2. Once the rain has stopped Ursula tries to restore the Buendia household, but what she finds is that Jose Arcadio Segundo has been in his room all of this time trying to decipher Melquiades' messages. Aureliano Segundo is having a hard time with money, and he is also spending less time with his children. Ursula continues to go farther into her past and eventually she dies at a very old age, and so does Rebeca. Soon after this a great heat wave comes over the town and all of the people in Macondo begin to reminisce of the town's former glory. Aureliano Segundo is trying his hardest to earn money so that Amaranta Ursula can go to school in Europe, but he is finding that in his old age it is more difficult than he expected as he is dying. His brother Jose Arcadio Segundo is also dying and his last mission is to teach his son about Macondo's history and hope that he will pick up where he left off with Melquiades' prophecies. Aureliano Segundo is finally able to send Amaranta Ursula to school in Europe, and at that instant both him and his twin brother die. At the funeral, their coffins are switched and they are buried in each other's graves. Aureliano Segundo's son is working on Melquiades' messages and he figures out that they cannot be deciphered until they are one hundred years old. Since the Buendia's are poor, they are supported by food given to them by Petra Cotes, Sofia de la Piedad gives up on taking care of the family and just walks out on them one day without saying one word. Fernanda del Caprio is only writing to her children in Europe, and she dies alone. After her death her son returns to Macondo hoping to inherit money, but when he discovers there is no money, he searches for the money that Ursula hid, and he eventually found it. He uses his money to have parties, and is visited by the last son of Colonel Aureliano Buendia who is shot by the police like his brothers. However, four of the people that he was having parties with shot him in his bath and stole his money.
3. When I looked back on what has happened so far in this novel, I found the title to be even more interesting. The story started even before the town of Macondo was created, and ended when Ursula was well over one hundred. I was also curious at the idea that Ursula outlived many of her children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. Was Marquez trying to tell us something about Ursula as a person, such as her great strength? Granted, Ursula did not come to the town as an infant, but there were generations, and generations of Buendia's also I feel that many of the characters should be older than they really were. It was through this that I realized that Marquez did not literally mean one hundred years, it was figurative. The town of Macondo, including the Buendia's, were condemned to a long period of time of solitude and isolation, therefore showing that they are incapable of making any progress, it does not mean one hundred years precisely, as the title would suggest.
4. a) What is the deeper meaning of the incest that occurs in the novel, is it simply to show that the characters are unable to make connections with others? Or is there more?
b) Rebeca, the adopted daughter of Ursula dies at almost the same time as her. Is this Marquez's way of again saying that ages and numbers in this novel are not to be taken literally?
c) The Buendia was once a well known family in Macondo, but after the war is over Colonel Aureliano is no longer seen as a local hero, and almost nobody even remembers the family. Does Marquez intend to say that the same thing happened to his family after his grandfather returned from war?
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