jose Arcadia ultimately is described with a negative portrayal. First of all he came back after not being heard from for years and steals Rebecca away from Pietro.In this action he gets himself and his new wife kicked out of the Buendia household. I think that the fact that Ursula does not approve of his actions make the readers like him less. After that he unjustly takes land away undeserving people. He does have some redeeming qualities in the way that Rebecca seems madly in love with him, and in the way that he saves Auriliano's life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Courtney about Amaranta. I think she is a selfish character as well, but as the book has gone on she has become even more selfish. Even though she did raise Aureliano Jose, she ended up have an inappropriate relationship with him.I don't understand why she has lead on so many men and then refused their mariage, she seems kind of crazy. However I predict that her character will change with the eventual death of Ursula because of Pilar's earlier card reading.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand Colonel Aureliano Buendia's character. He seems like he will only ever do things for himself now that Remedios is gone. He left his family to be a war hero and isn't a father to his 18 sons. He killed his best friend when he had the power to stop that from happening. I don't think that a good man would do all of these things. Ultimately, the characteristics of Colonel Aureliano Buendia are negative.
ReplyDeleteI think that Jose Arcadio Buendia was a very interesting character. He went from being a leader to crazy and tied to a tree. I don't really know what they symbolism is in that, but it would be pretty interesting to find out. Also, I wonder if the person that the author based him off of went crazy in real life too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Claire. I think that Aureliano changed since Remedios died. When she was alive he was really in love with her, and he lived his life based on her. Now, he doesn't live for anyone but himself, which is kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteAmarantha is a very interesting charachter. I think that she has good and bad qualities about her. She took it upon her self to raise Aureliano Jose, and then she stopped it when it got to be super creepy and aureliano jose wanted more but she barred him out of her room. So she knows right from wrong she doesnt always follow it though, like when it came to Pietro and Rebecca.She claimed to have really loved him. But then that doesn't explain the way she handled the situations she was faced with him. Which just adds on to the amount of hatred i have towards her and this book. It's confusing and weird.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan. Jose Arcadio Buendia was a respected man that ended up getting tied to a tree from his insanity, learned different languages and all this other stuff. It should be interesting to see what else happens in this book.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jessica, it's hard to interpret Amaranta's thoughts and feelings because she keeps changing her mind about everything. It makes me think that she's bipolar about everything or she just likes to mess with people's minds. She takes love as a game, but in reality it's a serious thing because two deaths occurred whenever she was involved with any affection or relation with another person. Of course after the death of Remedios and Pietro, she regrets what she have done and inflicts herself with a mark so that she can remember what she has done and to show her condolences. Even though her mother consists her to marry someone she always refuses because she made a promise to herself that she wouldn't due to the death of Remedios.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think this book is going nowhere but to confuse everybody that reads it.
I agree with Brandon and Kayla. The way the family interacts in very strange. Maybe, the author is trying to even make us feel uncomfortable so that we want to read more and get more into the book. I also agree with Kayla that some artists the are so talented have very strange and "out there" imaginations, but that is what makes them them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Erin that Jose Arcadio has many negative traits and that we, as readers, probably dislike him more because Ursula does not approve of him. His whole life it seems that he has been selfish and has not shown respect to his mother. First he left home with a gypsie girl, leaving his mom devastated. Then he disappoints Ursula again by taking Rebeca, who is basically his sister, as a wife. It probably also made Ursula mad that Jose Arcadio took Rebeca from a good man, Pietro.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be really interesting to see what it would be like if Jose Arcadio never came back and the fight between Rebeca and Amaranta continued to be explained.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan. JAB was a very different, but interesting person. He was very intelligent leader, founding the successful town of Macondo, and learning to work in alchemy. Towards the end, he went kind of crazy and started to speak only in Latin. I also wonder why the author chose this for JAB. Why did JAB have to die tied to a tree? Why did he go crazy? What did this have to do with one of the people in the author's life?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jenna and Brandon. I think it is really strange that they are all falling in love with each other. It makes me wonder if that is part of the "magic realism" or if that is part of the truth to this story. Because if thats the truth then that is a really messed up family.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Clare concerning Aureliano Buendia being a negative character. Ever since he has centered his life around the current war, he has not only shut his mother Ursula out, who has tried to help him with everything. But he has also not been part of his children's lives. War has changed Aureliano in a bad way because the war caused him to not stop the killing of his best friend. I do agree he has changed since Remedios's death, but I do feel he would still be involved in this war whether she was dead or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan. Aureliano has changed a lot since Redemios has died. He used to be a controlled and knowledgeable person. And he used to be so in love. But as soon as she died we kept to himself and only had love for himself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Teresa about Amaranta's character. In my eyes she is the most complex character in the book.She has done so many different and weird things that no matter what she does next I don't think I would be that surprised. From pretty much causing Pietro's suicide and everything in-between. I don't know if like her character, but she does do a good job of keeping you interested and guessing what's going to happen next.
ReplyDeleteI tried to post this on friday but it didn't work. I can't decide if Amaranta is a negative person or a positive person. I mean I understand that she just wants love so I know why she tried to get Pietro, but I feel like if she really loved him she would just want him to be happy instead of hurt him. So I guess I think she's a negative character.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also agree with Morgan and Heather. Remedios' death has caused him to change a lot but at least he still has love for himself instead of turning into like a horrible person.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jenna. It would be interesting to see the fight between rebeca and Amaranta unfold. I wonder if Pietro would choose Amaranta or if he would be forced to choose her because Amaranta ended up killing Rebeca.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brandon and Kayla. I think it's really weird that he wanted to have sex with his aunt. I especially thought it was disturbing that he was okay with feeling that way, it wasn't wrong to him. It is also weird that they laid right next to each other with no clothes on. That isn't okay in any circumstances.
ReplyDeleteI believe that he chooses to use literary devices because it makes the story more interesting. If he just talked about his life, this book would be even more boring than it already is. He uses a lot of hyperbole in this book. He talks about when that guy gets killed and then his ghost comes back to haunt people. That is an exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brandon that this book reveals some weird things about the author. Why did so many of his family/acquaintances have relations with each other?! It's gross and makes me uncomfortable while reading...icky
ReplyDeleteI think Amaranta is a very important character in the book. She is a very unpredictable character. She goes from trying to break up Pietro and Rebecca and ruin their happiness all because she wanted Pietro too. Also she raised Aureliano Jose, which was good until she started an unexceptionable relationship with him. I found that to be very surprising.
ReplyDelete