The Ogre (Day 4)

1) What do you think the significance of the mirror twins and Lothar (they seem to have a special place at the Napola and with Abel) ? And what about the way in which they die? How do you read this? (Hint: Revelation 2:16 says- "Therefore repent, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth."


When he finds Haro and Hajo, Tournier writes, " Twins carry the despiritualization of the flesh further. It is no longer a matter of a contradictory tumult in which souls neutralize each other. The two bodies really have only one concept between them with which to clothe themselves in intelligence and fill themselves with spirit" (287). He tried to figure out ways to tell them apart and then he realized that they are mirror twins who can be superimposed on one another face to face, not one on top of the other like the others. He says, "I have always been extremely interested in the processes of inversion an, permutation and superimposing; photography provided a special illustration of them, but only in the realm of the imagination. And now here I find the theme that has always haunted me actually written out in children's flesh!" (289). I think these twins represent good and evil, and that both of these things are within every person. I think this because of the way one side of them matches up perfectly with the other side of the other twin.

The Ogre (Day 3)

Discuss the emphasis upon animals in Rominten. What do you think the aurochs symbolize? Or why the emphasis on the hunt? Try to extract as many meanings as possible from this.

To me, the animals represent many things. I also think it is interesting that throughout this whole time we see Tiffauges as being disgusted with the consumption and killing of the animals because prior to this it was him who was obsessed with becoming something by consuming it. I think he finally may be discovering what is going on. The animals go along with the theme of consumption throughout the novel. An example of consumption was when Goering was eating a half of a roast boar and he fed it to the lion who was sitting behind him. Tournier writes, "From then on the leg passed regularly back and forth between the two ogres, who gazed at each other affectionately as they chewed the lumps of black, musky flesh (206). It seems that every time someone commits a bad deed or acts like an animal they are described as an ogre, a ferocious creature that does harm to others. I thought it was bizarre that after killing the animals, whoever is doing so, laughs and is very happy about it. For example, when the Master of Hunt killed the doe, he was laughing and chortling with glee (210). This portrays the sort of sick mentality that some people have when they commit a horrendous deed, such as killing an innocent person/animal. This immediately made me think of the Holocaust and the fact that the Nazis were happy about what they did. When the horse was shot behind the ear and collapsed, Tiffauges nearly passed out. When the owner removed the horse's "shoes" and the hide, it reminded me of the Holocaust when the Jewish people were killed, the Nazis took some of their belongings and even removed their teeth.

Another interesting moment is when Tiffauges sees a herd of enormous creatures approaching him. They were black and shaggy as bears and humped like bison. Tiffauges recognized them as bulls, but obviously of a prehistoric type, such as depicted in neolithic cave drawings- that is aurochs, with their short horns like daggers and withers rippling with a thick mane (201). To me, this herd symbolizes the Nazis invading and taking over. They are running towards Tiffauges to make him aware of what is coming. I also think it is interesting that they are black because this color symbolizes a lot. Black always means death and foreshadows bad things to come. I did a little research about aurochs and I found out that there is actually a German flag with an auroch's head on it in some region in Germany. Now I am pretty certain that the aurochs represent the terror that the Nazis brought.

The Ogre (Day 2)

Write about 2 things that interest/intrigue you in the text.

Two things that stuck out when reading the novel were the antlers of the elk and the pigeons that were represented as twins. Tournier writes, "He stood with a pigeon in each hand, putting them together and setting them apart like the two halves of one simple harmonious object that has been accidentally broken. Everytime the two russet brothers touched, they formed an egg by an automatic reflex that intermingled all of their parts. It was as if they were drawn together by a magnetic force (143). I am not really sure what these pigeons represent, and the whole idea of the twins but I am guessing it could represent good and evil. After Tiffauges holds these pigeons that are artifically made into twins, as Madame Unruh states, he sees and hears the wings of the silver pigeon flying over him. Madame Unruh trembles because the silver pigeon was supposed to represent the union between her and her husband. Tiffauges does not scare the pigeons, he welcomes them when he places his hands out to get them on his hand. To me, this could mean that when he has one pigeon on one hand, that is the evil side, and when there is one on the other hand, it represents the goodness. I am not sure if the pigeons are a good thing, because Tournier writes that the more pigeons invade Tiffauge's life, the more he remains alone and becomes silent. He then helps a sick bird that he feeds with his own mouth and he feels a sort of connection with it. "He thought he could see in its eyes the look of a mind deepened and disillusioned by premature experience of lonliness and sorrow," which is similar to the way Tiffauges considers his life.


Tournier writes, "Tiffauges threw it open and staggered back before the monster that stood framed there. It was at once like a horse, buffalo, and a deer. It took a step forward and was immediately halted by its enormous antlers, with jagged tips, that got caught on the door posts. I think it is really interesting that the elk is described as a monster. This makes me think that there is some sort of parallel between Tiffauges and the elk. I think the antlers are a symbol as well. Antlers are also a feature of an animal that has two sides. There are two antlers on the elk, that I also think go along with the theme of good and evil and how it relates to Tiffauge's life. Tiffauges was really scared but then he got a piece of bread from the table and proceeded to feed the elk. The elf seemed satisfied and returned back outside, leaving Tiffauges alone. One night when the elk came back, Tiffauges saw that its eyes were covered in two white films, figuring out that it was blind. "Now Tiffauges understood the begging demeanor, the awkward gait, the somnambulistic slowness, and because of his own awful myopia he felt closer to the dark giant" (177).

The Ogre (Day One pages 3-93)

1) At the start of the novel Abel presents himself first as an ogre (which has mythic status) and then as the owner of a Parisian garage. How do you view these self-presentations? How do they correspond to and /or differ from one another?



Abel's first diary entry explains that his wife Rachel used to call him an ogre, or "a fabulous moster emerging from the mists of time" which Abel agrees that he thinks he has issued from the mists of time. He explains that a monster is a creature that is shown and mocked and exhibited at fairs. He says if you don't want to be a monster that you must conform to society's wishes and be just like them. After he explains this he introduces himself and says that he runs a garage in the Place de la Porte. I think he gives both of these self-presentations to show that he is a simple human who runs a garage, but that he also is similar to an ogre because he is special and unique from the rest. I think he also is similar to an ogre because people fear ogres, especially children and he develops an interest in children that is confused with molestation and and petifilia. When I think of an ogre, I think of a disgusting creature that is big and gross, similar to how Nestor is described. Abel, on the other hand, is described as being really puny and clumsy, which doesn't sound like the characteristics of an ogre at all.

2) Why is part one written as a diary? Why does he call these his sinister writings? What might this imply?

I think that part one is written as a diary because he Abel is reflecting on himself as a person and revealing to the reader why he feels a certain way. I think it is interesting that the novel begins with diary entries because a diary is supposed to be something private. Abel tells us that what he has written should be taken seriously and I take this as some sort of warning that we are not going to like what comes in the novel. Abel says, "I have two sets of writing: one that is "adroit," pleasant, social, commercial, reflecting the masked character I pretend to be in the eyes of society; and one that is "sinister," distorted by all of the "gauchenesses" of genius, full of flashes and cries- in short, inhabited by the spirit of Nestor (30). He has mixed perceptions about himself but he believes that he is just as sinister as his writings because he has to constantly conceal who he is and try to appease society. I think this is also saying how he is very similar to Nestor and Nestor taught him how to write by holding his hand and then Abel says that the sinister writings are the work of the both of them. I think it is interesting because although they are similar, they are different. Nestor is limited by time and Abel has an eternity, just like the story of Cain and Abel from the bible. They are alike in the fact that Nestor is "a monstous creature with something of genius and something of magic about him" (18). I am not sure what to make of all of this yet, but these are some things that I have noticed.

100 Years of Solitude (Chapters 16-20)

Choose two of the discussion topics below for your blog post.

1) The fact that Ursula shrinks and becomes like a doll

Marquez writes, "She finally mixed up the past with the present in such a way that in the two or three waves of lucidity that she had before she died, no one knew for certain whether she was speaking about what she felt or what she remembered. Little by little she was shrinking, turning into a fetus, becoming mummified in life to the point that in her last months she was a cherry raisin lost inside of her nightgown...She looked like a newborn old woman" (341). Ursula's wisdom and reason was gone. I think she is shrinking because it symbolizes the fact that all good things must come to an end, meaning Ursula's life and also meaning that Macondo is going to experience more horrible things. She was always trying to make everything right and provide everyone with the knowledge she had. I also think that her shrinking shows a sign of returning to the past in terms of Macondo. There is a constant repetition and the town continues to go through the same things and experience misfortune.


2) The assassination of Aureliano Amador

Aureliano Amador is the only survivor of the 17 sons from 17 different women and they all have to die so I sort of knew that he was going to die at some point. Marquez writes, "Two policemen who had been chasing Aureliano Amador for years, who had tracked him like bloodhounds across half the world, came out from among the almond trees on the opposite sidewalk and took two shots with their Mausers which neatly penetrated the cross of ashes" (374). Aureliano and Jose Arcadio did not remember him and pushed him into the street. Aureliano stayed alive not because of self preservation but because of fear. I think it is interesting that the shots "penetrated the cross of ashes" because that makes a reference back to the marks that all seventeen brothers had on their foreheads, indicating that what they brought to Macondo was finally over now that all of them are gone.

100 Years of Solitude (Chapters 11-15)

Choose 2 topics to write about

Significance of Fernanda

Fernanda's mother told her that she would be a queen one day and she believed it. Even the nuns at school said that she was going to be a queen. Her husband sleeps with Petra Cotes and says "that he had to do it so that the animals would keep on breeding." Fernanda pretended that she did not know the truth about Petra. Fernanda tried to impose on the family and impose the customs of her ancestors. She put an end to the eating in the kitchen and said that they should eat in the dining room. I think she kind of represents a foreigner who is trying to change the ways of the Buendia household, just as everything else in the novel is trying to make changes in Macondo. She tries to impose her ways to get them to see that what they are doing is wrong and they need to go outside of their family for once.

Arrival of modern inventions in Macondo

The people of Macondo were dazzled by the inventions. Marquez writes, "it was if God had decided to put the test to every capacity for surprise and was keeping the inhabitants of Macondo in a permanent alternation between excitement and disappointment, doubt and revelation, to an extreme that no one knew for certain where the limits of reality lay" (224). The people do not know what to believe because they are always experiencing tragedy. When the railroad was built, a ticket window was built and a wooden station with a desk and a telephone. There were agronomists, hydrologists, topographers, and surveyors. The people of Macondo were suspicious of these people and thought they had something to do with the war. So many changes had taken place that the inhabitants had a hard time recognizing their own town. Aureliano Segundo was happy about the avanlanche of foreigners that came into Macondo. Colonel Aureliano Buendia did not feel the same way. He shut himself into his room because he felt like the foreigners were not really interested in greeting him because of sympathy. Ursula became excited every time the train came around. Remedios the beauty was the only one who was immune to the banana plague. She was happy in her own world of simple realities (229). She didn't understand why women wore corsets and petticoats. Men desired her, even when she shaved her head and did not do what the other women were doing.

100 Years of Solitude (Chapters 6-10)

Choose two themes that relate to the novel as a whole.

One theme I noticed while reading is the theme of death. There is always a mention of someone dying and some deaths are unexplained, such as the death of Jose Arcadio. The most shocking thing to me, that occurs in Chapter 7 is the death of Jose Arcadio Buendia. After shouting in his ear and shaking him, they could not wake JAB up. That is when they realized that he was dead. After this, outside there were tons of yellow flowers falling from the sky. Marquez writes, "They fell on the town all through the night in a silent storm, and they covered the roofs and blocked the doors and smothered the animals who slept outdoors. So many flowers fell from the sky that in the morning the streets were carpeted with a compact cushion and they had to clear them away with shovels and rakes" (140). The flowers also bring in the theme of magic because the scene that is portrayed is very unrealistic. This could be a representation that there are more deaths to come and that the town of Macondo is doomed. I looked up the meaning of yellow flowers and found that yellow flowers can mean "new beginnings and happiness" which kind of confuses me because I am not sure what to make of the meaning of then. It is confusing because they symbolize happiness but at the same time they smother animals while they sleep and cover the whole town, which I think means that death is invading the town. Perhaps this could mean that one character is going to find happiness and the others will be suffering.

Another theme that is present within these chapters is the them of incest, as we discussed in class. You mentioned in class that the family tries to keep their family going and well known in the town, but they go about it in the wrong way. They sleep with each other and have inbred children instead of creating outside of their family. Jose Arcadio tries to sleep with his own mother and she refuses, providing him with a young virgin girl named Pilar Ternera who she paid to sleep with Jose Arcadio. Marquez writes, "Pilar Ternera, his mother, who had made his blood boil in the darkroom, was as much an irresistable obsession for him as she had been first for jose Arcadio and then for Aureliano" (111). When she denies him saying that God is her witness and she can't do it, he calls her a whore. This also makes me think of another thing that we discussed - a girl being a virgin. This gives the man a lot of power over a woman because she is innocent and then corrupted by a man who is experienced. Jose Arcadio dies in battle and I believe that the theme of death comes to those who have done something wrong and deserved it in some way.