Nothing like sitting in a dark garage to get the mind absorbing, turning over what has been read.
Ursula said it, in speaking of Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo, the twin sons of Arcadio (son of Jose Arcadio, Aureliano’s brother) and Pilar (the concubine of about half of the Buendia men):
"Ursula reproached herself for the habit of forgetting about him (Jose Arcadio Segundo) when she spoke about the family, but when she sensed him in the house again and noticed that the colonel let him into the workshop during working hours, she reexamined her old memories and confirmed the belief that at some moment in childhood he had changed places with his twin brother, because it was he and not the other one who should have been called Aureliano." (p. 281)
Very early on I had posted about the repetition of names, hinted at once again by Ursula, and my conclusion of the two, the Joses and Aurelianos within each generation as being two separate but repeated characters that faced the same repeated events in history but perhaps reacted differently with each generation. The Aurelianos were closer to their father in nature, solitary, quiet, intense, dedicated to ideas, cold yet passionate in their interests, and to a degree clairvoyant as their mother/grandmother/great grandmother, Ursula. The Joses were lusty, anxious travelers, partygoers with goldfingers (here I am referring to their knack for making money, but yes, they were good sexual partners as well). Yet in the Segundo twins, Aureliano is the bold lustful one, and Jose the quiet and somber loner.
There are many ways of looking at this. It could be the dual nature of man, it could mean good versus evil, weak versus strong; it could mean more or nothing. There is a reason for the switch, and it is important that I keep this in mind as the story continues to unravel. Perhaps with further reading it will take on new meaning, showing man’s ability to change himself, or maybe just to deceive. As I learn Marquez’s methods, I have learned to spot his hints, pick up his guide and carry it for I will need whatever he hands me now later in the story. This reminds me of IF or Silent Hill style narratives, where the clues/tools are discovered, are "taken", kept in inventory and used when needed as the story progresses.
At this point in the book, Colonel Aureliano Buendia has been struck dead while pissing on the chestnut tree to which his father was tied; as a matter of fact, he splatters the shoe of the ghost of Jose Arcadio in the process. The next generation, the children of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda are coming into their own, a little different, a little the same as their ancestors. In particular, Meme (short for Renata Remedios) is very much like her father, fun-loving and aware of the pretenses of her mother and of her father’s liaison with Petro Cotes, with whom he resides sinfully openly.
Marquez is setting me up. I realize I must pay attention to Ursula, and to these young folk who carry on the tradition and story of the Buendia legacy of solitude. I really, really, really need that cabin in the woods.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology