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reading it over one hundred times before it makes sense
Posted by: | March 2, 2010 | Comments Off on reading it over one hundred times before it makes sense
This is my second attempt reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. I unfortunately fall into the category of people who started to read the story and only got three quarters of the way through it. I stopped reading it not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because everything I thought I understood about the storyline and the characters was starting to contradict itself. Better to try it another time. Little did I know I would get my chance half a year later. Luckily my wikipedia project is on this realism novel, so I have had no choice but to do some pre-reading research. With a not yet extensive collection of research and background information the revolutionary work is no longer all Greek to me. There is still so much I do find confusing. I think Marquez makes a point in the confusion and the duality in the story because if reflects the characters attempt to establish a home in Macondo. Everything is unknown to the charactes and the author creates a similar atmosphere and feeling for the reader. This connection is important because it draws a closer relationship between the characters and the readers who have become adventures along side the characters of the story. The purpose of this base, the development of a relationship between the characters and the reader, draws to the realism in the novel that is juxtaposed by all the magical elements. Jose Buendia begins to immerse himself in the archives of invention and modernization. It almost seems as if he rbegins to lose his sense of self and purpose, the reason why he first established himself in Macondo. I small part of me sees this to have great ambiguity because while surrounded by discovery, invention, and redefinition, Jose slows down the time and the development of Macondo. The necessary work that needs to be done around the house and the cultivation of the land is ignored. The fundamental and practical necessities in establishing a new settlement are put on pause and therefore there is a back track in advancement contrary to forward motion. The second generation, Buendia’s children are able to represent a greater sense of self and identity, but the static and security of home and family is again faltered by the arrival of the nomadic gypsy women. These women display characteristics of freedom but freedom at the price of a loss in duty and the entrapment of obsession. The relationships and affairs between the characters begin to get kinda twisted and weird. At first all I could think about is how messed up it all is. However, there is a greater meaning, or at least I’m sure that has to be. The more I read the more I hope to make sense of it all. I really am enjoying the book a second time…. Perhaps this time because I have a better understanding or at least I think I do I’ll be in class tomorrow just waiting to hear what the actual reasoning is!
