Summer 2001 |
Notes on One Hundred Years of Solitude |
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[additional commentaries on One
Hundred Years of Solitude] Mike Rios Eng 7757 Dr. R. Nordquist Notes on One Hundred Years of Solitude Possible Questions for Essays on One Hundred Years of Solitude: In his essay, "Gabriel Garcia Márquez Meets Ernest Hemingway," Márquez says the following: "The best thing about [Hemingway’s] stories is that they give the impression something is missing, and this is precisely what confers their mystery and their beauty." First, decide whether One Hundred Years of Solitude gives the impression of something missing. If so, cite examples of what is missing. (Some examples could be missing bits of dialogue, certain dates, characters, themes, messages from the story or the author.) Next, determine whether these "missing things" are better left missing or should be discovered by the reader/critic; or if they should be missing at all. In other words, when Márquez decides to leave things out of his story, does this decision benefit the story? The reader? Anyone? If so, explain how and why. _____ A few critics have suggested that One Hundred Years of Solitude is flawed because the narrative does not sustain periods of interruption. In other words, some readers may find that if they put the book down and return to it later on, they will be lost or confused, not sure where they left off in the story. Do you agree? If so, discuss the factors in the novel (from the narrative itself to the author) that may contribute to the reader’s confusion if he or she stops reading the novel for any period of time. Is there any evidence that the reader may be confused during the actual reading process? If so, discuss. _____ Some critics have pointed to a problem with the term magic realism when discussing works of literature outside Latin America. They state that one of the principal elements of this literary style is its Latin American origin. Some feel that magic realism is solely Latin American in nature, and therefore works outside of Latin America should not and cannot contain magic realism. Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is a work that is said to contain magic realism, or at the very least, elements of magic realism. First, discuss some of the major elements of magic realism. Then, compare the magic realism found in Márquez and Rushdie’s works (One Hundred Years of Solitude and Midnight’s Children). Finally, discuss whether magic realism should be relegated to only Latin American works or whether the term can be applied to any work. (Aid: Think about the culture of the work’s author and the culture represented in the work; are these significant factors? Should they be?) _____ Márquez’ News of a Kidnapping is a non-fictional account of "the 1990 kidnapping of nine journalists by Medellin's powerful cocaine cartel and the events that eventually led to the surrender of the cartel's leader, the notorious Pablo Escobar." One critic charges that non-Latins may find it difficult to relate to the book because they may not be familiar with the events and the place and because Márquez does not fully explain the story. Can the same be said of One Hundred Years of Solitude? If one of the ways we can approach this novel is by viewing it as an allegory in which its events and setting represent the events and setting of Latin America, where is the evidence to support such a view? Discuss this evidence. Then, think about the following question: If the reader is not familiar—or if the reader is only somewhat familiar—with Latin America and its turbulent history, can he or she relate the novel to Latin America? If so, how? If not, does it harm the novel in any way? Or does it benefit the novel? _____ Consider the following passages: "With her terrible practical sense [Ursula] could not understand the colonel’s business as he exchanged little fishes for gold coins and then converted the coins into little fishes, and so on, with the result that he had to work all the harder with the more he sold in order to satisfy an exasperating vicious cycle" (215). "‘I know all of this by heart,’ Ursula would shout. ‘It’s as if time had turned around and we were back at the beginning’" (210). Discuss repetition in One Hundred Years of Solitude and how it relates to Latin American culture and history. _____ Consider the following passage: "Ursula … could not conceal a vague feeling of doubt. Throughout the long history of the family the insistent repetition of names had made her draw some conclusions that seemed to be certain. While the Aurelianos were withdrawn, but with lucid minds, the Jose Arcadios were impulsive and enterprising, but they were marked with a tragic sign." (198). Do you agree with Ursula’s conclusion? Discuss why or why not. (Remember to use evidence from the novel to support your view.) _____ Macondo begins as a peaceful town, so much so that there is no cemetery for there have been no deaths … yet. Trace the death and violence that occurs in the novel and relate it to the theme of change. Is anyone to blame for the violence? If so, who? Or, perhaps, what? Why? _____ Consider the following observation from a critic: "The counting of the red and blue ballots is the beginning of the loss of innocence for the Colonel […] His innocence was previously maintained by limited contact with people outside of his family and no contact with anyone outside of Macondo." Do you agree? Why or why not? In your own words, define loss of innocence. Also, discuss the theme of solitude in relation to loss of innocence. (Ask yourself these questions: Does contact with others lead to the loss of innocence? Is this harmful? Is this beneficial? Is solitude good or bad? Or both?) _____ Consider the following passage from Márquez’ Nobel lecture on December 8, 1982: "Why is the originality so readily granted to [Latin Americans] in literature so mistrustfully denied us in our difficult attempts at social change? Why think that the social justice sought by progressive Europeans for their own countries cannot also be a goal for Latin America, with different methods for dissimilar conditions? No: the immeasurable violence and pain of our history are the result of age-old inequities and untold bitterness, and not a conspiracy plotted three thousand leagues from our home." Discuss how the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude contribute to their own deaths, pain, horror, madness, and other generally bad stuff. Do they do so knowingly? Unknowingly? Or both? Is there a difference between the male characters’ contributions and the females’? How so?
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