This reading of the second half of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” surprised me in a positive way. What especially caught my attention was the development of the main plot through the growth of the characters and the town of Macondo. The story follows the next generation of the Buendia family and their personal and social dilemmas, as they undergo significant changes.

Firstly while Aureliano Buendia is portrayed as a shy and introverted person who spends most of his time reading and studying, this image completely changed for me as I kept reading. Later in the story, he becomes more involved in the political life and conflicts of Macondo, becoming a leader in the revolution. In my opinion, Aureliano develops from being a passive character with a smaller contribution to an active participant in the town of Macondo. Moreover, I also noticed an abrupt change in the character of Jose Arcadio, but in a very different way from Aureliano’s. Jose Arcadio was the founder of Macondo and therefore has a very important role at the beginning of the story. He could be described as a brave visionary and makes essential contributions to the town, but as the story continues and he gets older, he becomes more insecure and delusional. His personality development is probably related to how his habits change and how he gradually becomes more isolated. Finally, we see his character die, which in my opinion was a very sad ending to a character that started as strong as his. 

One character that was surprising for me since the beginning was Remedios, the irresistible beautiful woman who causes men to lose their minds. While at the beginning of the story she was more humble about this or didn’t give it as much importance, it looks like as she gets older, she starts realizing more about her “treat” and becomes more disconnected from the world. Finally, we see how her character “ascends to the heavens”, floating away into the sky, witnessed by everyone in Macondo. Another female character that caught my attention was Amaranta Ursula, but opposite to the characters of Aureliano or Jose Arcadio who expereince abrupt changes throughout the novel, her character generally remains unchanged during the story. I didn’t like the end that Garcia Márquez chose for her character however, although it does make it different and not a classic “happy ending”. Towards the beginning of the story, she becomes more distant from everyone, being full of resentment and anger about past events in her family. We see her character die without being able to move on from her issues, which is sad but at the end makes you rflect about the importance one should give to problmes in life.

Overall, one of my main focuses as I progressed with my lecture of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was transformation, especially character transformation. Without a doubt my favorite character due to their development was Aureliano.

Who was your favorite character overall and why? What changes or details did you observe in this character as he story progressed?