Back to solitude again. The theme is so comprehensive throughout the book that it is difficult not to discuss. It is obvious that each characters is suffering from the solitude that seems to have enveloped Macondo, but what I am thinking is interesting now is that the town itself is becoming less and less solitary. There is now a train going through Macondo, and technology is becoming a bigger part of life in the town. It is as though technology and solitude parallel each other. The bigger and more advanced that Macondo gets, the more lonely the characters seem to feel. I think the same can be seen on a smaller scale as well with the example of Buendia as a colonel; the more power and women he attains, the more the solitude sets in. I suppose it is an analogy for the effects that technology had on the indigenous people of latin america. Also, I think it is interesting how the bigger the town becomes, the more the people forget. Words and objects are still losing their meanings although people are coming into the town and should be able to help the people remember. Maybe this is a metaphor for the loss of language during the conquest? You see, I am relating everything to la conquista because I think that is what this book is really about . . . pretty profound, eh? Just kidding.
The incestuous nature of the characters of the book is becoming more clear as well. Many of the children in this book (most in fact) have the same names as their parents. How many Aureliano Buendia's are there now?? My god. And there are brothers screwing the same woman, and guys having sex with donkeys?! Things are starting to heat up! But really, the sex in the story (which already was a major theme) is getting more and more wild, and clearly there is a point. The relationship between Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes is actually making the animals more fertile. The reasons for the sex, repetition, and inbreeding is still lost to me, but I'm hoping that it will become more clear as the story continues. It is also very possible that I have overlooked quite a bit!
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I too am quite lost with the reasons for incorporating so much sex and incest. It seems to be quite a major theme as it is present throughout the book and the fact that the relationship between Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes is adding further fertility to animals is quite strange. Perhaps GGM is trying to portray sex as an animalistic feature as opposed to one of passion and romance. Or maybe he is trying to say we are all animals in the end. However, these are just thoughts and hopefully I will gain a deeper understanding as we read on.
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