Meaningful Passage
The passage [Ursula spoke to her about her son. She thought that his disproportionate size was something as unnatural as her cousin’s tail of a pig. The woman let out an expansive laugh that resounded through the house like a spray of broken glass. “Just the opposite,” she said. “He’ll be very lucky.” In order to confirm her prediction she brought her cards to the house a few days later and locked herself up with Jose Arcadio.] Is a lot to swallow (no pun intended) at the beginning of the book? The man beast of a child who was born from incest is endowed with the Bentley of cocks, the filet mignon of penises.
I question how this is possible that he be “blessed” even though he is spawned through something that is not only looked down upon in society, but that is scientifically proven to lead to deformed or retarded children. Not only is he “gifted”, but he is big and strong as well again I ask how is this morally or physically right or possible.
I would also like to congratulate Jose Arcadio on have the “Mandingo.” This is a great feat and he should have in no way felt out of place. His mother found it strange for him to be so big. She compares it to the abnormality of having a pig’s tail. Even though at this time period this maybe awkward ,but even being such it was still his mother and she still shouldn’t have said that to anyone outside her family.
Connections
One Hundred Years of Solitude was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and deals a lot with time and incest. In Song of Solomon incest and time are also major themes. Marquez’ book takes place over the course of one hundred years and anything someone can think of happens in the book including incest. This leads us to a link between Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude. Another theme that is seen a lot in both books is that of time. Milkman is the protagonist in Song of Solomon deals with both incest and time as the book spans his lifetime.
The Buendia family (One Hundred Years of Solitude) is formed through an incestuous relationship and this could be the reason for the demise of not only them, but of those who are in their extended family and the town itself. At the beginning the physical effects aren’t noted on the Buendia children because they are all big and strong. In the end of the book when one of the last children is born the book and come full circle with incest and its negative effects. Milkman not only begins a relationship with his cousin, but has sex numerous times with her thus connecting the books even more.
Milkman grows throughout time as a man and overall as a human being. Time is the catalyst for this conversion. As his life progresses and learns more about himself and the people around him he begins to develop a more human side. In the Solitude book, time is a major theme that affects most of the characters. Some characters in the book lived to well over one hundred years old.
