Active Reading Journal #2

Chapter 2

I. Elements of Magical Realism
-“He was tormented by the immense desolation with which the dead man had looked at him through the rain, his deep nostalgia as he yearned for living people” Pg. 22-23
I think this is Magical realism because this shows supernatural things in the real world.
II. Characters
Jose Arcadia Buendia- Appears to be less insane with inventions.
1. Ursula Iguaran- Paranoid about having sex and having kids
2. Jose Arcadio- Falls in love and abandons his first lover for a gypsy
3. Aureliano- Helps Jose Arcadia Buendia in the study of mirror walls.
4. Prudencio Aguilar- Cock fighter, a ghost who haunts Jose Arcadia Buendia and Ursula.
5. Pilar Ternera- Jose Arcadio’s first lover, local woman, who seduces Jose Arcadio and eventually Jose, gets her pregnant.
6. Amaranta- Jose Arcadia Buendia and Ursula’s daughter, was abandoned by Ursula to follow gypsies



III. Plot Summary
- Chapter two starts out with the story of Jose Arcadia Buendia discovering Macondo and the story of Ursula’s great-great grandmother. Jose and Ursula met in Macondo and got married there. The two were cousins. When they got married, Ursula did not want to have kids because she feared that her kids would have a deformity. So in fear of being raped, she wore Chastity pants that her grandma made to protect her. The village people laughed at Jose Arcadia Buendia, and one of the villagers Prudencio Aguilar insulted him and they went into a cock fight. Jose Arcadia killed him in the cock fight and was then congratulated. Jose told Ursula in a threat manner to remove the underpants and Ursula murmured that he is responsible for anything bad that happens. A few months later, Ursula begins to see the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar. Eventually after the family had been haunted, the two decided to go far away to leave Aguilar. Later Jose Arcadio finds Pilar Ternera and he gets her pregnant, then Arcadio runs away with a gypsy. Ursula goes to follow the gypsies and when she returns, she finds two routes to the outside world.

IV. Quotes
-“This just means that we can’t stand the weight of our conscience.” Pg. 22
I liked the quote because sometimes it’s true that the weight of our conscience is too much, you sometimes don’t know what to believe when your conscience is trying to talk to you. I like this because it is true and I can relate to the quote.
- “If you bear iguanas, we’ll raise iguanas.” I also like this because Jose seems to be a real man. A lot of men today would leave their wife or girlfriend if they got a child that was deformed. To me, this quote is sweet.

V. Themes

1. Fear- Fear plays in this chapter when Ursula marries Jose but is afraid to have sex and get pregnant in fear of having a deformed child.
2. Anger which leads to death- Anger plays in this because Prudencio angers Jose by insulting him then both have a cock fight and Prudencio is killed
3. Lust- Lust plays a role in the novel as Arcadio lust for a local villager then over a gypsy.