Active Reading: Chapter Fifteen

ACTIVE READING: CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Quotes
"Ladies and gentlemen, you have five minutes to withdraw."
This is a captain of the military talking to the plantation owners, who have gone on strike because of bad working conditions. They are asked to have a meeting with the government, but it is actually a set up for the workers to be shot, as demonstrated by the captain going on to say, "Five minutes have passed, one more minute and we'll open fire."
Jose Arcadio Segundo, enraged by the government's action, responds by saying, "You bastards! Take the extra minute and stick it up your ass!"
The army goes on to kill all of the workers. Jose Aracdio Segundo, however, manages to survive without the soldiers knowing.

Magical Realism
Jose Arcadio Segundo surviving the gun attack of the military, then returning to Macondo and nobody believing his story. Also, the people of Macondo being brainwashed by the government and not remembering any of the occurences involving the banana plantation and it's workers. Also, the continous downpoor that continues for years after the mass execution.

Themes
Genocide. The government kills over 3,000 plantation workers simply because they are asking for better working conditions.

Character Development
Jose Arcadio Segundo sticks up for his beliefs, dodges death, returns to his homeland via foot, tells his story, is shunned by society, lives as a hermit, studies mystical objects, and slowly loses his mind all in one chapter. Need I say more?

Summary
The main thing in this chapter is the mass killing of all of the plantation workers. They are on strike, demanding better working conditions. The government sets up a "meeting" with them, but in actuality it is just a set up for them to be terminated. Jose Arcadio Segundo, however, escapes death and is able to flee and come home. When he comes back, nobody remembers what happened, as the government brainwashed all the citizens from remembering the genocide. People with any affiliation to the banana plantation are still being killed, so Jose Arcadio Segundo hides in seclusion in the room of Melquiades. He becomes enthralled by Melquiade's gypsy possessions and tools, and eventually loses his mind from spending every waking second in the small, secluded room. Also, Meme is taken by Fernanda to a convent after her relations with Mauricio Babilonia. She is distraught because he is a paraplegic after the guard shot him, and all she does is think of him. Months later, a nun brings the child of the couple to Fernanda, and she names him Aureliano II. They claim that they found the child.