One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez (Week 7)

I've had One Hundred Years of Solitude on my reading list for a really long time, so I was really excited to see it on the list of readings for the term. There are several strong themes that I noted while reading the first part of the novel. The first themes that stuck out to me were time and memory. The way the book jumps around and bends the idea of time while staying in the perceived present narrative was confusing to read, but that was part of the fun. The confusion made me think about how time is subjective and while we may have the shared marks that clocks and calendars bring, it is through our memories that we humanize and perceive time. To have time both appear linear and sporadic through the novel takes true artistry. 

Another thing that seemed to purposely confuse me and play with time was the repetition of the family name. Since most of the characters have the same or similar names, it really emphased the point that Macondo is stuck in some sort of time loop (I'll address this point further later). It also builds on the theme of family as well and how important memory plays into familial tradition. By instilling the same name, it ensures that memories and stories continue to pass on throughout the generations in a place (or time?) where there is no technology (other than the camera later introduced) to assist in this. It also adds to the traditional setting of Macondo. The chapter where the village experiences a plague of insomnia (and amnesia?) and falls into chaos is another reference to how much Macondo's community is built around memory. 

Speaking of tradition, the other themes I took note of while reading were progress and modernity. There is a part at the beginning of the book where Jose takes notice of a town outside of his own and proclaims that "there are all kinds of magical instruments while we keep living like donkeys" (8). This sentence really stood out to me because it made an example of the people and/or communities that got/are getting left out on the path to modernity that is crossing Latin America. The time loop also emphasis this point that Macondo is stuck in a fixed state of past, present, and future that outside influences can't alter and the villagers can't escape. It is only through the incoming presence of war and colonization does the village narrative and reality seem to change. I don't really know the point that Garcia Marquez was trying to get at here, but to me, this points to the problem where modernity in Latin America has been dictated by foreign intervention. When Jose is the only person in the beginning wanting to venture past the sheltered Macondo, it shows the lack of awareness (or indifference? Purposeful avoidance?) that many experience(d) through the age of modernity. While it has been said many times that history has been written by the "privileged" (aka colonizers), it also exemplifies how the future is being written this way as well.  

I wanted to talk a little about how the novel showcases different kinds of love, however, after reading more, perhaps I will talk about this in the next blog post. I'm really excited to keep reading as this is a very gripping and thought provoking novel. 

Question for the class: How does time influence your memory or vice versa? Do you perceive time through memories? Do you think Garcia's usage of time enhances the story?

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (Week 5)

In the first week of class, I was in the group that said that they were overwhelmed and nervous by literature. This book gave me those feelings on steroids. This book reminded me a lot of a similar book that I read a few years ago called House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (which funnily enough also has a labyrinth theme). Both books gave me a sense of trying to piece together what was happening while trying to deduce a deeper meaning through the metaphors. To me, this book embodied the theme of a game more than most of the others readings so far due to it's puzzle-like nature that left me trying to piece together Borges' writing to deduce what he was trying to say and why. It felt like I was reading riddles, which was certainly a challenge. I actually thought the description of "The Garden of Forking Paths" could have easily described this book where "it is an enormous riddle or parable, whose theme is time [...] to omit a word always, to resort to inept metaphors an obvious periphrases, is perhaps the most emphatic way of stressing it. That is the tortuous method preferred in each of the meanderings of this indefatigable novel" (27-28). This book truly is a "plan of chaos" (28).

The most compelling (and I'll admit the least confusing) of the stories to me was "The Lottery of Babylon". This may sound a little out of left field, but what I was thinking while reading this was the similarities between this mysterious lottery and the internet. The idea that it controls people like "slaves" (30), it is not often "based on reality" (30), it is "secret, free, and general" (32), and how it supersedes class with the incentive of money. However, I can also see how the lottery could metaphorically be compared to people's lives (perhaps with the Company be a metaphor for a god or higher power). Given this, the lack of communication and indirectness from the Company by only answering in scriptures when questioned speaks to how cryptic religious messaging can be to those who ask for it. The ending statement where "the company has not existed for centuries" (35), is also interesting as it is speaking to the age of enlightenment, progress, and revolution, where societies shifted their control from outward to inward. By stating that the lottery is nothing but an "infinite game of chance" (35) also details how little control we truly have in our lives and how no one is controlling it.  

Questions for the class: What metaphorical message did you get from The Lottery of Babylon? Is it wrong to compare modern examples within these metaphors to writings of the past? 

Mama Blanca's Memoirs by Teresa De la Parra (Week 2)

There are several themes that stuck out to me while reading Teresa de la Parra’s Mama Blanca's Memoirs. Throughout the novel, de la Parra plays with the themes of gender, class, modernity, and idealism through the eyes of a child on a sugar plantation. The first thing that I found interesting is the time that the novel is set. I was expecting to read about the role of slavery in society through gruelling plantation work, however, Mama Blanca’s Memoirs gives a perspective of progress and change in Latin American that I wasn’t expecting by taking place shortly after the abolition of slavery in Venezuela. Building on this, the way that the class system is presented negotiates and mystifies the day-to-day affects of the class system in a way that I haven’t read before. De la Parra does this by invoking the image of wealth through objects like “crystal pitchers” (25) and “champagne glasses” (25) and observation of her mother’s “vanity” (26), while also providing few specifics on the place that Mama Blanca’s family ranks in the social hierarchy of Venezuelan society. 

The lack of detail placed on the family’s social class in comparison to others through a child’s eyes makes an interesting statement that social class is something that is heavily conditioned and encouraged subconsciously into adulthood. Or perhaps, Mama Blanca didn’t find herself needing to repeatedly note their social position because her family’s position in society was all she was aware of. The narrator’s idyllic and childlike view of the plantation exemplifies the naivety instilled in upper class youth about their history and impact on society. De la Parra also expands on the perspective of social class by having the narrator’s main struggles be through her curly hair in a time where many were not given the luxury to worry about their beauty. It makes an interesting statement that in a time of progress, the future of the upper class (symbolized through the childhood narrator) still sees little change in their daily routine, struggles and quality of life. 

Building on the example of the curls, this example combines the themes of gender, idealism, and progress in a very interesting way to me. The pressure to conform to the European beauty standards of straight hair speaks to the continued attempt to minimize Indigenous features even after abolition and therefore further cementing the social hierarchy. Carmen Maria’s concern for her daughter’s hair also speaks to the expectations placed on women, while also showing their role in society. Strive of European standards is again emphasized by Cousin Jauncho’s “admiration for Europe” (53). The daily and repetitive act of having her hair fixed shows that there is little effort to break from tradition amongst the upper classes. However, it could also be argued that Mama Blanca’s aversion to the daily traditional task that her mother forces on her symbolizes the transition from old to new ideals that is around the corner. However, for the time being, Mama Blanca continues to contribute aesthetic features to success in society by her statement that “Cousin Juancho wore his noble, well-brushed poverty with quiet dignity” (55) while also “carefully conceal[ing]” (55) it. 

Having studied a bit of Latin American history before, I’ve never really thought about the role that vanity and aesthetics played in change for social progress. I’m torn on whether the importance of traditional appearances from the older characters in this novel speaks to how tradition stays the same or if it changes through the age of social progress. Therefore, do you believe that aesthetic appearance hindered the road to social change in Venezuela? Or maybe aesthetic ideals just suppressed those of a certain gender (as illustrated by Carmen Maria’s concern for Mama Blanca’s hair)? Mama Blanca herself takes note of her mother’s “vanity” (26), maybe this was a criticism for the social norms and expectations of the times, or maybe it just illustrated the appeal to authority that children are often forced to assimilate to.

Questions for the class: Do you think aesthetic appearance gives people power in society? And if so how? Does it hinder or advance female influence/power?