The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Technology
What do you think the book is trying to say about technology? Is there a stance, for or against, that is being promoted? How do you explain the insanity of Jose Arcadio Buendia with your answer?
Do you think the incoming railroad is a sign of transition for Macondo? Do you think it will bring the town to a new era, or will this be too modern and cause (even more) chaos in the town?
On Time and Memory
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?
I think Macondo’s insomnia period is its most interesting era. How does a lack of sleep contribute to a sense of timelessness and memory loss in the novel? Is this depiction accurate if you yourself have ever experienced bouts of insomnia?
How does the preview into the future right from the beginning impact your experience reading forward?
How did you make sense of time in the novel? At times it felt like the narrative crawled along at snail’s pace and then sped into overdrive skipping across decades. I could never get a sense of the children’s ages or relationships to each other. Do you think time is also subject to the magic of Macondo?
Can you provide an example of where this theme of time/repetition repeats itself? How does it contribute to the greater overall story?
What aspects about this cycle of repetition interested you the most? Do you think that as the novel evolves the Buendías will be able to break free from this cycle?
On Macondo
How do you think that the town of Macondo accomplishes to represent the world and human society? How does the place/seting contribute to the development of the story and the fate of the family?
The idea that no one can escape their family’s past is a big theme throughout the novel. So, in your opinion why do you think Márquez created this world where every characters future is predetermined?
On Magic Realism
What impact does Marquez’s use of magical realism have on the reader’s understanding of the world around them? How does this technique challenge traditional notions of reality and storytelling, and what does it reveal about the power of literature to capture the complexities of human experience?
What role does magic realism play in the novel, as it is a book that is both repetitive and one that “appeals to many senses and generates many affects”?
What effect do you think magic realism has on the narrative of this novel?
What was your favorite usage of magical realism within this book? Or, what theme that magical realism impacted benefitted the most from their coupling?
Why do you think Garcia Marquez chooses to employ magical realism in their writing? What do it accomplish that say a more natural approach couldn’t?
Were there any events, people, or objects within the book that seemed “magical”? What reminded you of “magical realism” throughout the book?
Did any of the vignettes speak to your own human struggles or experiences, or they remained more magical than real?
On Characters
What character do you resonate the most with, if any, and why?
Do you think the choosing of the names had a causal effect to the children’s characters? Might the course of the family have changed if they were a bit more creative when naming their kids?
Why does the liberal party not have any meaning for anyone in Colonel Aureliano Buendia’s opinion?
Do you think Remedios the Beauty’s character was helpful to the story? If yes, please explain because I feel like she wasn’t.
Who or what do others think could best be characterized as the “protagonist” of this book?
Which character out of all of them is the most unforgettable to you? It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone you like or dislike, but rather the character you find yourself caring about the most.
How did you interrupt the character development, was there a character in particular you felt experienced solitude in other ways, or maybe who didnt seem to follow this pattern?
On Solitude
What is the significance of the novel’s title, and how does it encapsulate the major themes and motifs of the story?
what did the role of Solitude play in your reading of the book? Were there more accounts of Solitude that are different? Whose Solitude was most remarkable to you?
I am curious what you have seen/not seen, in terms of foreshadowed themes of solitude in the first part of the story?
Other
Why incest plays such a role in the story. Is it just because it happened a few generations before the start of this family? Is it just playing on stereotypes of rural people? Is it more just about the attraction this whole family has to the same old, same old?
Were there any other key words (like loneliness and isolation) that you saw repeated throughout the novel? If so, how do you think these words affected the themes of the novel?
What literary purpose or meaning do you find for Gabriel Garcia Marquez to write Cien Años de Soledad in such a complicated manner?
What do you think the yellow butterflies present throughout the novel represent, if anything?
Do you think this book should be read as a fairy tale, myth, or fable? Do you like his metaphorical expressions? If so, what are your favourite phrases?
What do you think is the significance of the whole insomia thing?
How can we interpret the course’s themes of games and play with this novel? How do you think “play” as a theme or maybe a general concept is integrated into this novel, if it is at all?
Can you alter fate? Or all the choices that could change your path simply leading you to your destiny?
What do you think of José Arcadio’s and Rebeca’s marriage, should they have married in the first place or would they be better off apart from each other?
Does madness highlight the irrelevance or the significance of a theme or idea? Does the madness of a character over a specific topic show that they have understood something to a deeper and meaningful level that puts them out of touch with those around them who do not understand it? Or is the opposite true, that they become out of touch with those around them because of the insignificance of their obsessions?
What do you believe the role of love plays within the novel so far? How do these complicated feelings affect the decisions and consequences of the characters?
Did this book remind you of a time when you had order and familiarity, and chaos arose and shifted things? Did it shape your life like the characters’ lives in the book from chaotic events?
What is the role of gender and sexuality in the novel, and how do the female characters challenge or reinforce traditional gender roles and expectations?
What contribution does magical realism make to the novel’s central ideas and themes, such as the interrelatedness of people’s lives and the relationship between history and myth?
How do the different characters of the story respond to grief? Do characters that experience different variations of grief respond in predictable ways?
What stood out to you in the first half of One Hundred Years of Solitude? Are there any specific events or episodes in the narrative that have impressed you for one reason or another?
Do you think the bad luck upon the family is some sort of “curse” that Ursula is suffering due to consummating her marriage?
Do you think it would have been easier had the family members have different names, or do you think this contributes to the theme of magic realism?
