Passage: "Little by little [Ursula] was shrinking, turning into a fetus, becoming mummified in life to the point that in her last months she was a cherry raisin lost inside of her nightgown, and the arm that she always kept raised looked like the paw of a marimonda monkey. She was motionless for several days, and Santa Sofia de la Piedad had to shake her to convince herself that she was alive and sat her on her lap to feed her spoonfuls of sugar water. She looked like a newborn old woman" (341).
In this passage, GGM uses metaphor/simile, hyperbole, and infant imagery to portray the parallels between Ursula and the state of Macondo. She is "shrinking" in her decrepitude to the point of being a "cherry raisin lost inside of her nightgown." She is old and pruned, no longer having any significance in Macondo. The simile, her arm "looked like the paw of a marimonda monkey" is very interesting because the marimonda spider monkey does not exist. This foreshadows the fact that soon Ursula will not exist in Macondo. The image of Ursula sitting on Sofia's lap "to feed her a few spoonfuls of sugar water" shows her newly found infancy, "like a newborn old woman." Here, Ursula's situation parallels the state of Macondo. After the rains, Macondo also returns to a state of infancy. The city and the inhabitants are extremely primitive, just like during the founding stages of Macondo. The citizens are once again awed by the magnets and the the magnifying glass that were brought by the gypsies (345), even though these were of the first inventions to reach Macondo. This repetition makes it seem as if the life of Macondo has started all over again. Ursula has been returned to her infant stages, as has Macondo. Her observation of time turning in a circle has now finally reached 360 degrees, leaving her only one thing left to do: die.
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4 comments:
I think that this passage definately represents a new beginning. With Ursula seeming like a newborn, and her notions that time has repeated itself, in addiction to the face that Macondo seems to have reverted to aprimitive state much like we saw near its founding after the storm, that it is a new beginning for Macondo after everything has been washed away. I also think that Taylors connection between the monkey that doesnt exist and Ursula's own existence is a nice one.
In this passgae, i liked the comparasion to Ursula and Macondo. I do agree with the idea that Ursula and Macondo's condition are very simler within the novel. Also, i like the point that Urula becomes infant-like. Just as Macondo recieves a new beginning with the flood, Ursula has one last time of sanity.
I like the comparison between Ursula and Macondo in this passage. The fact that Ursula is dying and that she was always the one supporting the town, represents the death of Macondo as well. I think they are so similiar and that because Ursula gets her last lap of sanity, representing a fresh start, the rain clears and Macondo is able to have a fresh also.
I thought the connection between Ursula and the state of Maconda was nothing short of exact. I particularly liked the direct use of the qoute to prove your point how Macondo has become an "infant" agian. I think that Macondo is an infant again because now that Ursula is dead there are no "original members" to take charge of the town. I really liked the concluding sentence to this paragraph, it ended the explication with a little bit of a "punch" that portrayed the death of Ursula a positive event.
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