100 Years of Solitude [Day 3]

2. The Rediscovery of Rebeca

I thought this scene was one of the strangest things encountered in the book so far. I had the feeling Rebeca would still be in the house, as I was reading the build-up to her discovery. "He asked who owned it. Someone told him that it did not belong to anyone, that in former times a solitary widow who fed on earth and whitewash from the walls had lived there, and that in her last years she was seen only twice on the street with a hat of tiny artificial flowers and shoes the color of old silver when she crossed the square..." (217). She was ostracized from the family once she married her brother/cousin, so there shouldn't be any reason that they wouldn't have left Rebeca's corpse in the house. Everyone seemed to forget about her and even I sort of forgot about her until this scene. I didn't, however, think Rebeca would still be alive inside the house. "..and then he saw in the center of the room the squalid woman, still dressed in clothing of the past century, with a few yellow threads on her bald head, and two large eyes, still beautiful, in which the last stars of hope had gone out...the woman was aiming an antiquated pistol at him" (218). Seeing as Ursula has managed to stick around this long, I guess there's no reason why Rebeca couldn't still be alive either.

At first I thought it was weird that Rebeca suddenly reappeared after the story went on without her for so long, and everyone had already forgotten about her. But then I read the scene with the massacre, and how quickly everyone forgot about the incident. After that I decided 'forgetfulness', in a sense, was possibly a theme of this novel. Aureliano Buendia (the original Aureliano) forgets about his family ties when he goes to fight the war, and completely forgets the bond he had with his mother. Rebeca is cast out of the house, and everyone forgets about her until they find her almost corpse-like and still alive. The villagers of Macondo completely forget the massacre only hours after it happens. The characters in the story are so good at forgetting things, the reader begins to forget them too.

6. The Ascension of Remedios the Beauty

I liked this scene, mainly because Remedios the Beauty was impossibly innocent, but also because Fernanda became so upset that she lost her sheets. At first, I felt bad for the way the family treated Fernanda. But then, the more crazy things she did, the less I pitied her, and was glad her sheets ascended with Remedios.

I didn't really think anything significant of this scene until I looked over the topic options last night. I was eating Easter candy, and had an epiphany about Remedios rising into the air. "...she watched Remedios the Beauty waving good-bye in the midst of the flapping sheets that rose up with her, abandoning with her the environment of beetles and dahlias and passing through the air with her as four o'clock in the afternoon came to an end..." (236). I thought that she might almost be a Christ-like figure. She lived a pure and simple life, choosing not to dress in fancy clothing but instead a sack-like dress. She was completely innocent of everything, and did not seem to have the sometimes cruel tendencies of the other members of the family. Yes, she did have the habit of killing men who got too close, but she couldn't help that the scent of her skin drove them mad. I thought her rising up into the air was sort of like Jesus ascending into Heaven on the third day. He also lived a very pure life, and did not die of His own sins, but to save us from ours. There isn't any evidence of Remedios the Beauty committing any sins, except that she's too beautiful. I thought with all of the mention of the Church in the story, this might be another one, especially since it is referred to as a 'miracle'. "Fernanda, burning with envy, finally accepted the miracle, and for a long time she kept on praying to God to send her back her sheets" (236).