Monday, April 16, 2012

Corruption of Macondo



You must post 2 times before next Wednesday, April 25th. Your first post should be submitted by Friday, April 21st. 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. At the beginning of the novel, the author alludes to the Garden of Eden when stating "The world was so recent many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point," (1). In what ways has Macondo, encountered a fall?
  • What has corrupted Macondo and its people, especially the Buendia family?
  • How has Macondo changed from a place of social harmony to one of discord in its struggle for autonomy?
  • What outside forces have aided in this change?
Include portions of the text that you feel contribute to your questions/your point. Cite page numbers.


2. 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.

36 comments:

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    1. He is a craddle robber. Boom rosted

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    2. I agree with your views that the fact these old guys are marrying 9 years old. I understand that that is what was acceptable back then, but it still is weird. I'm sure there will be more strange relationships as the book continues.

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  2. I don't get why, if amaranta and rebeca are so close, why amaranta is so dead set on doing absolutely everything she can to make her sister miserable. I know I do anything for my siblings to help them or to get what makes them happy. Maybe that's just how my relationship with my siblings is.

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    1. I agree with Grace. Rebecca and Amaranta are basically sisters, and Amaranta has no problem with threatening to kill her or plotting to poison her. In the next chapter we also see how Rebecca marries Jose Arcadio. She lets Amaranta have Pietro, but when Pietro asks Amaranta to marry him she says that they should wait. I don't understand why Amaranta was so upset and threatened by Rebecca and Pietro if she didn't want to marry him as badly as she made it seem.

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    2. I agree with Grace because I also think it is strange in regards to the relationship between Rebecca and Amaranta. I would do anything for my sister as well. I don't know why all she tries to do is make her sister's life terrible. It doesn't make very much sense to me at all.

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  3. I don't understand why Remedios dying has a big impact on the entire Bunedia family. The family didn't know her very well, and the book made it seem like her and Aureliano were only married for a short time. The book talks about Ursula being very upset about the death and how the entire house was devastated from the loss. I also don't understand why the book made it so confusing to figure out that Remedios dies from a miscarriage. The author said she dies from a pair of twins which is very hard to comprehend without explanation. And the fact that the author didn't talk about her being pregnant before was a little confusing as well.

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    1. That's a really good point, the book makes it seem like Ursula is more upset than Remedios' family. The two couldnt have had that much in common, Remedios wasn't very old, the age gap between the two was probably pretty big. The fact that she wasnt apart of their lives for very long and the grieving process lasted a year, I think it said,was a little unrealistic.

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    2. Yeah it did make it seem that Ursula was way more upset than anyone else, I was thinking maybe it was because Remedios was only 9 and Ursula may of felt like losing Remedios was like losing her own child? Like maybe she felt like a motherly figure to Remedios

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    3. This was a little strange because the book kept bouncing around and then all of a sudden it mentions Remedios had "an explosion in her stomach" or something and she had died leaving Aureliano miserable. I dont understand what the Author is trying to accomplish with killing her in the story.

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  4. Im reviewing the strange things that happen is this book, as we all know, there is a crap ton of them. Like Diego I am also a little wierded out by Remedios b/c he marries 9 yr old. Also its strange to me that Amaranta and rebeca have this relationship between them that it does seem like they kinda want to hurt each other.
    Women Huh? Whata gonna do!?

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  5. In regard to the first prompt, some of the falls include Pietro and Amaranta not getting married, which leads to his death. Arcadio causing trouble as he is the military/civil leader, and also the war in general brings down the city of Macando. Arcadio then dies and it seems as if all together that their city is going in a downhill spiral and may not return to its state as "Eden". An outside force who has brought upon this is also Gregario as he helps with the war and tells them that the liberals have fallen.

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    1. I agree with Nick because he has made some fantastic points in his argument. Arcadio is a strong leader but has confused thoughts

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    2. I was confused like Nick said too about Amaranta and Pietro's relationship. This whole book Amaranta has been trying to kill her sister to make sure Rebecca didn't marry Pietro. Then she says she wouldn't want to marry him if he were dead, I was confused on this. Did she say that because she was the second pick in her mind?

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    3. I agree with everyone above. I was very confused as to why Amaranta would reject Pietro's proposal since they spent so much time together and she was willing to kill Rebeca to get him. I think Madi brings up a good point and it makes since. I think she did say no because she was the second choice and she knew that he did love Rebeca instead of her. Pietro offered his brother for Amaranta when she wanted him and once Rebeca left, Amaranta was just a last resort.

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  6. I'm identifying some of the elements that i think is very weird, or strange. All of the strange relationships in the book are crazy, especially remedios. Who marries a 9 year old, i mean c'mon now, that is just weird.

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    1. HAHA cannot take you seriously with that picture up. Please take it down you are distracting me.

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    2. Also I am commenting on Diego's comment. I feel like this is one of the only books that have this many random, disgusting, pedophilia relationships. I dont understand why there cant just be one normal man marry one normal women.

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  7. I am identifying elements of the story that i found particularly interesting in chapter five. When Jose Arcadio came home and he was very tall, tan and had tattoos everywhere. It was interesting to see how much much he had changed. I thought it was starnge to see too how his and Rebecca's relationship developed as well. My question is why didn't the author talk about when Jose Arcadio came back that he said hi to everyone except Jose Arcadio Buendia? The book did not mention them encountering once.

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    1. Very swell observation miss madeline. First off, I kind of thought he was out of the book and wouldn't return so I was surprised when he was brought back in the book. Second, that is not at all how I would've pictured him upon his returning. When he left I pictured a horny little teenager, and now he's the dude you'd see in the circus in the "World's strongest man" act. As far as the relationship between him and Rebecca, I did think it was kind of weird from Rebecca's point of view only because of how obsessed she was with Pietro. I'm not that surprised with Jose Arcadio though, bec it just shows he hasn't changed at all from the beginning of the book. The only answer I could have for why he never said hi to JAB was that he may have still been angry at his son for leaving

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    2. I agree with Madi. There are a lot of things the author puts in the book that make me wonder why he included them. There are also things that are not put in the book that make me wonder why the author did not include them. Does the author pay special attention to what is put in the book and what is not? Or is it just by random chance?

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  8. I am writing in regard to the first prompt. An outside source that helped corrupt the town of Macondo was Don Moscote. He came in and disturbed the peace bringing new laws that no one enjoyed. When the election took place he took the side of the conservatives and changed the ballots of the people to look as though the town was more conservative. He helped fuel Aureliano to fight for the liberals and ignite the war.

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    1. I agree with Catherine on this idea that Don Moscote was a major reason for change in Macondo. He was the first reason people wanted to raise up, they didn't appreciate how he was trying to change their community. Also his family changed the dynamics of the Buendia family through marriage and other relationships.

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  9. I thought it was weird how sudden Remedios died- I didn't see that coming. I also thought it was crazy how she died from a miscarriage- with twins! It seemed like Ursula took it the hardest-which was kind of odd, because they made it seem like Remedios and Aureliano hadn't even been married very long.

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    1. I agree with Jenn on this one because as she said Ursula took the death very hard but before they Aureliano and Remedios were married it seemed that she was opposed of the whole relationship. I feel that the relationship between Remedios and Ursula didn't develop enough for Ursula to feel so sad about the death.

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  10. I'm writing to answer the first prompt. Macondo was in great shape before Don Moscote arrived. Before he was there, Macondo bearly suffered any deaths of its own people. The people were honest and stood by each other. Don Moscote brought a corruption to the town that would spread to others after attempting to switch the ballots of the election.

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  11. I'm responding to the first prompt in regard to the fall of Macondo and how it's changed from it's Garden of Eden type image. In earlier chapters, the book compared Macondo to the garden of Eden in that they didn't even have a cemetary yet because they were so perfect no one had even died. Now they have strayed away from that image, and problems are arising everywhere. In the Buendia household, conflicts between Amaranta and Rebecca over Pietro, the death of Remedios, and the return of Jose Arcadio all stir up problems just in that one household. Throughout the whole town, troubles a brewing between the liberals and the conservatives when that sneaky little man Don Moscote fixed the voting, causing a rebellion by the liberals. As you can see with all these problemas Macondo is far from the "garden of Eden" image it once possessed.

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    1. This was a very long and ridiculous post george donald. I agree with what you mean about the image of macondo changing from the garden of eden. It lost a feel of fruitfulness.

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  12. I think there are many strange points in this book. Such as the fact that the entire Buendia family was in such despair after the death of Remedios, when they weren't event that close to her. Another strange point in the story is the relationship between Rebecca and Amaranta. Also, the fact that Remedios marrying a nine year old kid.

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  13. I don't understand what is happening to Aureliano in the story, is the author trying to show that he is going crazy from the death of Remedios? I didn't understand how that all fit into the chapter.

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  14. I found a couple things interesting in this chapter, first of all the Buendia family took the loss of Remedios very hard. They kind of adopted her when she was young and got to know her but i didnt think they would take the death as hard as they did.

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  15. I found it interesting that Pietro killed himself after Amaranta rejected his marriage proposal. He did not even want to marry Amaranta in the first place. He did not even know her that well and they had not dated. Why would he take his life because someone he did not even know did not want to be with him?

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    1. I think it said they were starting to hang out alot before he asked her and that people were expecting it, but at the same time i agree with you. What an over reaction. She wasn't even his first choice and he could still try to be with her if he was really determined, instead of just giving up.

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  16. Macondo is in a fall. At first it was very simple living and nobody had even died yet. Then as more and more influences from the outside world came, such as the gypsies and then the arrival of Don Moscote, things began to change. Jose Arcadio Buendia and the other people in the village became more curious about the outside world. When Don Moscote came to take over the town it was the first warning that things were gonna be different for the town. For the first time the government had tried to intervene in peaceful little Macondo and that led to the first disputes against the govenment, and then came a war.

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  17. I thought the part in the story where Aureliano was facing the conservative firing squad was confusing. They had been so excited about capturing a liberal leader then they just waited to kill him over a strange rumor. Then when they were actually going to kill him all it took was Jose Arcadio running at them with a gun that scared them all into running away. That was just a strange sequence of events.

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  18. The parts that i find most confusing while reading One Hundred Years of Solitude is when ever they are talking about the progression of war. Those parts are the most confusing and I just get lost on whether the liberals are ahead or if the conservatives are. I just don't know what is really happening with the actual war that is going on the background of the story because the main focus is just the weird crazy Buendia family.

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