1. theme: violence.
I noticed a LOT more violence in chapters 6-10 than I did in chapters 1-5. Of course, these chapters deal a lot with the war, but I feel like most of the violence was very senseless. I also noticed that most of the violence was accompanied by pure human cruelty. We talked about ethics in my health science class this morning, so maybe I noticed more how unethical most of the actions were when I went back to look this over.
Violence is present right in the beginning of chapter 6 - "Colonel Aureliano Buendia organized thirty-two armed uprisings and he lost them all. He had seventeen male children...and they were exterminated one after the other on a single night before the oldest one had reached the age of thirty-five. He survived fourteen attempts on his life, seventy-three ambushes, and a firing squad. He lived through a dose of strychnine in his coffee that was strong enough to kill a horse" (103). While there is no direct violence in here, like we see in later scenes, there is still a lot of violence/malicious actions committed against one man.
I thought the worst scene relating to senseless violence was in chapter 8, when General Jose Raquel Moncada was sentenced to death. I thought it was intolerably cruel that the women of the town, and more importantly Ursula, were the ones who stood up in his defense, and that his 'friend' Aureliano refused to commute the sentence. I thought that Aureliano's excuse for why Gen. Moncada had to die was completely unethical, and a pathetic excuse by a delusional man. "'You know better than I,' he said, 'that all courts-martial are farces and that you're really paying for the crimes of other people, because this time we're going to win the war at any price. Wouldn't you have done the same in my place?'" (158). Substituting and sacrificing the life of an innocent man to cover the crimes of others is not acceptable on any level. But the way the General accepted his death really got me, and I'll admit it, I was having an overly emotional day and I almost cried when he calmly removed his jewelry and asked Aureliano to bring it to his wife. The way he was so calm in the face of his impending death, and the grace with which he handled the situation really struck me.
There were the more obvious incidents of violence, like the countless firing squads and frenzied attacks, but I also noticed that Ursula is capable of much violence herself. Although she is normally a calm and collected woman, it doesn't exempt her from being violent and cruel. In some ways, it was funny when she would attack, but it was also very frightening, because she was more than capable of causing harm. This was very present in chapter 6, when Arcadio becomes obsessed with power, and she runs out into the courtyard. "When Ursula burst into the courtyard of the headquarters, after having gone through town shouting shame and brandishing with rage a pitch-covered whip, Arcadio himself was preparing to give the squad command to fire...Before Arcadio had time to react she let go with the first blow of the lash...Whipping him without mercy, she chased him to the back of the courtyard, where Arcadio curled up like a snail in its shell...She left Arcadio with his uniform torn, roaring with pain and rage..."(105).
In some stories, you don't notice all of the violence that goes on, and can sometimes overlook it. However, I found it very hard to overlook any of the violence here.
2. theme: lack of 'filial piety'
After finishing these 5 chapters, I found that none of the children really have a sense of respect for their parents (or Ursula, since she is basically the adopted mother of every child in the story). Arcadio rebels against her, and decides to take over the town. Aureliano, whom I always pictured as a 'mama's boy', for some reason, completely disowns her when he returns from the war. "It was then that he decided that no human being, not even Ursula, could come closer to him than ten feet" (165). The last person he should have ever turned his back on, in my opinion, was his own mother. His mother is not only the most powerful force in the town, but also the woman who raised him and took care of him.
I also was really bothered by the amount of incest in this story. It was like no one had respect for their relatives. Everyone couldn't wait to get into bed with their aunt or sister or cousin, and I found it even weirder that they actually had feelings and got 'turned on' by their old aunt, or their younger sister. I can't fathom ever having feelings for one of my relatives, because it is just strange and horrible and something you're not supposed to do. I also cannot understand how none of the children, with the possible exception of Remedios the Beauty, weren't born mentally retarded or with some type of deformity. Yes, I realise that there is most likely a psychological problem with most of the boys, like their lust for power (and for their female relatives), but they are not cognitively impaired, as they should be. I also found it strange that Amaranta kept turning down male suitors from outside the family. It was like she was saving herself for one of the boys in the family, and I especially thought so even more the way she lit up when Aureliano returned home.
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