One Hundred Years of Solitude - Week 7

 When reading One Hundred Years of Solitude I attempted to follow Jons advice, to read it as close together as we could. I found that this was helpful in following certain aspects of the story, especially the characters names, the environment and state of the town, Macondo. In the beginning of the book the town of Macondo seemed to capture this overarching idea of solitude that I had in my mind from the title. The town itself seemed lonely, quiet and secluded from the rest of the world. Then the town of Macondo transitions when a road connects it with the rest of the world. With this connection comes an increase in capital/wealth and with that increased societal problems, with hints of communism and political uproar against the government sprinkled in. Although eventually, almost like a circle, Macondo reverts to the quiet and secluded town it seemed to be at the very beginning. 

Additionally, reading this book was not similar to other historical fiction novels I have read, and Jon does make reference to its uniqueness in this week's lecture. The telling of this story is not linear as after all, it starts with the future. The main element I got from this first half of the book was that José Arcadio Buendía was desperate for knowledge and this grows and grows until it turns to madness. The book felt less historical to me, and rather more biblical, magical and in some ways teaching. It felt as though Márquez was trying to use stories, memories and symbols in order to teach a lesson.

I found it interesting how each character's storyline is driven into some kind of solitude. For José Arcadio Buendía for example, his motivation for discovery and gaining knowledge is what drives him into solitude, and this results in his wife being pushed into her own form of solitude as well. A moment I found very telling of the couple's future to come was when Úrsula stated “If you have to go crazy, please go crazy all by yourself!”(6) Later on Ursula goes on to say 'Look at what we've come to,' she would say to him as the June rains threatened to knock the shelter down. 'Look at the empty house and our children scattered all over the world, and the two of us alone again, same as in the beginning”"(103) This notion of a cycle of loneliness with ups and downs seemed to carry on throughout the book. 

Overall I found the reading to be one the most engaging so far and am interested to continue reading. My question for you guys is how did you interrupt the character development, was there a character in particular you guys felt experienced solitude in other ways, or maybe who didnt seem to follow this pattern?