Monday, November 15, 2010

Leitmotifs

You must post 2 times before next Monday, November 22nd. Your first post should be submitted by Thursday, November 18th. It is to be in response to one of the prompts below. The second time you post, it must be in response to or in reaction to the post of another student.


This novel presents several striking leitmotifs (frequently repeated phrase, image, symbol, or situation in a literary work which supports the theme). Leitmotifs in One Hundred Years of Solitude include cyclical patterns, prophecy, illegitimacy, fantasy, and of course solitude. Consider one or more of the following:


1. What patterns of behavior are emerging among the characters and how are these recurring patterns affecting life in Macondo?

2.) What events in Macondo, if any, have been prophesied with precision or at least seem likely to come true?

3.) List the many ways fantasy plays a part in the characters' lives. Are these elements of fantasy every ironic?

OR

Identify elements of the story that you find particularly confusing, interesting, or worthy of discussion. Pose your own questions. Include portions of the text that you feel contribute to your questions/your point. Cite page numbers.

19 comments:

  1. There is a lot of mention of the numbers and names of the different characters. Like for instance; the time Colonel Aureliano died was around the same time that Remedios the beauty ascended. He died in the same place his dad went crazy, and her ascention was a form of prophecy because no one really believed the Buendia family when they told everyone. There are a lot of people that experience solitude in this book. Ursula would like to live forever, because she feels she brought up this family and they would have a hard time living without her. You learn a lot during the times of solitude.

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  2. I am most facinated by the fantasy in JAB. The way he was tied to a tree and the symbolism behind it, that it was like Jesus on the cross. And the flowers falling when he died. I think most of the fantasy elements are to exaggerate symbolism. I think the flowers symbolized the fact that he was the patriarch and that an era was over when he died.

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  3. I think we are starting to see some patterns, which includes the passing of names. I don't know why but there have been around twenty Aurelianos and like five Jose Arcadio's...why does he do this? Is it just to emphasise the fact that traits are passed down genetically?! Like thanks Gabriel Marquez we learned that in Bio!This book is trash, it was good at first but its clear now that nothing is every really going to happen, we will just read more about this family and how the kids are like their parents and they get married and have more kids, and then someone dies, and then something magic happens, and then theres foreshadowing, then some allusion....trash...

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  4. I think fantasy is a huge element of the book. The passing down of names and with that the trait of the person has a huge impact on the book. Some of the characters last words are who to name their children after. I think this is very ironic because if they have a problem with someone or the traits, why would they name their kids after them, even with knowing that the kid will have the same traits. I do like the passing of the names because I think that it is true that we are passed down some of our traits and qualities.

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  5. I agree with Hannah's comment about the names. Its funny how ironic it is with all the similar names and family tree elements. It gets confusing with who is who's family member and who they like or dislike and why. But keeping up with reading and taking notes it important to comprehending the whole story

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  6. A confusing element in this book because everyone in the book seems to be dying at the same time. Also, there are more and more characters being introduced at the time of the deaths.

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  7. I think a recurring theme in this book is definitely solitude. If you think about it, every character in the book has some kind of solitude.. If its not physical (Rebeca) then it's mental (Remedios the Beauty, JAB, Aureliano). It'll be interesting to find out what the title really alludes to

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  8. I think a recurring theme in the book would be personality. I think a unique and individual personality was seen in JAB and later in Remedios the Beauty-neither of them cared about outside opinion and they did their own thing, even though they were both called crazy or in their own world they were true to themselves. I think another trait would be care for others or more of a mothering nature. Ursula had this character and is able to stay in charge and the matriarch of the town and still be a concerned mother and wife who continued to care for her husband. Remedios also had this trait before death. She cared for JAB when he was under the tree and that showed great character. We have also seen an introverted and scientific characteristic come and go as well as a selfish characteristic.

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  9. i agree with teddy's post.. this book is just keeps getting worse with all these new characters and all these people dying for no reason and all around the same time period.

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  10. I agree with Abby. I am very fascinated with JAB, and allusions from him to Jesus. Like Abby, I am especially fascinated with his death and the flowers falling from the sky. I think JAB is the most interesting character, he started out so strong and a good leader but in the end, the people he was leading had to tie him to a tree until his death!

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  11. The number of characters keeps increasing and its getting out of hand. It is just getting more and more confusing to follow

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  12. I think Hannah's comment is very interesting. The passing down of the names seems like a vicious cycle in the Buendia curse. It is also intresting how the twins are named aurliano and jose arcadio, and in the book they reveal that the boy that was named Jose Arcadio really should've been Aureliano because he shared the same qualities.

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  13. Agreed with Megan, I do think the names of the characters and the qualities that seem to follow the names are helpful though. I am glad that the author made it that way because it helps in realizing why they make the choices they make and what type of person they will become. For me, this revelation came about with the twin boys and I think it was helpful that the author chose to point that out!

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  14. Jamie, I agree, the name passing is really confusing. But I think it has something to do with the fact that they also pass down memories and characteristics. He notes how the later characters are exactly alike the original ones with the same names and how people don't want to give their children certian names so they won't act a certain way.

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  15. Abby, I agree. I think that's what they believe anyway. They think that the name is what the person will become. I also think it's interesting how Ursula wants the names to stop, yet they keep using the same names over. I also agree that it's funny how the twin's names got switched throughout the years.

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  16. Jamie, i agree that this book seems to be repeating the same thing over and over again. Someone has kids then they get married and have kids then they are happy until someone dies.

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  17. teddy, i agree that you agree with my previous statement

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  18. A very repeated theme is death. Everytime there is a death, or ascention, there is always a story behind it. They come back to life, then their gone again. This makes the concept of time a very unrealistic fantasy since you can't go back in time.

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  19. Carson couldn't have said it better. Names are deffinately a very recurring theme. Even though personalities are handed down genetically, each character still does their own thing.

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