You must post twice before this Thursday, November 12th. The first time you post it should be in response to one of the prompts below. The second time you post it should be in response to another student.
1. Choose a particular character to evaluate. Determine whether the character traits you have noted are ultimately positive or negative, or both. Explain your reasoning. For example Jose Arcadio Buendia: He is inventive and spends many hours alone on his alchemy experiments trying to discover already known science. This is ultimately negative, because he isolates himself from his family and eventually goes mad.
2. Identify, support and evaluate the evidence of one of the following leitmotifs: cyclical patterns, prophecy, illegitimacy, or fantasy. (A leitmotif is a frequently repeated phase, image, symbol or situation in a literary work, the recurrence of which usually indicates or supports a theme.)
i think that all the children of aureleano have the same trait is an example of a leitmotif. the kids are all very blessed with magical powers and they all are very mischeivious
ReplyDeleteThe passing on of names is a cyclical pattern, which is a leitmotif. Each time a name is passed down, the person inheriting the name also inherits some of the characteristics of the person with the same name that came before him. For instance, the Arcadios of the Buendia family are all very spontaneous and irrational. The first Jose Arcadio Buendia spent most of his wife's fortune on pointless inventions brought to Macondo by the gypsies.
ReplyDeleteAmarantas qualities are very extreme. She is extremely catholic and dedicated to her family, the church and her work at raising the children in the Buendia household. on the other hand however she is terrible at forgiveness and always wants to make people pay for their faults against her. She makes sure that people hurt more then she does and has a terrible time committing to a relationship because of her shallowness and need for the other to be absolutely perfect, in her opinion. I would classify Amaranta as a generally negative person. Although her faith is strong, her lack of compassion and greed ultimitly makes her a negative person.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Michaels above statement about the passing down of names. I think that the Buendia family is very superstitious and so the name their children after the people in their family they want that child to be like. Although Jose Arcadio did eventually lose his mind, they want their children to get the traits of his leadership, his creativity and most of all the way he became the power in the town of Macondo. He was the one who founded the town and made the Buendia name famous, powerful and respected by all; even the people who don't agree with their opinions enough to deny a command and not kill a Buendia.
ReplyDeleteThe character that really stands out when talking about negative and positive traits is Remedios the Beauty. We don't really hear much about her or what she does throughout the beginning of her childhood except to be told that she might be mentally retarded and "simpleminded". We start to learn more about her from Colonel Aureliano's ignorance to her nakedness one day. Turns out, Remedios the Beauty is simpleminded. I think Marquez meant to be ironic when he decided to portray Remedios the Beauty as being absolutely stunning and beautiful- and stupid. Her simplemindedness became a negative trait because she was never able to mature as a women or understand her own beauty and its presence among men. She possessed all this beauty but it meant nothing to her because she didn't understand it. On top of that, it is found out that she has a particular "scent" or "aroma" that she gives off that brings death all around her. Many are captivated by her beauty but it is almost a tragedy to look upon her (take the man who fell from the shower roof for example). This is also a negative trait because it only brings death and tragedy! Her beauty is also a negative trait because Remedios is unable to use it for her advantage or for the advantage of others. Unfortunetly, it looks like Remedios is headed for disaster.
ReplyDeleteGoing a little further into Carlee's comments about the character of Amaranta, I believe she has some extremely bad qualities AND some good ones. Her devotion to her family and to raising children that are not her own show that she has a compassionate heart. However, I think Carlee is right when she says that Amaranta sometimes feels the need to hurt others more than she herself has been hurt just out of spite. I think this was her motive when she rejected Pietro Crespi because she is very sad about her choice but we can see that there's a little spite there, too. I do not exactly think that this is shallowness, but Amaranta can certainly harden her heart to hurt other people if she wills herself to.
ReplyDeletein response to libby in response to carlee. i totally agree that amaranta hardens her heart to hurt other people. shes rejected two men and a child and all of them would give their life for her. she is a giant love vacuum because her thirst for love and attention can never be quenched.
ReplyDeleteRemedios the Beauty Is one of the strangest people in the book. Her good quality is that she watches out for people and knows when something bad is going to happen like the guy who went on the roof and fell. She also cut her hair to make wigs out of it she put others before her at the same time tho death seemed to follow her around with four people being killed because of her and her beauty. So over all she seemed mostly good but with one big thing that was bad.
ReplyDeleteI agree with mike on the name thing. it makes it really confusing though and i dont like it. I think the author had one person in his life but in the book he made that one person into two or more people and related them by there names.
ReplyDeleteThe character that I have found most interesting was Remedios (the first one!). To me she seems very, very innocent and calm throughout the time she is in the novel. With Remedios being so young when we first meet her, I think that she can also be considered very grown up for her age (which is 12, I think). Because Remedios died quickly after we were introduced to her in the novel, I don't believe that her time was spent very productively (she got married way to quickly after she was introduced). Over all I believe that her character, and her character's story, are a positive twist on the novel
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Mike's post about the names. The passing of names is quite interesting, especially in this novel. It it very interesting to see the traits passed along with the names. It is quite comical how that has worked out in the novel. The children that keep "receiving" the traits very much stick to the person that they are named after. This not only makes the book more confusing and harder to decipher, it also makes the book much more "fun" to attempt to understand.
ReplyDeleteJosé Arcadio Buendía - He is a man of great strength and curiosity. He is very curious and he trys to find what things are and how the work and he spends he whole life doing this. he spends many years tied to a tree in the Buendia backyard, speaking Latin that only the priest understands. José Arcadio Buendía is married to Úrsula Iguarán and the father of José Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, and Amaranta.
ReplyDeletei agree with matt i think that the kids are very interesting the way that they have powers and the way they can make things happen like the kid who can make the pot move when he tells his mom that it is going to happen.
ReplyDeleteUrsula Iguaran - Every now and then, when things get particularly run-down, Ursula motivates the family both physically and emotionally, repairing the Buendia house and breathing new life into the family. She is the wife of Jose Arcadio Buendia and the mother of Jose Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, and Amaranta.
ReplyDeletei agree with casey on jose he is a very curious man and he is very motivated it would take alot to keep doing and trying to do things that just seem to be majic
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone because I believe that everyone's opinion is valid in its own special way and I'm not confrontational so I do not want to say I disagree with anyone. I also do not want to spoil anyone by saying that I agree with only their opinion. I feel that this is best for everyone.
ReplyDeleteColonel Aureliano Buendia, is a peculiar character. He is a strong leader and has that premonition trait that gives him an edge. But could be preceived as good and make him so successful but at the same time much is expected of him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with heather about Ursula. But at times it seems like bad things just seem to follow her. At times the family is disfunctional and as stated she is the matriarch so she could be responsible from a certain point of view.
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