100 Years of Solitude 1-5

I think José Arcadio Buendía represents the foundation of the town, its basis for stability at least when he isn't obsessed with alchemy. He seems to be generally well-liked to the point where he is an unofficial leader that people in the community go to before starting any expansive project. One thing I noticed was that he was the first outsider to pick up on alchemy. He gave it up after a while, but it is important that he came across it, since if he hadn't his sons would have never developed an interest in it. So as the patriarch of the town, naturally all traditions must stem from him. He is essentially tradition, but at the same time, he does not impose it. This is clearly demonstrated when the magistrate more or less invades their town trying impose a dictatorship that never applied to Macondo. José confounds the magistrate by telling him the villagers can paint their house any color they want while presenting him with old-fashioned role of an accommodating host and making sure to state that despite José's generosity they are still enemies.

Fairy Tales day 2

Today's fairy tales seem to focus on generosity and defeating all odds with virtue, faith, and perseverance. For example, in the Golden Goose, we see the first two brothers punished punished because of their stinginess by getting a hard blow from their own ax. In the meantime, the third brother has the worst and smallest breakfast which he ends up sharing anyway and is aptly rewarded with a golden goose that eventually leads him to a large fortune and a pretty wife. Bearskin also follows up on this theme with a few added elements. The soldier's generosity also earns him a bride after he saves her family from debt, but also plays with this by having only the youngest daughter see beyond his physical appearance and only pay attention to his good deed. And she still remains loyal to him while he stays away for three years in fulfillment of his supernatural ordeal, which he eventually conquers and is finally able to show everyone what he was hiding. Thus the moral is good things happen to good people.

Fairy Tales day 1

Part of the reason fairy tales have remained in the popular mind is because of the their universal messages, or else they would have never survived for thousands of years. They are one of the most integral ways children are taught right wrong--for example to be wary of strangers in "Little Red Riding Hood" and to see beyond physical beauty in the "Frog Prince". These are lessons that exist in every culture, although they are made to be whimsical in order to grab the attention of young and old alike, and be made understandable to both through the use of archetypes. In real life, there are always versions of the wicked witch and other opportunistic characters that everyone has to face eventually. And many times, the violence and tragedies in fairy tales help children to understand how to counter act these problems with their wits. As stupid as the boy who didn't know what shivering was, he knew not let to let any of the spirits in the haunted castle have an opportunity to kill him, from tricking the hell hounds and cats to tricking the old man.

Don Quixote Day 46-52

I don't think Don Quixote has become un-quixoticized. He may haves slowed down, but he still thinks right up to the end that everything bad that happens to him is caused by "enchantment" even when Sancho tells him that the masked people kidnapping him are people he knows in disguise. Whether he really gives up on his fantasy cannot be clearly known since this is only the first portion of the story.

Don Quixote Day Five

I am not sure that Lela has multiple identities as she does several different pieces of her character that contribute to the whole. For example, she is still linked to her old culture by knowing the language as well as still dressing in her old clothes, while her husband and her desire to convert to Christianity links her to Spain. Whether she has more or less agency than the other women in the text depends on perspective. In my opinion, she seems to have a huge amount of agency considering she organized her own escape. And since she has left her father behind, his absence could indicate that there is no one else to ensure that she remains hidden away from the world. She pursued freedom, making her a little like Don Quixote, so of course she must appear at the inn. She demonstrates that Don Quixote has a way attracting miraculous happenings thus making it look like everything is possible and that there are stranger things than Don Quixote.

"'By God, sirs', said Don Quixote, 'so very many strange things have happened to me in this castle on the two occasions when I have lodged here that I dare not give a clear answer to any question about anything in it, because I imagine that everything that occurs here is carried out by enchantment."' (XLV, 419)

Don Quixote 28-35

I really like some of the social commentary Cervantes makes in chapter XXVII about some of the ridiculous courting customs and the incentive for these customs. Like Don Fernando's wife says, it was never her idea that Don Fernando should come after her, and even her parents were not terribly thrilled with the idea. "My parents' firm promises and the truths they were telling me strengthened my resolve, and I never replied to Don fernando with a single word that could have given him the remotest hope of fulfilling his desire." (252)

But of course he comes after her anyway or rather emotionally imposes himself on her anyway, marries her, and finally decides he wasn't really that into her anyway. Normally, a woman in this time period would not have been able to do anything to resolves the situation, but then Cervantes plays with karma by making so that Luscinda was already married to someone, a satisfying punishment sent by the divine for his going back on a promise made to his legitimate wife as well as God. "...the door of reparation hadn't slammed on me; and it occurred to me that it might have been heaven that had put this impediment in the way of the second marriage, to make him remember he was a Christian and should have more regard for his soul than for mere human concerns." (258)