The End

Well, the end of the novel has come. I have to say that the end was a surprise in some ways and an expectation in others. I kind of already predicted that Macondo was going to come to an end by saying that there was going to be some kind of Armageddon or Apocalypse. I was predicting something along the lines of a Great Flood, but instead there was a cyclone that destroyed Macondo and its remaining inhabitants. I mean, this whole book is one big Biblical reference and it makes sense because the beginning of the novel was like the Garden of Eden, because of its primitiveness and simplicity. The early inhabitants of Macondo did not even know what magnets were. Then, as Macondo became a more industrial town, it became more and more "sinful". Then, finally, Macondo was destroyed just as the earth was destroyed by a Great Flood. By destroying Macondo, GGM is showing that everything has an end eventually. Although life revolves in circles, shown to the reader by the Buendía family and the repetition of the characters' names and triumphs and mistakes, there will be an end. Also, another thing that clued the reader to the end of Macondo and the Buendía family was the sentence, "It was the end" (399). In typical GGM fashion, GGM told what was going to happen and then described how it happened. In the final chapter, GGM said it was the end of Macondo and the Buendía family was at the end and then described to the reader how the two reached the end. On the other hand, I was not expecting Aureliano and Amaranta Úrsula to get together and baby Aureliano to have a pig's tail. GGM had to have one final incestuous relationship. I read it and I was like "whoa!" because it was so unexpected (at least to me). I think the best part of the end was when Aureliano finally figured out the meaning of the manuscripts and understands that he and Macondo are about to die. As readers, we're "hooked" (or at least I was) to the book, trying to figure out the meaning of Melquíades' manuscripts and we find out the same time as Aureliano what is to happen to the Buendía family and Macondo. I think that Melquíades can be seen as a God-like figure because he had written the manuscripts and predicted what was going to happen. In addition, after he died, he returned to Macondo and corrected the manuscripts. One thing I didn't get was the references to ice in the novel. I'm not really sure why GGM used ice in the novel. I was trying to figure out a correlation between the times that ice was mentioned, described, or used such as the first time that Colonel Aureliano Buendía saw ice (the first sentence of the novel), J.A.B.'s description of ice as a diamond, producing ice and then using it to invent sherbet, and Amaranta Úrsula linking icy index fingers with Aureliano. Maybe someone else knows or has a vague idea. I have no idea…Oh, one more thing. I thought it was interesting how the book ended in solitude. Aureliano was by himself, locked up in Melquíades' room, when Macondo went up in a great gust of wind. Seemed fitting given the title. J All in all, I thought this was book was amazing and it is probably my favorite book I've ever read…

Project: The Kingdom of This World

Here is my paper on my collage:
What is magical realism? It can be defined as “an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even ‘normal’ setting.” Magical realism was used in art, literature, and film. This genre is used to describe Latin American literature in the 1960s. Popular magical realists include Alejo Carpentier (El reino de este mundo), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Cien anos de la solidad), and Juan Rulfo (Pedro Paramo).
Alejo Carpentier coined the term “lo real maravilloso” in the prologue to his book, The Kingdom of This World, which was first published in Spanish in 1949. This novel is a historical novel about the Haitian Revolution. The characters and the events in the novel are the same as in the history books, but time is not logical in the novel. The four parts in the novel are not chronologically in order. Carpentier creates this novel with a discontinuous sense of time to juxtapose the past with the present. Bringing the past history of Haiti reminds the natives as well as the reader that the past is part of who you, as a human being, are. The Haitian Revolution and the courage that these slaves had is part of who my parents and I are. In addition, Carpentier makes magic seem real. Magic is integrated into the daily lives of the slaves, including the main character Ti Noël. Typical of Carpentier, the novel is filled with technical terms. “His literary style is a wonderful combination of dazzling images and a rich language, full of the technical jargon of whatever subject he touches on - be it music, architecture, painting...” When reading the book, I had to search for several places, people, and events to understand their significance in the history of the country. I was unfamiliar with terms such as Damballah and Sans Souci.
The book was split into four parts: Part I (Macandal), Part II (Boukman + Slave Revolt), Part III (rise + fall of Henri Christophe), and Part IV (epilogue). Part I was about a slave named Macandal who is a longtime friend of Ti Noël, who is a slave on M. Lenormand de Mézy’s plantation. After arm amputation, he becomes less useful and flees from the plantation to caves in the mountains. However, he still keeps in contact with the other slaves on the plantation and poisons and kills all the livestock. Macandal turned into a houngan, a voodoo priest and was getting his revenge on the white race. He can turn into any creature and supposedly turns into an insect to escape his execution. Part II was about Boukman and the slave revolt that led to the Haitian Revolution. Boukman was a Jamaican slave and houngan who organized a voodoo ceremony in Northern Haiti. This voodoo ceremony took place in Bois Caïman and is said to have started the Haitian Revolution with the voodoo ceremony. During that ceremony, the god of war Ogoun was called and soon afterwards, the slave revolt occurred. The second part switches gears and focuses on Pauline Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon I of France. She was accompanying her husband General Charles Leclerc to Haiti. General Leclerc was a French general who was sent by Napoleon I to overthrow Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the Haitian slaves in the Haitian Revolution. Pauline Bonaparte is a very flirtatious woman and has affairs with the officers that are under General Leclerc. Her husband gets sick with yellow fever and dies; she, Pauline, stays by her husband’s side and participates in rituals in order to heal her husband. After General Leclerc dies, Pauline left the island. Part III of the novel is very historical and discusses the story about the rise and fall of King Henri-Christophe. Henri-Christophe became King of Haiti after Jean-Jacques Dessalines was assassinated. Jean-Jacques was the first ruler of the independent Haiti and named himself “Emperor of Haiti” in 1805. Former cook at a restaurant, Henri-Christophe rose to power. He had slaves build a palace, Sans-Souci for himself. He also had slaves build a fortress called La Citadelle Laferrière in order to protect the country from a French invasion. Ti Noël returns back to Haiti from Cuba a free man. While observing the work of Sans Souci, he is quickly taken in as a slave and begins to work on building Sans Souci. After working for a while on Sans Souci and La Citadelle Laferrière, Ti Noël escapes and returns back to the city he left, Le Cap. When King Henri-Christophe was in Mass of Assumption, he felt the hostility from the people around him. Feeling loneliness, he commits suicide. After his death, things fall apart; his army leaves, his top advisors are killed, and his corpse was sunken into mortar. Part IV, the epilogue, concludes the story. Pauline’s masseur, Soliman is in Haiti and becomes extremely popular in the local towns by pretending to be the nephew of Henri Christophe. Ti Noël leads the destroying of Sans Souci and becomes the unofficial leader of the town. Soon, foreigners come and take over Le Cap and once again, Ti Noël is forced to be a slave again. The novel ends with Ti Noël realizing that not everyone is equal and he had a “supremely lucid moment” and understood that he was destined to be like Macandal and lead the slaves to freedom (178). He declared war against the masters and supposedly changed shape to a vulture.
This collage shows the historical context of the novel and the magical realism that Alejo Carpentier portrays throughout the novel. There are several pictures on this collage. There is a picture of a child sleeping on a sofa in the skies. This picture depicts the magical realism in the novel. Magical realism makes the unreal seem real and in this picture, the child sleeping in the skies seems so natural, although this event is unrealistic. There is also a purple picture full of shapes. The color purple is symbolic of mystery, creativity, and magic. This picture depicts creativity and mystery. There is no one shape, person, place, or event in this picture, but rather an array of shapes. I chose this picture because the novel has a warped sense of time and logic. The time in which the events of the novel occur do not correspond with the actual events of the Haitian Revolution. Also, as a magical realist novel, the unreal are illogical to the reader. Voodoo ceremonies and humans changing into insects and birds are illogical to the reader. The saint is Saint Patrick who is placed next to a god named Damballah. Damballah is the most important loa (spirit) in Haitian Voodoo who is depicted as a serpent and is often associated with snakes. Catholicism is connected to voodooism in Haiti and Damballah is equivalent to Saint Patrick. There are two depictions of a voodoo ceremony, similar to the one that Boukman started in Bois Caïman that provoked the Haitian Revolution. There are two photos of Ogoun, the god of war, a full-body image and a facial image. Ogoun is a loa who controls fire, iron, hunting, politics, and war and gives strength through magic. A picture of a loa was placed next to Damballah as a comparison to the father of all gods. A houngan summons the gods and a picture of a typical voodoo priest is shown. Boukman was a voodoo priest and there is a picture of him summoning the spirit of freedom. There are also several historical photos in the collage. For example, there are three photos of La Citadelle Laferrière and in one photo, the cannons that would have been used to fight off the French can be seen. There are also three photos of Sans Souci and one can see the elegance of the palace. Unfortunately, the palace was destroyed and one picture depicts the ruins of the once beautiful palace. Two pictures of Henri-Christophe are also placed in the collage. The final picture is contains a monkey reading a passage from Alejo Carpentier’s other book, The Lost Steps. This picture depicted to me Alejo Carpentier’s writing style and technique. The magical and the marvelous are real. To me, Alejo Carpentier wrote about this particular subject to depict that magic could be real and to break away from the Surrealism that he was accustomed to in Europe. By his breaking away from the norm, he created another style of writing that would influence several young Latin American writer for years to come.

Discussion of 100 Years of Solitude-Chapter 10

In Chapter 10, there are quite a few repetitious events and characters. For example, the twins, Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo are a repeat of Jose Arcadio who mysteriously committed suicide and Colonel Aureliano Buendia. The twins are similar to the first generation. Aureliano Segundo was a solitary character, just like the Colonel in his youth. I think also that Aureliano was interested in Melquiades' old manuscripts and the lab in which J.A.B. did his experiments, just like the Colonel had been in his youth. However, I think that the twins are more different from Jose Arcadio and Colonel Aureliano Buendia. Jose Arcadio Segundo was the one who showed initial interest in war, while it was Colonel Aureliano Buendia was the one who had the passion for war. Jose Arcadio Segundo's interest dissipated when he saw that the victims being shot were buried alive. Obviously, Jose Arcadio Segundo did not have the same fate that Jose Arcadio. Although Colonel Aureliano's first woman was his wife Remedios, Aureliano Segundo's first woman was Petra Cotes who he stayed with for the rest of his life. Another repeat seems to be Petra Cotes/Remedios. Before Remedios died, she was a healthy influence in the Buendia household. I think that Remedios made the house happier and more cheery. Petra Cotes is described as someone who "had a generous heart and a magnificent vocation for love" (188). Remedios the Beauty reminds me of Remedios because both have this weird sense of calm and control; Remedios takes her marriage with Colonel Aureliano Buendia with a calm grace and Remedios the Beauty rejects her suitor calmly. These similarities and differences tells us that the novel as a whole revolves in circles. With the repetition of characters and events with slight differences tells the readers that the entire novel is in circles. Time is unclear and runs in circles; Melquiades' manuscripts are called encyclicals; Aureliano's poetry has no beginning and no end; the characters and events repeat themselves.

Magical Realism

Magical realism is when a writer makes the magical or the illogical seem realistic or normal. Alejo Carpentier is a magical realist novelist, especially in his book, The Kingdom of This World. This book is about the time before, during, and after Haitian Revolution and is filled with magical realism. This book is also similar to the country itself. Magical realism dominated Haiti in its past and present. This novel makes voodooism seem natural and realistic. Damballah, the snake-god, and Ogoun, the god of war, seem real in the ceremonies. Macandal, a slave on M. Lenormand de Mézy’s plantation, was not only a slave but a loa (spirit). Loas were summoned for several ceremonies to deliver the natives out of slavery and to heal General Leclerc, a French general during the Haitian Revolution. This book is published in 1949, written in Cuba, and is similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude. GGM’s magical realist novel is similar to that of Carpentier because the real and the unreal are both logical. Because we have all read the GGM’s book, I don’t have to list some examples.

Introduction of Marquez Paper-Religion

In the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, religion is just one of the many themes in the first seven chapters of the novel. Gabriel García Marquez makes Biblical references to the events occurring from the creation of Earth to the Great Flood. Although all the events occurring in Macondo do not follow the Biblical stories, the religious references in the beginning of the novel are meant to demonstrate the corruption of mankind. For example, the simplicity and innocence of Macondo is comparable to the Garden of Eden. The progressive corruption of Macondo is comparable to the increasing corruption in the Bible before Noah and the Ark.

Final Project-The Kingdom of This World (Part I)

The first part of this book is about a man named Macandal. Macandal is a Mandingue Negro who told Ti Noël, the main character, stories of the kingdoms in Africa. Macandal was the one who told Ti Noël the difference between the African king and the "white monarchs." To Macandal, the African king was strong, brave, a warrior, a hunter, a judge, and a priest. On the other hand, the "white monarch" was the opposite. Macandal's arm was amputated in an accident in the plantation. After his amputation, Macandal is given less laborious work. Macandal flees from the plantation and can't be found. According to the white masters, the word "Mandingue" means "intractable, rebellious, a devil" (21). Macandal's disappearance deeply affects Ti Noël because Macandal's stories are deeply missed. Macandal had fled the plantation, but still kept in contact with the slaves on the plantation and was living in a cave. I learned later in the first part that Macandal was a houngan, which is a male voodoo priest, and was responsible for the poison that attacked the plantation. Macandal was also the houngan of the Rada rite and the Lord of Poison. Macandal is able to metamorphose into any shape and size and is able to communicate with two of the biggest voodoo loas/lwas (spirits). After making a complete cycle of metamorphose, Macandal returned back to the plantation in his human form. When he returned, the white masters captured him and burned him, thinking that they destroyed Macandal. However, the slaves know that Macandal remained "in the Kingdom of This World" (46). When I first started reading the book, I tried to figure out how Alejo Carpentier was part of the "magical realism" writers, but based on the first portion of the book, I can see why. Carpentier makes voodoo, a religion based on spirits and is illogical, a part of the daily live of a slave in Haiti. Because voodoo is emphasized in the slaves, voodoo seems realistic or even "normal" in the setting of the book. The way Carpentier presents voodoo makes me think that it is something real and does exist, not just something that people made up.

100 Years in Solitude-Time (Part II)

I think that Marquez purposely makes time unclear maybe because he just wants to confuse the readers. Or maybe just because she felt it...but, somehow I get the feeling that Marquez didn't just go, "Oh, making time unclear would be cool to put in a novel. Let's do it!" But seriously, I think that Marquez purposely made time unclear to signify that time should not and cannot be measured or observed. The fact that J.A.B. is convinced that it's Monday at least three times is proof of that. In addition, Marquez changes the month several times. Maybe Marquez purposely made time unclear to demonstrate how time can't be calculated or observed. When the time machine broke, José Arcadio Buendía "spent six hours examining things, trying to find a difference from their appearance on the previous day in the hope of discovering in them some change that would reveal the passage of time" (78). Although José Arcadio Buendía spent hours trying to find something to indicate time change, he couldn't find it. His inability to find the change in time caused his insanity. José Arcadio Buendía's insanity supports the idea that Marquez wants to indicate to the reader that time can't be observed or measured.