“‘What did you expect?’ [Jose Arcadio Segundo] murmered. ‘Time passes.’
‘That’s how it goes,’ Urusla said, ‘but not so much.’
When she said it she realized that she was giving the same reply that Colonel Aureliano Buendia had given in his death cell, and once again she shuddered with the evidence that time was not passing, as she had just admitted, but that it was turning in a circle. But even then she did not give resignation a chance…Only then did Ursula realize that he was in a world of shadows more impenetrable than hers, as unreachable and solitary as that of his great-grandfather”(p. 335).
In this passage we see the ultimate manifestation of repetition in the novel. Throughout the entire novel time, events, and even people have gone through endless cycles of repetition to the point where the exact same things happen over and over again. However, the only one who notices this cycle the Buendias are trapped in is Ursula. She is the only one who tries to fight the repetition of usually bad events but she can not really succeed. When she finds Jose Arcadio Segundo he is a typical Buendia trapped in solitude and so in this we see a big example of repetition. Ursula notices this repetition and has almost gone crazy from the fact that time and her life are “turning in a circle.” However, she never gives up trying to fight this just as she has always fought for her family and old Macondo traditions. There is more repetition in the fact that JAS is similar to his great-grandfather, JAB, and how Ursula is caring for him in similar ways. He is trapped in the same inescapable solitude as Ursula does her best to maintain his dignity and cleanliness and sanity. The last point of significance in this passage is that it is Ursula’s last time as a sane and powerful leader of the household. Her power in the house has fluctuated, from being in total control and having an open hospitable house, to being subjected to Fernanda’s will and principles taking over. She has been a sane mother and mediator and she has been a crazy, blind and senseless woman lost in her own unreality. She has just overcome her lowest point in the novel, of being a “plaything,” and is taking her last stand before death my cleaning up the dilapidated house and JAS.
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4 comments:
i agree with Bryn. There is a sense of time repeating itself and going in a circular pattern. I think by Ursula saying "that's how it goes, but not so much" demonstrates how she has seen time repeat itself since she is 120 years old. Good job bryn.
Throughout the book we have seen examples of Macondo choosing to believe what has been written down versus what the people actually witnessed. When Ursula "did not give recognition a chance" she represented every single intentional mistaken belief of Macondo. She recognized the fact that time was turning in a circle, yet she chose to dismiss the quick touch of reality. It is humorous that the people of Macondo accept the magical realism elements so naturally yet the thought of reality sends them into states of consternation. As Macondo loses touch with reality, it is also losing a sense of self and how it was in the beginning.
The repeated circle of events nears closer and closer to the end of Macondo and the end of the Buendia generation because everyone is losing touch with reality. Ursula, at her final sane moment, realizes that past events are repeated themselves on her family and the town, but no one else seems to be aware of what is going on. As his father was once trapped studying Melquiades's scriptures, Jose Arcardio Segundo drifts deeper and deeper into solitude losing all sense of reality.
Good explication Morgan!
I liked that you discussed the (never-ending) repetition/cycles we see throughout the book, but also the huge transition for the family as Ursula is no longer the Matriarch. I think the transition of power to Fernanda ties in nicely with what we disucssed in class the other day...(if the state of Macondo has been slowly decaying)
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