100 Years of Solitude Ch. 1-5

The character I choose to write about is Jose Arcadio Buendia; I will abbreviate his name with JAB. I think that his character comes out most strongly in the first and second chapters because we get to see his irrationality and how he cant seem to stay focused on one specific thing for very long. This is shown in the first chapter when he is completely entranced by the gifts that are brought by the gypsies every year. He irrationally spends money on these items and then causes some kind of trouble. When he finally has the alchemy set it seems as though he will stick to it, which he does, but that causes its own problems. He melts down Ursula’s family gold, and stays transfixed to the set for years completely missing his kids’ childhoods. You can also see how he has a way of becoming transfixed with his own ideas. An example is when he takes the men on a voyage to reach the next town. I see some similarities between JAB and Don Quixote. I believe that JAB is in almost his own reality and has no concern for anyone else. However, there is also a contradiction because he is the one who set up the village and is seen as a leader.
Urusla just puts up with his nonsense, which I think is similar to many of the other females we have read about. However, she too has a bout of independence and wanders off on her own for some time.
I’m not really sure about a symbol or a theme. I think that there is an aspect of magic or enchantment in the novel that will come about more strongly throughout. So far we have seen it in some of the actions of Aureliano, some of the experiments by JAB and the alchemy set, and also in things brought by the gypsies (the magic carpet.)
Interestingly I thought I had never read this book, but as I began reading I realized I have read this before. However, I have no idea when I read it and have no idea what happens next I just remember reading it!

Grimm's Fairy Tales Day 1

Many of Grimm’s Fairy Tales have become classic children’s stories for a couple of reasons. The first one is that they do have an overlaying moral to them. In the Frog Prince it is to keep your word, in Little Red Riding Hood it is to not talk to strangers, or in Snow White it is that jealousy is evil. They can teach children or even the adults reading certain life lessons. Although the Disney versions of many of these stories have been made less graphic and violent in order to make them more suitable for children. Another reason that these stories are so popular and have become famous is the classic nature of the damsel in distress or the innocent maiden that is saved by the handsome prince, they fall in love and live happily ever after. Examples are The Frog Prince, 12 Brothers, Briar Rose and Snow White. Again Disney has made this even more of the perfect story line, but the original Grimm Fairy Tales often have a happy ending as well. However, in the originals the evil character seems to have a much more violent death, like in Snow White or The Juniper Tree. This idea of this fairy tale blueprint makes the gender roles as if women need to be saved by men and when this happens it is happily ever after. I think that it is this story line that makes little girls strive for this perfect life when they grow up. Although I think these ideals are changing now because of the rights that women have now and the promotion of women having their own profession. This shift may be more apparent to me however because my Dad is actually the one who stayed home with me and my brother while my Mom worked the most.
Overall I picked up on a few similarities between all of the stories that we could talk about in class that I found interesting. Many stories characters are limited to the King and Queen or Prince/Princess and millers. I am curious of this because it seems as though these represent the class system, royalty vs. the working class, but why a miller? Also in both Briar Rose and the Frog Prince a frog was a source of knowledge. Why a frog? Also in Juniper Tree and Snow White there were scenes with blood on snow. Is this representative of good vs. evil or violence? Or is it simply a representation of the beauty of pale skin and red lips? Also there are apples? Why apples?

Last day of Don Quixote

In the final chapters of the first section there is a shift in Don Quixote’s from what we saw in the beginning to what he has become by the end. I believe that he still believes in his chivalric knighthood, but he is defeated in the end. In chapter 52 he has one last fight scene with a goatherd who insults him by saying that if Don Quixote really believes he is a knight he must be joking or just dumb. Done Quixote replies, “You are a villainous wretch… and you are the one who is empty as a fool, and I am fuller than a whore of a bitch who bore you ever was.” I think that this quote is a pretty offensive statement, one of the ones that use the foulest language I have read so far. It is as if Don Quixote is giving this fight all that he has left in him. At this point Don Quixote is not really “enchanted” seeing something different he is simply defending his beliefs. This is different than his other encounters. In the beginning I think that Don Quixote instead of fighting the goatherd he would have tried to prove his knighthood. But now towards the end it seems that he no longer is caught up fully in his fantasy, and feels he has to defend it. It is as if the glory of the fantasy world is fading.

After this fight he is knocked unconscious. When he awakens he decides it is time to go home. He says. “You are speaking sound sense… and it will be wise indeed to wait for the presently prevailing malign influence of the stars to dissipate.” I took this to mean that his fate is not working out as it should. He needs to go home until his bad luck goes away. It is sad and somewhat abrupt the way it ends. It is like Don Quixote just gives up. If we were comparing this to other quixotic people it is like them just giving up on their dream.

Don Quixote Day 5 (Ch. 36-45)

One quote that I would like to discuss occurs in Chapter 45. It is during the argument/ disagreement that occurs between the barber and others due to Don Quixote stealing the basin which he claims to be a helmet. In the book the curate says, “"it is only for Senor Don Quixote to say; for in these matters of chivalry all these gentlemen and I bow to his authority." I think that this is very interesting because even though everyone believes that Don Quixote is crazy they all begin to play into his fictional world. The other people at the inn including Don Fernando and his companions play along as well. They even take a vote around the room to whether or not the basin is a helmet or the pack-saddle it a caparison. This scene just seems completely crazy. The barber becomes very angry because no one seems to believe him, while Don Quixote feels no shame for stealing and even states that he won the prizes as part of waging battle. Reality is gone completely and the fictional situation the Don Quixote is trying to impress on everyone has taken over. I do wonder why this change in mind about Don Quixote’s fantasy however?

As for the character Zoraida I feel as though she is put in this text as a historical mention to the mix in culture in Spain present when Cervantes was writing this novel. We have discussed in class how in Spain around the time, I am not sure if directly before or soon after, of the text being written all the Muslims were pushed out of Spain. I think that this may be a way of Cervantes saying that people should be treated the same no matter religion, which goes along with Don Quixote’s radical ideas. The mix of being in a Muslim state while practicing Christianity in Arabic is a strange concept though. I am sure that we will discuss it in class further.

Don Quixote Day 4 (ch 28-35)

The first quote that I chose was on in chapter 32 on the top of page 294. I will not type out the whole quote, but the it is during the discussion on between the innkeeper and the priest about burning the books. The innkeeper says, “I am not so mad to become a knight errant, and it is clear to me that things are different now.” He was also talking about how he would rather burn a child than burn the book. I think that this explanation from the innkeeper is more like the moral that the entire book of Don Quixote is trying to portray. We discussed in class how it is a possibility that Don Quixote is not crazy he just sees things differently. I believed this at the beginning, but as we have kept reading I find that Don Quixote really is crazy, in my mind. He has no respect for anyone or anything except for himself and his fantasy. This is why all the other characters have to lie to him and play along with his fantasy to get him to do what they want. The innkeeper is the true visionary because he can see the value of the books and the value of fiction, but he does not act on the fantasy because it is out dated and too far fetched. The innkeeper can understand with out having to subject himself to an unstable reality.

The other quote I picked is from chapter 35 on page 331. It is where Don Quixote is fighting the “giant.” He says that all the things in the house are “enchanted” because he can no longer see the head of the giant he just cut off. Don Quixote seems to just do whatever he wants and when his vision seems to disappear from his mind he blames everything else on being enchanted. He never seems to think that he may be the one that is crazy.