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…