So I think one of the most interesting mentions of language is with Fernanda and her letters. She writes to her children of her fabulous life in Macondo and the wealth and abundance she experiences, when in reality the house is falling apart, the town in ruins, and life just sucks in general. The incongruity between what Fernanda writes in her letters and the truth of her situation contributes to a fundamental lack of communication. When Amaranta Ursula comes back to Macondo, she expects the city to be as thriving as her mother described. In some ways, the lack of communication does not exist naturally; rather, it is forced on the characters because of their misconceptions of reality.
Not really sure how this relates to death at all.... So any ideas?
Wow Rebecca! What interesting and fabulous observations! Not only do I whole heartedly agree, but also I believe I can answer your question. I think people write and communicate so much before they die so that they can be remembered. They try their hardest to pass on everything they know and all their stories so that their legacy will live on much longer than their life. Thus, letter writing becomes so important because Macondo itself is dying. The occupants of Macondo must as quickly as possible write down everything about it before Macondo disappears. Although Marquez does not explicitly state that, I am pretty sure that is what he means.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure as to how that incongruity in the letters relates to death. However, to add on to what you said about the fundamental lack of communication, I think this is also definitely apparent in the last scene of the chapter. Aureliano is so overcome with his secret and intensely passionate (and obsessive) feelings for Amaranta, yet even when he and her are on the bed together, they both somehow manage to suppress any noises/ signals of communication. The best part is that they manage to do so without Gaston- who is in the room next door- hearing. I think this lack of hearing, or rather, lack of communication, is vital to the story because it exemplifies how the characters are extremely secretive and how no one knows entire truth about anyone or anything. They can clearly do things and easily get away without others knowing...
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Olivia and Rebecca and I think that this idea of passing on their story before death not only relates to letter writing but to the verbal communication between characters. Aureliano Segundo takes all the time to talk to little Auerliano and to teach him about the encyclopedia in order to educate his grandson on the history of the world before the government changes it. Also, Jose Arcadio Segundo continues to shout about the massacre in hopes that someone will believe him and put right the misconception that the government is spreading about the massacre never happening. I think that this theme of communication before death is prevalent throughout the whole book but especially highlighted in this section not only with communication through letters but also by word of mouth.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's true a lot of the letters and communication stuff is to leave traces behind, we also see that this is not always the case. For example, Remedios' "daguerrotype" remains after all these years, and no one (not even Amaranta Ursula who wanted to rework everything)took it down. She just plain disappeared and she arguably is the only enduring presence now. Melquiades already mentioned his ghost powers are greatly diminished, and his parchments are falling apart. Sure, Aureliano tries to figure it out, but it's in Sanskrit, as well as in code, making the communication that much more difficult to understand. Melquides doesn't seem too helpful. But maybe it's just the inability of the inhabitants to comprehend the secrets of life, as the parchments seem about ready to reveal, because they are not ready/worthy. The attempts at communication are authentic attempts to accomplish things and save themselves from solitude. However, the inhabitants simply cannot communicate, or the communication is plagued by mistrust that undermines the attempt, such as with Gaston's attempt to get an airplane.
ReplyDeleteThe townspeople's attempt to get letters to the world of the dead is also an example of how letters aren't always for a mark of permanence. We can already see the town has been ruined by the rain, and the only main things left are the Buendia house and that bookstore.
Colonel Aureliano Buendia's attempts at communication came in the form of his poetry, because he was verbally very solitary. In the end he burned all of his poetry himself, willingly and purposefully. Perhaps in war he realized how useless it was to attempt to communicate, with such rigid sides that seem uncompromising or incapable of understanding the other, much as the men and women don't understand each other much at all either.
I agree with all of the previous comments, especially how Olivia relates communication to death through the idea of preserving the memory of a dying family and the dying city of Macondo.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I think one of the most obvious examples of a type of communication that relates to death is the parchment of Meliquiades. He leaves behind these mysterious documents that cannot be deciphered by many generations of the Buendia family. This is an example of miscommunication that is finally realized when Auerliano in the most recent chapter is able to translate the documents from Sanskrit to Spanish and he claims that they provide the knowledge to everything. This exemplifies the idea that knowledge and preservation of memories and events can only be accomplished once communication is established. This also relates to the Old World vs, New World idea - to keep the Old World alive there needs to be open communication.
I like the idea of letters being a mean is preserving the memory of the past families and totally agree. Throughout the novel the letters seem to be one of the most common ways the characters keep in contact with each other to keep the relationships strong.To me the letters are also a passage from the old Macondo to the new one. For example,( i know this is an old chapter, but it really struck me) before Amaranta Buendia dies, she asks everyone to give her letters they want her to give to the dead. By doing so she is giving letters from the new Macondo to people who passed away in the old Macondo. The letters represent a passage, and to me, also the downfall of the rest of the old Macondo that would soon follow the same path and become the next recipients to the next batch of letters to the dead. For that chapter on, you see the decay of those old families, who with the rain are being washed away, taking all thats old and decaying away to only leave room with what new and still strong.
ReplyDeleteOlivia is right; people do write a lot before they die in order to be remembered. Just think about Melquiades (as Haley mentioned). Even thought he died in the first few chapters, he still reappears in these chapters through his writings and his prophecy. (I think that his prophecy is important to the ending).
ReplyDeleteAlso, communication impacts one of the main motifs in the book, solitude. A lack of communication will lead to solitude and this is why the men and the women within the book always feel the solitude around them.