“ With the passage of the days, however, the reality of life on board mattered less and less to him, and even the most recent and trivial happenings seemed worth of nostalgia, because as the ship got farther away, his memory began to grow sad. That process of nostalgia was also evident in the pictures. In the first ones he looked happy, with his sport shirt which looked like a hospital jacket and his snowy mane, in an October Caribbean filled with whitecaps. In the last ones he could be seen to be wearing a dark coat and a silk scarf, pale in the face, taciturn from absence on the deck of a mournful ship that had come to be like a sleepwalker on the autumnal seas” (Pg. 402).
Throughout this passage, Marquez is exploring the mental and physical downfall of Alfonso. Alfonso owned a bookstore in Macondo and he was also the first to leave the town after Pilar’s death. Two reoccurring themes of the novel, which are represented once again in Alfonso, are loss of memory and nostalgia. Alfonso has lost the ability to recall upon positive memories and now his mind is trapped in a state of misery and despair. Marquez juxtaposes Alfonso’s original mindset before his trek back home with his mindset during the trip. At the very beginning, Alfonso “looked happy” and donned a “snowy mane.” His clothes were pristine and he was surrounded by the whitecaps of the Caribbean Ocean. The repetitive white imagery compels joyful emotions and thoughts. As the remaining members of Macondo receive letters and photographs from Alfonso as his journey progresses, his ever-present depression is blatantly obvious. The clean, white garments have been replaced with a dark coat and silk scarf. The “happy” appearance has been taken over by a “pale, “ “taciturn” being. The ship is portrayed as a drone “on the autumnal seas.” This juxtaposition also represents Macondo’s journey from a once thriving little town to a technology obsessed, power driven city. Alfonso appears as a walking corpse, which can also symbolize Macondo’s own death. Marquez had used the first citizen to leave Macondo to foreshadow the fate of the town.
6 comments:
In this explication, i like the comparison used in order to show the breakdown of Macando as a whole. In the story, i feel as thouhg Macondo starts to breakdown due to the disappearence of the peoples. Alfonso represents the first person to leave and soon all the othwers follow. I also like the point that Alfonso was happier before he left, as he use dark imagery to talk about his experiences. I think that this is foreshdowing for the end of the chapter.
I think your notion about Alfonso representing Macondo is right on target. before leaving on the ship Alfonso was portrayed to be a happy, learning, even innocent character. but as soon as he leaves macondo on the ship, he sinks into a depression that is displayed by his deteriorating physical and mental state. the same thing is true for the town itself. I think it does foreshadow the final moments of macondo before it is completely destroyed.
I agree with you about the signifigance of Alfonzo's departure. I think it is also important to note the standing Alfonso had in the town and what it meant that he had left. He was the bookstore owner and in a sense represented the knowledgable and reasonable aspect of Macondo. After he left, the town started spiraling downward with the departure of other figures from the town until there is practically no one left. Without the availability of books and a place for the group of boys to go, it makes sense that most of them left, as they had nowhere else to continue their conversations and led to the end of their friendship.
I agree Sutton, i think that Alfonzo is just like every other character in the story, they transform. It seems like everyone in the book goes form one thing to almost the exact opposite in character. They are a parallel link to the state f Macondo. They are both gradually deteriorating or turning bad. It seems that when he left he is happy and now that he has been gone, he is depressed which i find to be interesting. Why does Macondo affect him this way???
I found it interesting in this passage that prior to Pilar's death, Macondo's deterioration has been symbolized by the Buendia's dying off. However now that there are hardly any left, GGM uses one pivotal character from before, Pilar, to symbolize the death/decay of macondo. However, he also uses this guy Alfonso, who (unlike Pilar or the Buendias) we had hardly heard of before.
This is a good quote to bring up, and you did a good job here. Personally, I am getting the impression that nostalgia was one of the only key factors that Macondo survived one hundred years and did not die off sooner. At the founding of the town, everyone led a simple life and everyone was youthful and happy. As the book progressed, the town became more complicated and more depressing. Nostalgia seems to be the only key factor that people kept living here. Now that all the Buendias are dying off, the nostalgia has evaporated and Macondo is left in ruin.
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