Tag Archives: family

03/6/23

Marquez: Part 2!

Hi everyone!

Wow, two weeks have flown by! I can’t believe we are already on our way to wrapping up with this book. I won’t lie, although I enjoyed this book, I have been DYING to get to Rigoberta Menchu’s book as I have always wanted to delve into that. But, for now! Let’s continue to unpack Maquez’s work:)

This past week was a bit of a struggle for me, so I had a hard time reading in larger chunks as per Jon’s recommendation because I came down with a nasty flu that made me bed-ridden–it sucked. So naturally, while reading it in smaller chunks, as some of my other peers had mentioned, it was much more difficult to keep up with all of the different characters–in fact, a bit overwhelming at times. I also love how this recurring theme of time throughout all books appears and reappears for us to investigate how the author uses it and makes meaning of it to contribute to a certain goal within their writing. In this book, we see how time breaks down not only Macondo, but everyone in it, including the Buendia family. More importantly, we see how time impacts that of memory. What was a town of memories and family and love and fun (with its bad parts, too) eventually becomes one of disillusion, lack of strength AND memories, and dullness after the massacre and plague. But with all this in mind, however you may try to change the trajectory of your own history or actions, or avoid making the same mistakes as the past, they will continue to haunt you–as seen in the book and as mentioned in lecture. We also see a search for eventual longing,  Aureliano through the quote that says: “Aureliano did not understand until then how much he loved his friends, how much he missed them, and how much he would have given to be with them at that moment.” (329). Even though the past leaves memories behind, and that history may repeat itself, Aureliano finds himself missing what once was–something I could relate to.

Overall, despite feeling confused by this book at times, I am glad for the opportunity to have read it. I’m thoroughly excited to delve into the second half of this book in class on both Tuesday and Thursday! For now, I’ll leave you with a question:

 

I notice a lot of people saying the second half of the book was more difficult to follow than the first? What do you consider the main reason for that to be?

02/28/23

Week 8, Part #1: Márquez and “100 Years of Solitude”

Hi everyone! I hope your reading break was restful and enjoyable:) Daniel, sorry for the later post this time around–I’ve encountered quite a few flight cancellations and delays over the past few days so have been playing catch-up–excited to get back into the swing of things! 

I have really been looking forward to getting to delve into this book by Márquez, especially after Jon talked about how highly acclaimed it was within Latin American literature. As some of my other peers have mentioned, this book seems to have been much easier to navigate compared to others, such as Borges (sorry Jon–we can’t escape Borges, haha)–we were even given a family tree at the beginning of the book this time around! I’m glad we get to spend two weeks on it. This theme and legacy of magical realism within this realm of literature excites me. Before I delve into the rest of my blog, I wanted to attach a link to a clip of an episode of Netflix’s Narcos (my favourite TV show) that talks about Colombia’s close ties and roots in magical realism. It was my first ever introduction to this concept! 

Back to discussion on the first half of this book, I usually have gotten confused and had difficulty keeping up in past books when there are multiple characters and they are introduced in various ways, especially when the story is non-chronological, but I feel that Márquez did an effective job of introducing and developing characters throughout. My favourite character so far is Ursula. She is a strong woman who holds her family together. It is oftentimes these characters that I closely relate with and I admire her efforts to show love and care for those around her, even if she was a bit harsh at times. For example, she is assertive in her care, such as telling her husband that “if [he] has to go crazy, please go crazy all by [him]self!” (9). Although tough love can be hard, the matriarch of the family tries to bring light to the curse on her family. As the lecture mentions, Ursula is well aware of the repetitive nature of events that her family experiences–one that at one point was feared for being eternal (396). I appreciate her as a grounding sense of character throughout the book. 

I’m very excited to continue reading this book as we progress into the next week! Before I leave, my question for you is: Can you provide an example of where this theme of time/repetition repeats itself? How does it contribute to the greater overall story? 

See you next week:)  

 

02/13/23

Week #6: Rulfo’s “Pedro Paramo”

Like a good chunk of my peers, I find myself in agreeance that this week’s read, Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo, was a more enjoyable read because I quite enjoy stories that run along the themes of memory, family, life, and death itself. Even though the book wasn’t exactly in chronological order, I still found it easier to understand, follow along with. The first theme I felt showed very strongly, however, was that of memory.

The book itself begins with Juan Preciado’s visit to Comala to fulfill his promise to his mother, who was presumably on her death bed (4). When his mother says, “make him pay, son, for all those years he put us out of his mind,” the reader can make some general assumptions of what may have went down years prior, but we are not yet aware–but for the mother, the memories are there. Rulfo soon sets the scene, to help the reader, by describing the “dog days” with hot August wind and saponaria blossoms (4). While Paramo enters the town of Comala, the ghost town, this theme of continual scene-setting utilizing first-person narrative and imagery helps effectively portray memory in its entirety–not just memories about or from one person, but from each person that Juan encounters throughout his time in town. From Juan’s interactions with the dead, to Preciado dying partway through the book, to the retelling of memories fron Pedro Paramo’s time, this book constantly thrives off memory and nostalgia. These memories, often filled with the ideas of hope, despair, truth, and longing, are consistent throughout all timeframes and stories told or recounted by each character in the book. In memory, life and death are constant. Not linear, not interchangeable, but always present. Whether that be the characters in which Preciado faces, or the fate he eventually leads to himself. Life and death are all around us, and we can learn from both the present and the past. As mentioned in the video lecture, “the distance between life and death is apparently minimal, almost discernable.” These voices, these stories, they are almost eternal in a way. A quote from the book itself reminded me and really drove home this theme of memory for me–I’ve pasted it below:

“Nothing can last forever; there is no memory, however intense, that does not fade.” (217)

Even the word “fade” or “fading” shows up almost ten times throughout the book–almost each time it is mentioned, whether it is used in a literal or figurative way, refers to memory–with a fear of it being lost or maintained. I found it to be powerful, and it being consistently used throughout the story made the theme stand out all the more overall.

 

My question for you is: Did you pick up on any other central themes in to how memory was conveyed throughout this book? How did these make you feel? How can they assist the reader in understanding the events of the book, especially as it in a non-chronological order?