100 Years of Solitude & Portfolio
Please use your time in the lab today to read about Colombia (from the previous posts), as well as the material posted below. It is important to actually read this information concerning the book, as it will help clarify some key problems students often have when approaching this text. After reading and checking out these links, you may spend your lab time reading, working on your comic book script or completing some work for your portfolio. Use your time in the lab effectively.
Authors often use a well designed or imagined fictional setting for many of their stories. A writer who writes a series of work in a specific place is called a "regional writer." Stephen King's Castlerock, Ray Bradbury's Green Bluff, Illinois, and Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha county are examples.
Like Dorothy, you don't need to look beyond your back door for an interesting setting--but you may want to.
Macondo is draws from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracataca. Aracataca is located near the north (Caribbean) coast of Colombia, 80 km South of Santa Marta. Macondo was originally the name of banana plantation, and literally means "banana" in the Bantu language.
In June 2006, the people of Aracataca organized a referendum to change the name of the town to Aracataca Macondo. Although the yes vote won, the referendum failed because of lack of voters and Aracataca kept its traditional name.
The town first appears in García Márquez's short story "Leaf Storm" but he uses the setting in many of his works.
Take a look at these videos and jot down impressions and notes about the setting.
Columbia Tourism
Columbia in Crisis
In 100 Years of Solitude the themes of time and solitude (isolation) (see previous posts) are central to understanding the point of this book. By considering these themes, we, as readers and students, can at least try to grasp what Marquez is trying to teach or tell us about ourselves as human beings. Ah, the power of literature!
The novel's central theme is solitude or human isolation. The Buendia Family, as our protagonists, represent the human condition. Protagonists usually represent the common man or woman (Everyman). Critics have noted that the Beundias "are solitary individuals living together as strangers in the same house. As such, they personify the predicament of the human race."
Gabriel García Márquez does not number his chapters in this book. A reader may wonder why? Perhaps this is the author's way of making us notice time. You do not necessarily notice your life passing day by day. Taken into consideration the flow of human experience we notice that which is important or life altering, but the days themselves slip fluidly away. This experience is likely to become more pronounced as your life continues. The bewilderment of the older generation looking back and saying: "where did my life go?" is a very human experience.
An author not using the traditional fiction conventions draws attention to a work. Without chapters readers think of a book as a single entity. In 100 Years of Solitude Marquez presents us with twenty unmarked subdivisions (chapters) that are "not [treated] as discrete segments but interlinked members in a unitary whole: one text."
The work is fluid, with descriptive, detail-filled paragraphs interspersed with minimal dialogue. From word choice (diction) to sentence and syntax, Marquez builds his paragraphs to include both the normal activities of his characters along with the episodes that remain relevant and dynamic. The chapters flow into one another to create a full text of seamless narrative: time does not stop until the very end (as is the way of all things).
What is confusing for a reader or a student is that the book is not linear. An author can choose to write either chronologically (time events happen one after the other in a normal and expected cause/effect fashion) or use a non-linear narrative, utilizing flashbacks, flashforwards, and fragmented events which build suspense (but may be confusing for weaker readers). If you, as a young writer, need a challenge or are bored with the same ol' chronological narrative, try a nonlinear plot design in your fiction. You will find it much more interesting (as does a good and skilled reader).
Authors often use a well designed or imagined fictional setting for many of their stories. A writer who writes a series of work in a specific place is called a "regional writer." Stephen King's Castlerock, Ray Bradbury's Green Bluff, Illinois, and Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha county are examples.
Like Dorothy, you don't need to look beyond your back door for an interesting setting--but you may want to.
Macondo is draws from García Márquez's childhood town, Aracataca. Aracataca is located near the north (Caribbean) coast of Colombia, 80 km South of Santa Marta. Macondo was originally the name of banana plantation, and literally means "banana" in the Bantu language.
In June 2006, the people of Aracataca organized a referendum to change the name of the town to Aracataca Macondo. Although the yes vote won, the referendum failed because of lack of voters and Aracataca kept its traditional name.
The town first appears in García Márquez's short story "Leaf Storm" but he uses the setting in many of his works.
Take a look at these videos and jot down impressions and notes about the setting.
Columbia Tourism
Columbia in Crisis
Characters in 100 Years of Solitude
As we read the first 131 pages, this part of the book deals greatly with the first and second generations of the Buendia family.First Generation:
Jose Arcadio Buendía is the first patriarch of the Buendia Family and the founder of Macondo of which he dreams of a city of mirrors and establishes the town. He is an inquisitive man of massive strength (like his son Jose Arcadio) and energy who spends more time on his scientific pursuits. Eventually he is tied to a tree for most of his life (i.e., his own family tree) and withdraws from his family in solitude until his death.
- Úrsula Iguarán is one of the two matriarchs of the Buendía family and is wife to José Arcadio Buendía. She lives to be over 130 years old and oversees the Buendía household through six of the seven generations documented in the novel. She is a very strong character and often succeeds where the men of her family fail. She is the archetypical mother figure in the novel.
- José Arcadio is Jose Arcadio Buendía's firstborn son and has inherited his father's stubborn impulsive personality. He leaves Macondo to chase a Gypsy girl and returns many years later as an enormous man covered in tattoos, claiming that he's sailed the world's seas. Various characters represent the explorer spirit found in the Buendia family line. Jose Arcadio marries his adopted sister Rebeca, and he dies from a mysterious gunshot wound, days after saving his brother from execution.
- Colonel Aureliano Buendia is José Arcadio Buendía's second son and the first person to be born in Macondo. He is plagued with premonitions (a quality echoed in various characters) and represents a warrior/leader and rebel archetype. He is also a sensitive artist who writes poetry and creates finely crafted golden fish. During the wars he fathers 17 sons by unknown women. All of the Aurelianos in this book are fragmented versions of his character.
- Remedios Moscote is the youngest daughter of the town's Conservative administrator, Don Apolinar Moscote. She is quite beautiful and Colonel Aureliano falls in love with her, despite her extreme youth. She dies shortly after their marriage due to blood poisoning during pregnancy.
- Amaranta and Rebeca. Amaranta is Jose Arcadio Buendia's third child (and only legitimate daughter). Amaranta grows up as a companion of her adopted sister Rebeca. However, her feelings toward Rebeca turn sour over Pietro Crespi, whom both sisters desire in their teenage years. Amaranta dies a lonely and virginal spinster while Rebeca is the daughter of Ursula Iguaran's second cousins. At first she refuses to speak, and has the habit of eating earth and whitewash from the walls of the house, a condition known as pica. She arrives carrying a canvas bag containing her parents' bones and seems not to understand or speak Spanish. She falls in love with and marries her adoptive brother José Arcadio after his return from traveling the world. When he dies, she lives in seclusion or solitude for the rest of her life.
THEMES
When we write we should be trying to make a point or explain an
observation about the human condition as it relates to ourselves and our
characters or fictional world.In 100 Years of Solitude the themes of time and solitude (isolation) (see previous posts) are central to understanding the point of this book. By considering these themes, we, as readers and students, can at least try to grasp what Marquez is trying to teach or tell us about ourselves as human beings. Ah, the power of literature!
The novel's central theme is solitude or human isolation. The Buendia Family, as our protagonists, represent the human condition. Protagonists usually represent the common man or woman (Everyman). Critics have noted that the Beundias "are solitary individuals living together as strangers in the same house. As such, they personify the predicament of the human race."
Gabriel García Márquez does not number his chapters in this book. A reader may wonder why? Perhaps this is the author's way of making us notice time. You do not necessarily notice your life passing day by day. Taken into consideration the flow of human experience we notice that which is important or life altering, but the days themselves slip fluidly away. This experience is likely to become more pronounced as your life continues. The bewilderment of the older generation looking back and saying: "where did my life go?" is a very human experience.
An author not using the traditional fiction conventions draws attention to a work. Without chapters readers think of a book as a single entity. In 100 Years of Solitude Marquez presents us with twenty unmarked subdivisions (chapters) that are "not [treated] as discrete segments but interlinked members in a unitary whole: one text."
The work is fluid, with descriptive, detail-filled paragraphs interspersed with minimal dialogue. From word choice (diction) to sentence and syntax, Marquez builds his paragraphs to include both the normal activities of his characters along with the episodes that remain relevant and dynamic. The chapters flow into one another to create a full text of seamless narrative: time does not stop until the very end (as is the way of all things).
What is confusing for a reader or a student is that the book is not linear. An author can choose to write either chronologically (time events happen one after the other in a normal and expected cause/effect fashion) or use a non-linear narrative, utilizing flashbacks, flashforwards, and fragmented events which build suspense (but may be confusing for weaker readers). If you, as a young writer, need a challenge or are bored with the same ol' chronological narrative, try a nonlinear plot design in your fiction. You will find it much more interesting (as does a good and skilled reader).
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