Today's reflection is centered around Colonel Aureliano Buendia's fate in the workshop making the golden fishes, "He locked himself up inside himself an dthe family finally thought of him as if he were dead" (263). One of the challenges of the class discussions is balance the concrete and abstract. I have noticed the parallels between Marquez's solitude consuming the Buendias and the annihilating nothingness of existentialism. We talked a lot of God and the similarities of the Genesis narrative. There is also that quest for meaning that each Buendia seems to embark upon despite the fact that they are undone by the family curse in each generation.
After discussing Ursula, I feel more sympathetic towards her character, but I still do not think she is a "strong" character. Honestly, this novel would have functioned without her involvement at all. She just as easily could have had a sidebar like Petra Cotes or Pilar Ternera. It was the development of the men's identity and how they embodied the family faults of Jose Arcadio Buendia that made this book unique. Even her name, Ursula Iguaran seems a bit derogatory--Ursula the Iguana. While she is a product of her environment is some ways, Remedios the Beauty is able to overcome those expectations. Obviously, she is an extreme case because she literally had to ascend to Heaven, but she is able to overcome the curse at least.
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The book may have functioned without Ursula's involvement but I don't think the reader would have been as privy to the message Garcia Marquez was trying to get across. I think a case could be made for Ursula being the truest voice of Garcia Marquez in this text. Once she dies, it signifies the end to the rest of the family as well...once she dies, there is no hope for leaving the path of solitude.
I agree with Michelle. To me, she's the strongest character in the text and the most positive.
I think the fact that a male Buendia (Jose Arcadio Buendia)started the line and story of Macondo and ended the line and story (Aureliano Babilonia) leaves the power in the hands of the men of this story. Ursula is interesting, but ultimately her power is in the home. The cult of domesticity emphasizes separated the spheres of influence to the home for women and the world for men. I see Ursula as a master of her sphere, but that influence does not extend beyond the wall which encircles the Buendias' estate.
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