“But when Ursula died the superhuman diligence of Santa Sofia de la Piedad, her tremendous capacity for work, began to fall apart. It was not only that she was old and exhausted, but overnight the house had plunged into a crisis of senility.” Pg. 358
This passage shows that Ursula was the only one who could successfully run the Buendia household. All throughout Santa Sofia de la Piedad’s life, her house was “kept clean and in order,” but ever since Ursula died there has been chaos. Although other people try to do Ursula’s job, they can’t compare to her. Even Santa Sofia who had “superhuman diligence” and a “tremendous capacity for work”, it still began to fall apart. The powerful diction of superhuman diligence, and tremendous capacity, makes Santa Sofia sound like a person who will always continue working, yet she becomes weak when Ursula dies. The passage says that Santa Sofia was old and exhausted and that the walls of the house had an overnight crisis of senility, or a weakness of mental or old age. This shows that without Ursula, everything got so much worse and seemed uncontrollable to maintain and keep up with. Ursula was always the one who made things run smoothly, proving her important role in Macondo as a leader.
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8 comments:
I agree with you. It is impossible for any of these characters to run the household as well as Ursula did. Ursula had beed running the family from the start of Macondo. She had helped found the town and she knew how things were run. When Santa Sofia tries to take over, the household continues to "fall apart" in a sense because she had not been with the family for as along as Ursula had. Also, Santa Sofia had married into the family. Like Fernanda, Santa Sofia is unable to run the household maybe because they are not true Buendias.
I think another important reason no one is able to run the family like Ursula is that while she is related to the many Buendia children, she acts as the mother to all. In a sense the whole family tree is a matriarchy with Ursula at the top. She successfully kept the family from falling apart during her lifetime with her care,honesty, and good judgement. While Santa Sofia tries to take over for Ursula once she's gone, it isnt the same, because while Santa Sofia is honest and hardworking she lacks the personal skills and judgement Ursula guided the Buendias with.
I also agree. This passage truly shows the impact that Ursula had on the Buendia family. Now that she is gone, the Buendia's have gone into a more significant decline and no one can fix their problems. While Ursula could have been the one to keep the family together during this time of senility, her being gone is one of the main reason for the family's falling apart in the first place. Santa Sofia, although she tries her best to mirror the caring qualities that Ursula had, fails to keep the family from falling apart.
I agree with your interpretation and everyone else when you say that Ursula was the only person capable of running the house. Ever since the Buendias came from Riohacha, Ursula had kept the members of the family in line. The work she performed for the family was often neglected, and now that she is gone, Santa Sofia de la Piedad is unable to adapt to the absence of Ursula. All the work that Ursula did is coming out and showing itself in an overwhelming fashion for Santa Sofia. While Santa Sofia is a great woman and has done much for the family, she still is unable to live up to the standards of Ursula.
I think the falling apart of the house is symbolic and a foreshadow for the decomposition of the town. Throughout the novel the state of the town and the state of the house have been intertwined. Now that the house has fallen apart it seems so must the town. Also ursula has always been the one who truly controlled macondo even when her kin became reckless and tried to claim it through military means. Now that she is gone no one will be there to care for the town just as right now no one is able to care for the house. It appears that very soon macando too will fall.
i agree with this interpretation. Ursula was the backbone of the buendia family and without her no one knew how to function. Santa Sofia de la piedad could run the family while ursula was alive only because of the help that ursula was giving her. when ursula was gone she could no longer run the family because she didnt have the extra help of ursula.
I agree with everyone that believes Macondo cannot survive without Ursula's care. Her poise and ability to handle difficult situations showed her true character as well as her ability to control the city of Macondo. Someone such as Santa Sofia does not have the eperience to control the city and therefore is unable to take over Ursula's role. Such a quick transition of power proves to be very difficult for Sofia to deal with. Although she thinks she is equipped with the same characteristics as Ursula, she lacks in the department of confidence as well as not having the same reputation as Ursula once had.
Santa Sofia is ultimately unable to run the household because she does not bear the same name as Ursula. She has the desire to work for her goal but not the poise to keep the family together. She is also unrelated to the Buendia family and therefore does not do a good job. She will make the family fall apart.
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