Saturday, November 6, 2010
Where's the Magic?
This section of the novel revealed a SIGNIFICANT amount of information regarding the Buendía family line. We saw countless deaths and births, which simultaneously expanded and diminished the Buendía family line. We continue to learn and delve into the story about the establishment of Macondo and its inhabitants, and as a result, we are seeing a bigger, more enigmatic story with a crucial political context unfold. However, most importantly, we see García Márquez's successful integration and imposition of magic realism within the text. In class, we defined and explained magic realism, which prepared us, as readers, for what to expect in One Hundred Years of Solitude. We defined magic realism in literature as a contemporary narrative in which the magical and mundane are mixed in an overall context of realistic storytelling; a combination of external factors of human existence with the internal, resulting in a blend of physical reality with a human psychological reality. In this novel, we have the setting of Macondo, layered with historical and geographical context, in which the human experience is paramount to relaying the story and in which the characters accept the magic without question. Furthermore, because we know that Márquez's story contains pervasive fantastic elements which the reader is forced to accept, my question is this: Where in this section of the text does the magic come alive for you, as the reader? For me (as I'm sure all of us will agree), the magic truly came alive when Remedios the Beauty was folding sheets with Amaranta and the others in the garden and suddenly, she rises to the sky "in the midst of the flapping sheets that rose up with her" and is "lost forever in the upper atmosphere where not even the highest-flying birds of memory could reach her." Here, I was dumbfounded as the reader, because even though I had seen innumerable elements of magic realism in the story, up until now, I never really stepped back and let myself comprehend exactly what I was reading. For that reason, I found this event in the novel to be the ultimate manifestation of magic realism, for I now have become a character who must accept the magic without question.
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The scene Katie chose is definitely a great example of magical realism. For me, I think the magic truly got a voice with Rebeca. When Aureliano Triste goes to the house and finds Rebeca still alive, "aiming an antiquated pistol at him....examining inch by inch the giant with square shoulders and with a tattoo of ashes on his forehead" (218). With Rebeca still alive, I understood the magical realism concept: having to just accept the absurd as if it were normal. I also just love this scene. I think it's so cute that Rebeca sees her husband rather than Aureliano Triste - and rather hysterical to imagine this decrepit woman pointing an old pistol at this shocked, young man.
ReplyDeleteI really liked two scenes in the reading. The first scene may not have magical realism, per say, because some people actually believe it exists. The scene is when Marquez is describing the similarities between the two twins, Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo. I thought it was magical when one twin was served a glass of lemonade and then tasted it. After that, the other twin announced that the lemonade needed more sugar. This connection between twins is magic to me but it might just be everyday life for actual twins (a.k.a Katie and her sister).
ReplyDeleteThe other magical scene was when Aureliano Segundo went into the locked room with Melquiades (sorry about spelling these characters' names wrong). The first magical part was that everything in the room remained the same. It stayed so much the same that even dust could not form on any of the surfaces within the room. I like the idea of a place remaining unchanged throughout all the chaos of war and movement of the modern world. Also, the other magical aspect was that Aureliano Segundo was talking to Melquiades, but Melquiades supposedly died.
I used to be very confused by all of the magical realism in the novel but after continuing to read the book, it has become easier to understand and in the same way that the villagers don't question the magic, I have stopped as well. In the scenes that Katie, Leah, and Benjy talked about above the magical realism doesn't even seem that strange because everyone else accepts the magic fully. I still am amazed by how long Ursula has lived for as well as Rebeca and Pilar because they are well into the fourth generation of the family and yet the woman strongly outlast the men. I am not quite sure why the women survive longer or if this is even something worth mentioning but it seems strange that while the men can live a very long time, they all eventually die whereas the women do not.
ReplyDeleteI love this book a lot, and I am legitimately excited to read to the end. (I actually can't wait to read the ending, I know I sound ridiculous) Anyway, so far I completely agree with what everyone has noted as the most magical aspects of the text in terms of this reading. Yet, as corny/geeky/"suck-up-ish" as it may sound, what I find so magical about this novel is the observations Marquez makes about life. I thought the section in which Colonel Aureliano Buendia becomes so overwhelmed by the idea of fighting for power and realizes how meaningless power truly is, is an incredible scene. Marquez writes, "The intoxication of power began to break apart under waves of discomfort... lost in the solitude of his immense power, he began to lose direction" (166). I thought this was an especially magically way to write about power and its disastrous effects. What I found even more powerful was Marquez's ideas on simplicity. This was one of my favorite quotes from the reading: "... Colonel Aureliano Buendia scratched for many hours trying to break the hard shell of his solitude. His only happy moments, since that remote afternoon when his father had taken him to see ice, had taken place in his silver workshop where he passed the time putting little gold fishes together. He had had to start thirty-two wars and had had to violate all of his pacts with death and wallow like a hog in the dung heap of glory in order to discover the privileges of simplicity almost forty years late" (169). Despite all of CAB's "accomplishments," what he loves most in life is sitting in his workshop, making the golden fish. That is the true magic of this novel.
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely scenes where magical realism is extremely obvious (i.e. when Jose Arcadio Buendia dies and flowers fall from the sky), but I also think magical realism is evident in the more mundane, everyday happenings of Buendia life. for example, when Aureliano Segundo goes into Melquiades' old room it is described as being more fresh and new then when Melquiades worked in there many years before, even though it had been locked all that time. Marquez says, "the ink had not dried up in the inkwell nor had the oxidation diminished the shine of the metals nor had the embers gone out under the water pipe" (183). This idea of permanence, and the everlasting nature of life even after death is reflected through magical realism. The reader has come to accept that magic can occur every day in the Buendia life, and it is the means by which the Buendia family stays connected to its ancestors.
ReplyDeleteI really like Jordan's comment about the men vs. the women in this novel - it is strange that the men seem to die so much more frequently than the women - the only women in the book who actually dies is Remedios Mascote.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect of this novel that I find intriguing is the similarities between certain characters. As we were told in class, the people with the same names have similar overarching characteristics. So while I was reading, I tried to find connections and similarities between all the characters. All of the Aurelianos seem to have a natural predisposition for isolation, emotional restraint, and a dedication to hard work. The only exception to this would be Aureliano Segundo who has become a seemingly frivolous and wild man. However, as a child he was described as pensive and spent a majority of his time in the old work room of Meliquiades. The Aurelianos also seem to have very focused passions like the original Aurelianos dedication to the war. The Jose Arcadios seem to be more fanatical and imaginative and less restrained when it comes to showing emotions or pursuing ideas. JAB always became fascinated with wild ideas and tried to pursue them. Similarly, Jose Arcadio ran off and joined a pseudo-navy and travelled the world and Jose Arcadio Segundo throwing himself into religion. They all seem to develop deep passions. I do not see as clearly the similarities between the females with the same names. I guess both Remedios' have a natural maturity, but I think it would be beneficial to discuss these characters in class.
I'm pretty amazed at the mass amount of animals/livestock that Petra Cotes and Aureliano Segundo are able to make. Aureliano said he had to sleep with Petra again "so that the animals would keep on breeding" (210). I guess she's more valuable than Fernanda, who's just a pretty face. I also remember the animals taking up the entire lawn, with huge quantities of rabbits. The courtyard was "paved with rabbits, blue in the glow of dawn" (191). All this livestock led to his increased prosperity, so I'm happy for him. It's just so fortuitous.
ReplyDeleteWhat fascinated me the most about all of this reading was the constant presence of solitude. It is not just one set of characters with the same name. It is all of the characters. They are constantly feeling isolated lonely even though they live in a town that they founded and are well respected. Also, they are always around one another and the house is always full. Ursula built the house so that a lot of people could stay there and there normally are a lot of people there. The loneliness of the characters I think comes from the internal perspective rather that the physical state of the person. I think it will be interesting to talk in class about the constant feelings of solitude as the title says that are present in all of the characters' lives.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the original question, I have to say. Katie, that scene is way to reminiscent of Jesus in my own eyes. My magical realism popped in when one of those bastard Aurulianos died and then two shots appeared from a place unknown to kill that general. Shot that was heard around the world much? That was pretty epic. But yeah, this book is interesting because it has all those witty lines. I do have one request though... Stop with the sex... I'm tired of having 17+ Aurulianos coming and going in this story. The unfeasibility of having so many bastard Aurulianos is driving me crazy. It makes me feel like the book is going on so quickly and the only thing that makes me realize its not is when we have people like Pilar who come into the story. It is then that I realize, there was only one Pilar! Even then though, I keep going wtf with all these kids...
ReplyDeleteAnd Brianna, I think a lot of the loneliness has to go with the fact that the men die so quickly. All 17 kids die before they're 35 or something while the women move on. The only possible exception is Poppa Arcadio Buendia, who has gone insane (I have officially paralleled him to the tower of Babel scene in the bible).
Well, those 17 Aurelianos came pretty easily, and died just as simply. It was a good way to take care of all of them.
ReplyDeleteAnother part of the magical realism that I think is pretty funny is how guys obsess about Remedios, such as that prince who sends bands to her home, and then Aureliano Buendia (the Colonel) threatens to shoot them. Then there's the guy who was peeking at her while she was in the bath and then he fell and died. It's not just these "simpletons," as she puts it, obsessing over her, but also the way in which thye die. The last guy had, instead of blood, some kind of amber thing flowing out which was the smell of Remedios. She's pretty powerful without even knowing it. Then she's gone - I'm going to miss her.
Yeah, Derek brings up a good point that sort of strengthens what I was thinking. I thought of Helen and Troy when Remedios was brought up and sort of wondered. II feel like Marquez is telling the story of society, not so much Macando. Macando is supposed to be society. It started off as this barbaric place where all people were equals, they scraped a living, did not do much else. But then they became obsessed with God, and God punishes man by making them all speak different languages (Babel Tower). And then there are these insurrections similar to Columbia or the chaos of war and ideologies. Then suddenly there's this level of peace that returns, only to return to chaos. And no one really knows what they're fighting for. Marquez is sort of recapping the story of man here. I feel like he's taking bits of all these different literatures and just plopping them onto this book, telling the larger story.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of what is stated above is true, and i agree with it, but for me what i found very magical is how marquez is able to incorporate the imagination and thoughts of the chracters to the reader. Like when for example the colonel realizes the liberal party won, and he can see the war from his own eyes, he states that he is detached from himself, that he is entering a new world. And although that sounds fictional, we do it too, we just dont think about it.. like day dreaming, that could be considered magic realism. I love the way marquez portrays it in here, also how he highlights the aspects of the nature that surround us, like the blue of the sky for example. He dosnt describe it as a clear sky, he describes it as "going out into the blue air of the mist". Which i think is beautiful magical realism.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to carry on Brianna's tangent (I think there are a number of ways to interpret the solitude that is so omnipresent in the novel) and apply that to Olivia's corny/geeky/"suck-up-ish" tangent about what Marquez is saying about life
ReplyDeleteHere goes: so basically we are presented with this surprisingly insular and yet internally isolated family, as brianna pointed out. Marquez also tells us about this country, that seems very set in it's ways with strict alliances established and each little area is completely isolated from every other (especially at the beginning). It seems to me that the family is a microcosm of the country of Colombia.
Here's the point: marquez is saying that a country that gets set in its ways and keeps each part of society completely separate ideologically from every other part will eventually fall to ruin, like the family.
this idea is pretty simple but i think it addresses the key underlying message? is anyone with me? (or still awake)