Category: FICTION
Guide Created By: Joan Pearson
Discussion Leader(s): Joan Pearson & Maryal
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Guide Description

Plot Synopsis

An ambitious, magical epic, chronicling the loss of innocence and resulting alienation in a kind of Eden, a fictional town somewhere in Latin America...

Soledad in Spanish suggests solitude and more than that - loneliness. The Buendia family represents the human race, the sadness and destructiveness of alienation from one another, our own unavoidable, recurring story. "A good old age is simply a pact with solitude."

Questions

For Your Consideration Chapter I  1. Do you sense the inhabitants of Macondo see themselves as "isolated"? Would you describe the isolation of Macondo as "solitude"? How does Macondo's story compare with the Biblical Garden of Eden - and the Fall?  2. Does the opening flashback - Colonel Aureliano Buendia before the firing squad, thinking of ice - indicate that this might be his story? Whose voice is narrating the first two chapters?  3. How does Jose Arcadia Buendia differ from Melquiades in his estimation of the import of the scientific wonders he has introduced to Macondo?  4. At what point did you realize you would just have to accept the fantastic as fact? Would you share an example of this?  5. Do you get a kick out of the interaction between Jose Arcadia Buendia and his Ursula? Does their relationship seem believable? What does the detail that she "has never been heard to sing" tell about Ursula's personality? Chapter II  1. Why are Jose Arcadio Buendia and Ursula relieved to see that each of their children have "normal" features? Were their concerns understandable? Realistic?  2. What do you think is the most powerful descriptive passage in this chapter?  3. What brings Jose Arcadio to his father's lab to seek the secret of the philosopher's stone? Did he find the answer he was seeking?  4. What is the effect of the author's technique of skipping backward and forward in time? Do you find it disorienting?  5. How do the "curiosities" of the new gypsies differ from those Melquiades had brought to Macondo? Chapter III  1. Who were more responsible for the fundamental changes to life in Macondo, the gypsies or the people Ursula brings back with her? What changes did they bring? Where did they come from? Were they Indians?  2. How does Jose Arcadio Buendia's mandate to free the birds, install musical clocks and plant the almond trees instead of acacias differ from the governor's mandate for blue house paint to celebrate independence? Why this enforced conformity?  3. How do the people of Macondo cope with the insomnia plague and impending memory loss? How does this epsiode contribute to human understanding? Who brought the plague to Macondo, Rebeca or Visitacion and the Indians? Does anyone know where Rebeca comes from?  4. What brings Melquiades back from the dead? What does the author tell of the existence of God in both the daguerrotype and the insomnia ("God exists") episodes?  5. What does Aureliano's attraction to the adolescent mulatto girl and nine year old Remedios (with the lily-colored skin) reveal about his nature?  6. What is the prediction Melquiades finds in the writings of Nostradamus that prompts Jose Arcadio Buendia's outburst: "there will always be a Buendia, per omnia secula seculorum!" Why is this last phrase written in latin? What does it mean? Chapter IV  1. How many characters withdraw into solitude in this chapter? What are their reasons? Is there a common thread?  2. A mansion, imported furniture, the pianola - what time period is this? What social distinctions does the grand Buendia home create in Macondo society?  3. What attracts both Amaranta and Rebeca to the blond Italian? Is there any connection between Rebeca's regression to her dirt-eating habit and the insomnia plague she brought to Macondo?  4. Does Melquiades' aging and consequent difficulty with communication mirror what happens in every society? What message was he attempting to give to Aureliano? How important is language to communication in this novel?  5. What was the meaning of Melquiades' burial wishes7, the three days of mercury burning? How important is proper burial in the novel? Why do the spirits return from the dead to haunt?  6. Why does Jose Aureliano Buendia lose his mind, ability to communicate? Though tied to a tree in the middle of the courtyard, would you describe his condition as one of "solitude"? Chapter V  1. How does Father Nicanor's arrival in Macondo resemble Don Moscote's when he appeared as magistrate? In the struggle between Jose Arcadio Buendia's rationalism and the priest's proof of faith, (levitation by chocolate), which of the adversaries appears to be winning the minds of the people?  2. "Future generations would be puzzled at the girl (in the daguerrotype) in a pleated skirt...white boots, never able to connect her with the standard images of a great-grandmother." A grandmother? Did she have her baby before she died? What effect did her death have on the Buendia family?  3. Why did Rebeca turn away from Pietro? What attracts her to Jose Arcadio, who thundered into town, covered with cryptic tatoos, wearing that "ninos en cruz amulet" on his wrist?  4. Why did Amaranta refuse to marry Pietro when he proposed to her? How did Ursula react to both of these rejections of Pietro? What does Pietro represent in the story?  5. When comparing the Liberals to the Conservatives, what convinced Aureliano that if he had to choose, he'd be a Liberal?  6. What convinced the passive, solitary Aureliano to leave Macondo to join the Revolutionary leader? Looking back, was it foolish for him to name his adolescent nephew the Civil and Military leader and at the same time, guarantee the safety of the Moscote family? Chapter VI  1. What does it say about the woman-shy Aureliano that he fathered 17 sons by 17 different women? They were all exterminated in a single night? But Aureliano "would die of old age, not war"? What does this say about his death by firing squad?  2. Did Arcadio ever suspect his parentage? What is the great irony in his last request before facing the firing squad? - "If the new baby is a boy, name him Jose Arcadio, NOT for his uncle, but for his grandfather."  3. If the charges against Arcadio didn't have merit, why is he sentenced to death? What is Arcadio's reaction to the sentence? What are his last thoughts before the firing squad?  4. Do you see Ursula losing touch with reality, withdrawing into solitude when the war is finally over?  5. What causes Ursula to lie to Jose Arcadio Buendia, tell him everything is going fine, when he doesn't understand her anyway? Or does he? Chapter VII  1. Why does Aureliano want to be executed in Macondo? What does this episode reveal about the loyalties of the Macondo people? Does he believe he is going to die? What are his premonitions telling him? His dream?  2. Do you think these sores represent Aureliano's promiscuity while in the army? What has changed him from the mourning husband of young Remedios to the father of 17 children by as many different women?  3.What does it say about Jose Arcadio that no one knew of his intervention in Aureliano's execution? Is Marquez glorifying this dark brother at the end? What do we know about him, and his politics?  4. How does Ursula learn the Jose Arcadio is dead? Contrast the circumstance of his death with the magnificent portrayal of his blood washing over the town. How did he die?  5. What might explain the powerful unnatural stench that emanated from Jose Arcadio's corpse? If his death was in fact a suicide, why would he have killed himself after freeing his brother?  6. Why is Aramanta "biting back her secret tears," as she repeatedly turns down Col. Marquez's proposals? Are all three of these Buendia siblings marked by a debilitating tendency to solitude?  7. What can GGM possibly mean by the storm of yellow flowers, a sort of blessing on the town of Macondo at Jose Arcadio Buendia's death? Chapter VIII  `1. Does Aureliano Jose, Aureliano and Pilar's son, resemble his father? What is his attraction to Amaranta? Is he the only man she has ever had? How does this compare to her brothers' loves and attraction to the opposite sex?  2. Why does Col. Aurliano reject the generous terms of the peace treaty? Why continue to fight this meaningless war? What does he hope to achieve?  3. How does the Conservative Gen. Jose Moncada, the new mayor of Macondo resemble Jose Arcadio Buedia in the early days? How does he resemble Col. Aureliano in his anti-militarist views on war? What has changed Aureliano, or does he still agree with Moncada?  4. Although I realize it was between the liberals and the conservatives, what was the cause of the war? Chapter IX  1. "Colonel Gerineldo Marquez was the first to perceive the emptiness of war." Does the opening sentence of this chapter confuse you or fill in missing details and explanantion of Aureliano's loss of purpose? Are you becoming accustomed to GGM's back and forth movement in time or do you still find it disconcerting?  2. Is Macondo affected by the war during Marquez' four years of tenure as the military and civil leader? Does the relationship between the Colonel and Amaranta parallel the uneasy peace in Macondo during this time?  3. Why does Aureliano feel he must execute Marquez despite Urusula's warning - and his own desire to break the "hard shell of his solitude?" Why does Ursula tell him - "it's the same as if you'd been born with the tale of a pig" if he kills Marquez? Will he be accepted in Macondo, in the Buendia home when the war is over?  4. Has Aureliano ever had an affectionate relationship in his life? How does he feel about his mother? His dead wife, Remedios? Do you see a similarity between his inability to love and his sister's "undecipherable heart"?  5. Why did Colonel Aureliano Buendia sign the armistice if he agreed with Col. Marquez that it was "a betrayal"? Why suicide, why not simply refuse to sign the treaty? Chapter X  1. Do you notice similar characteristics in the Buendias named Aureliano and those named Jose Arcadio? Are they physical, behavioral or dispositional? Do Arcadio and Sofia's twins exhibit these characteristics?  2. Do you see a new cyle beginning to repeat itself with Aureliano Segundo's marriage to Fernanda? Does she resemble Ursula in any way?  3. What attracted Aureliano Segundo to spend years in Melquiades' room with his manuscripts? Why caused him to lose interest?  4. Do you agree with Colonel Aureliano Buendia that the "secret of a good old age is simply a pact with solitude"? Was he able to keep this pact? What does he mean when he says he is "waiting for his funeral procession to pass"? Chapter XI  1. Was the meeting between Fernanda and Aureliano contrived? What would the government gain by bringing her to Macondo? Is she ever fully assimilated into the Buendia household?  2. What causes Colonel Aureliano Buendia to break his pact with solitude the one and only time he does?  3. How does the arrival of the 17 Aurelianos bring the outside world into Macondo and start the cycle of discovery, disillusionment and withdrawal once again? Chapter XII  1. What surprises and disappointments does Aureliano Triste's "innocent yellow train" bring to Macondo? Are there ominous clouds forming with the arrival of the newcomers? How are they different from the the gypsies and the people Ursula brought back with her when she went to look for Jose Arcadio?  2. What is the "mess that came from inviting one gringo to eat some bananas?" Was the Buendia family responsible for bringing in the influx of foreigners to Macondo? Do they all agree with Col. Aureliano Buendia that things are a mess?  3. Can you explain Remedios the Beauty's ascent into the heavens with the bedsheets? What does her character represent? Did you understand her at all?  4. When did Col. Aureliano Buendia foresee the death of his 17 sons? Was there anything he could have done to prevent their execution? Was he directly responsible for their deaths? Chapter XIII  1. What are some of the truths about her family Ursula is now able to see clearly in "the impenetrable solitude of her decrepitude?" Can you empathize with her doubts about her effectiveness in raising her great great grandson as she ages?  2. What is it that Ursula realizes she loves about Rebeca that she finds missing in her own children?  3. How did the Elephant Woman know she would win the contest with Aureliano Segundo? What is the point of this whole episode?  4. Were you prepared for Colonel Aureliano Buendia's sudden, undignified death in the courtyard? Chapter XIV  1. Do you see any Buendia family characteristics in Aureliano Segundo's two daughters? What do their names signify? Does Petra Cotes have any reason to fear that Meme will come between Meme's father and herself?  2. Is it significant that Fernanda does not object to Meme's American friends from the banana company? Would she have accepted an American suitor over the Macondo-born mechanic?  3. What attracts Meme to Mauricio - other than the cloud of yellow butterflies that follow him everywhere?  4. Why does Amaranta wish to outlive Rebeca? How would the manufacture of a beautiful corpse relieve her resentment? What is Amaranta's "one last gift to the world that will make up for a life of meaness?"  5. Who are the truely happy characters in the story? Those who exercise self-discipline or those who live for the moment, unburdened by rules, tradition or history?  6. Can we take the ghosts and apparations, like Prudencio Aguilar, JAB, Death, who appeared in person to Amaranta, or the invisible French doctors literally ? Or are the doctors a product of Fernanda's repressed, feverish fantasies? Chapter XV  1. Was the attraction between Meme and Mauricio ever explained? Is there reason to suspect that the same thing that has attracted so many of the Buendias to one another throughout this story has happened and they share the same blood line??  2. What are the fatal events that "would deal Macondo its fatal blows" described in the ominous opening line of Chapter 15? What was Jose Arcadio Segundo's role?  3. Do you see parallels between Jose Arcadio Segundo and Colonel Aureliano Buendia? Is the cycle beginning again? Will the circle continue unbroken or do you sense the end is coming?  4. How did the government manage to convince the entire town that the extermination of 3000 of its inhabitants did not happen? Was Aureliano Segundo being honest with his brother when he told him he had not heard of the massacre at the train station? How could he not have?  5. Why did the officer searching for Jose Segundo not see him when searching Melquiades' room? What was it that saved his life? Chapter XVI  1. Why is Aureliano Segundo convinced that all of Macondo is waiting to die when the weather clears? What was his "crisis of affliction" when he first steps into the streets when the rain stops? Has Macondo survived?  2. Does Aureliano Segundo's building only to take apart resemble Colonel Aureliano's gold fish and Amaranta's shroud making?  3. What is the nature of Fernanda's affliction? Is she really ill? What caused her singsong outburst against her "legal despoiler"? Was it a catharsis for her? What effect did it have on Aureliano Segundo?  4. Why did Amaranta and Aureliano remember later about the rainy years when Ursula was their favorite plaything? What did you think of Ursula's being used as a doll? Chapter XVII  1. What does Ursula realize about the passage of time when she discovers Jose Arcadio Segundo holed up in Melquiades room? Why are all of her attempts to get him out of his solitude and open the house again to no avail?  2. Do you understand the connection between the dying birds, the Wandering Jew sacrifice and Ursula's death?  3. Is this love at last, and happiness too, for Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes? What went on in the mysterious heart of Petra Cotes during the deluge that led to this new relationship?  4. Is it rather touching that Fernanda has no one in whom to confide of her physical ailment other than the seminarian son who sends pessaries and instructions from Rome? Who performed the rather primitive operation on her?  5. What progress has Jose Arcadio made on decipering Melquiades' parchments? How did young Aureliano help him?  6. Though they died the same day, looked identical as in their adolescence and were buried in identical coffins, weren't Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo both very different in character and personality at the end? Did it matter that their coffins were mixed up at the end? Chapter XVIII  1. Is it ironic that the most solitary Buendia, hidden, housebound, uneducated and unloved is the one to learn the languages necessary to decipher Melquiades' predictions? Why is he the chosen one?  2. What makes Santa Sofia sense leave Macondo with no destination, no security? Who is to carry on her important, though thankless task of keeping the household going? Does she sense the end is near?  3. How did Fernanda become "human in her solitude, even when her children never came to visit her?" Was she happy in her solitary state? What finally made her heart fall apart ?  4. What brings her son, Jose Arcadio back to Macondo when Fernanda dies? Were you surprised or relieved to learn that Fernanda had left him the letter revealing Aureliano's parentage? Why does he turn Meme's room into a shrine?  5. Who seems to have fewer prospects in life, Aureliano or his uncle, Jose Arcadio? Why do you think the treasure buried under Ursula's bed was revealed to Jose Arcadio, rather than to Aureliano, who surely would have made better use of it than he did? Chapter XIX  1. Is Amarant Ursula trying to establish something new or recreate the past? Is she more like her mother or her father?  2. Had the town really been peaceful and prosperous when she went away as Amaranta Ursula remembered it? Will she be able to rescue the community which seems to have been singled out for misfortune?  3. What is the significance of the 25 pairs of canaries Gaston and Amaranta bring to Macondo? What does it mean when they all fly away?  4. How does Amaranta Ursula's return disturb Aureliano's solitude and divert him from his work on the parchments?  5. How do cockroaches manage to survive human ferocity to exterminate them? How is the story of their determined instinct for reproduction and survival a parallel for the Buendias?  6. What does Aureliano learn from his great great grandmother, Pilar? What had her cards taught her about the Buendia family? Do you thnk Pilar's cards have as much validity as Melquiades' parchments Chapter XX  1. How important are the brothels and bookstores to the life and well-being of the people of Macondo? When the last of these two "institutions" are closed, isn't the town now as it was in the beginning?  2. Does the Catalonian send the boys mixed messages of nostalgia for the past and and warnings to forget it, as it was all a lie? Is it interesting that the four boys take his advice to get out of Macondo except for Buendia?  3. As the town self-destructs, why are Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula "the only happy ones in town - the most happy people on the face of the earth?" Does it appear that their adulturous behavior is being rewarded, the same as Aureliano Segundo and Petra's? Do you find it interesting that last of the Buendia babies, Aureliano and his son are the only two children born out of love in the novel?  4. Do you find it surprising that it is Amaranta Ursula who reacts with horror at the notion that Aureliano might be her brother? Does she believe their child might be born with the dreaded pig tail? What did Aureliano learn from the parish archives?  5. What are the voices of the dead telling Aureliano that depress him so? Do you find any of their messages particularly telling? Ursula's?  6. Can you explain why the message of Melquiades' parchments is revealed at the moment Aurelaino finds the ants carrying off the remains of his son?  7. Is G. Marquez saying that man has no free will, that all has been predetermined since the beginning? Is it interesting that we find humor in a such a falistic message?  8. Did you catch Aureliano referring to himself as "Aureliano Babelonia" on the last page? Does he resemble his father in any way? Is the name "Babelonia" significant?  9. What does the last line in the book mean to you? - "..races condemned to 100 years of solitude do not have a second opportunity on earth."  10. What would you say is GGM's message concerning the history and the future of mankind? Do you see signs of the axle wearing?

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Interesting Information

Buendia Family Tree // Gabriel García Márquez Home Page // Meg's Name Interpretations// Growing list of Abbreviations for names //Interviews with Marquez

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