Active Reading: Chapter Ten

ACTIVE READING: CHAPTER TEN

Quotes
"Who were you talking to?"
"Nobody."
"That's what your great-grandfather did, he used to talk to himself."
This is a conversation between Ursula and her grandson Aureliano Segundo. This occurs after she hears him talking to the ghost of Melquiades. Aureliano Segundo kept these discussions very private, and thought of them as a totally different side of him. He felt like this private world of his would be exposed, so he denied it. This shows a similarity between Jose Arcadio Buendia and Aureliano Segundo, as they both would speak with Melquiades the gypsy after he passed away.

Magical Realism
The re-appearance of the ghost of Melquiades would be an example of magical realism. He appears to Aureliano Segundo and holds deep conversations with him, just as the ghost would with Jose Arcadio Buendia.

Themes
Maturation. Aureliano's twin sons both mature into unique young men, and put much more into this book as people being to die more frequently.

Character Development
Aureliano Segundo takes an interest into mystical things, just as Jose Arcadio Buendia. His twin brother, Jose Arcadio Segundo, becomes religious. That doesn't last, however, and he soon gets in to the sport of cockfighting, just as ancestors of his did. They both have relations with a woman named Petra Cotes, and she does not notice that they are two different people.

Summary
We see the Segundo twins in a whole new light. They are now mature and living lives for themselves. Aureliano Segundo explores the workshop of Melquiades, and Jose Arcadio Segundo explores many different fields. Aureliano Segundo gets loaded off live stock, and becomes one of the prominent figures in town. Jose Arcadio Segundo takes an interest in navigation and exploration, and has moderate success. On one of his ships, he has a large group of hookers who are having a party in Macondo. The biggest hit of the party: Remedios, who has now blown up as a beautiful woman.