Brain Pain discussion

This discussion covers Page 106 – 207 begins: “Colonel Aurelio Beundía organized thirty-two armed uprisings and he lost them all.”

Revolution comes and Colonel Aurelio Beundía joins the fray, leaving Arcadio in charge of Macondo. Drunk with power, Arcadio goes on a decree spree until Ursula whips him into shape. The battle lost, Arcadio tries a desperate attempt to defend Macondo, but ultimately finds himself up against the wall. Colonel Aurelio Beundía returns home to be executed among his people, but no one is willing to pull the trigger. The revolution continues waxing and waning for years. Seventeen sons of seventeen virgins visit Macondo to be baptized in the Colonel-their-father’s village and Ursula accommodates them all. José Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo prove to be twin sons of different fathers.


To avoid spoilers, please restrict your comments to page 1 - 207

Just when I was getting tired of the civil war,thankfully the truce happened but how long will it last!?
This is such a violent book- the horrible deaths of the Buendias leaves one squeamish & there is more to come,if one is to go by the prophesies & the foreshadowings.
The destiny of Macondo seems to be tied to this family. The saddest part was seeing the transformation of Colonel Aureliano B– the Platonic philosopher king/warrior is dehumanized by the revolution – so true of most revolutionaries- Lenin,Stalin, Che & so on.
The ten feet chalk circle around him,which no one can cross,has such a rock star/diva quality to it! It could also be a reference to Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle cause theme of parenting is so important in this book.

I finally made it through this week's reading. I still have the feeling I am missing a lot. But I have a question about one thing in particular. When Aureliano Segundo starts having conversations with Melquiades, Ursula asks who he was talking to, and Aureliano Segundo answers, "Nobody." "'That's what your great-grandfather did,' Ursula said. 'He used to talk to himself too.'" (p. 184) So now I am wondering about whether Melquiades was really there after he died and came back. I had the impression when I was reading that part that Jose Arcadia Buendia was not the only person who saw Melquiades while he was living at the house, but now I wonder.

This book is a celebrated example of Magical Realism,so supernatural elements are part & parcel of the narrative.
Ghosts frequent the pages here as casually as do the living!
Yes,Melquiades returns as a ghost & is seen by many characters. He plays a very important role as you'll read on further.

Casceil wrote: "I finally made it through this week's reading. I still have the feeling I am missing a lot. But I have a question about one thing in particular. When Aureliano Segundo starts having conversation..."

As Mala mentioned, ghosts of the dead are plentiful and completely normal occurrences for the living characters in the book. It's reasonable to assume that the ghost of Melquiades pays regular visits to the home.

An interesting predecessor to this book is Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo. Rulfo's book is a kind of template for much of the Latin magic realism novels that followed it. It's fairly short, but filled with ghosts and time shifts from cover to cover.