World Lit.txt

Another work by Leo Tolstoy 1869

Novel we read. Written by Leo Tolstoy

(1828-1910) Came form a long line of nobility. Believed in common stuff, freedom of serfs. Fought in Crimean War. Had Twelve Kids. Excommunicated from Western Russian Orthodox Church. Wanted to just die in the mountains but died at a train station along the way.

(1821-1881) Went to military academy. Quit to be a writer. Joined a group that wanted to rebel. Went to prison, reprieved just before he was going to be killed, hard labor in Siberia, Siberian military. When he finally made it back into the real world, he was more religious/philosophical. Married his first wife. Wrote Notes from the Underground while she was dying, business was failing. Wife died. Wrote Crime and Punishment. Changed his political beliefs to not believe in new rebellion.

Introduced existentialism. Embraced Notes From the Underground.

life has no purpose (absurd, free will), you have no choice to exist but can make your existence how you want it, live for the moment, completely responsible for every choice you make.

No meaning in life. Overthrow existing government. Ivan Turgenev was the first to bring about the idea in his book Father and Sons. Cherneyshevsky wrote a novel in response to the book saying the world will then be turned into a crystal palace.

The mature Underground Man, reflecting on these moments in his youth offers a severe indictment of the shallow Russian version of Romanticism�strongly felt in private moments as a consoling dream, but helpless before the stark reality of the world, especially the other people in it. However (and this point, I think, is crucial) he fails to derive from that indictment any sense of how he should cope with his mature life. The opening of the second part of the story explicitly condemns Russian Romanticism for its failure to transform any individual's life: it is something that goes on inside, without providing the spiritual energies necessary to engage the real world with courage and conviction.

Tolstoy- very free, enjoyed reading, education. Dostoevsky � military academy.

Russia vs. England and France. Tolstoy fought in it.

In Anna Karenina- old-fashioned.

In Anna Karenina � fast-paced, cold, loose

A wealthy and dashing military officer whose love for Anna prompts her to desert her husband and son. Vronsky is passionate and caring toward Anna but clearly disappointed when their affair forces him to give up his dreams of career advancement. Vronsky, whom Tolstoy originally modeled on the Romantic heroes of an earlier age of literature, has something of the idealistic loner in him. Yet there is a dark spot at the core of his personality, as if Tolstoy refuses to let us get too close to Vronsky�s true nature. Indeed, Tolstoy gives us far less access to Vronsky�s thoughts than to other major characters in the novel. We can never quite forget Vronsky�s early jilting of Kitty Shcherbatskaya, and we wonder whether he feels guilt about nearly ruining her life. Even so, Vronsky is more saintly than demonic at the end of the novel, and his treatment of Anna is impeccable, even if his feelings toward her cool a bit.

Leo Tolstoy�s first wife. Married in 1862 when he was 34 and she was 19.

A socially awkward but generous-hearted landowner who, along with Anna, is the co-protagonist of the novel. Whereas Anna�s pursuit of love ends in tragedy, Levin�s long courtship of Kitty Shcherbatskaya ultimately ends in a happy marriage. Levin is intellectual and philosophical but applies his thinking to practical matters such as agriculture. He aims to be sincere and productive in whatever he does, and resigns from his post in local government because he sees it as useless and bureaucratic. Levin is a figurehead in the novel for Tolstoy himself, who modeled Levin and Kitty�s courtship on his own marriage. Levin�s declaration of faith at the end of the novel sums up Tolstoy�s own convictions, marking the start of the deeply religious phase of Tolstoy�s life that followed his completion of Anna Karenina.

A beautiful young woman who is courted by both Levin and Vronsky, and who ultimately marries Levin. Modeled on Tolstoy�s real-life wife, Kitty is sensitive and perhaps a bit overprotected, shocked by some of the crude realities of life, as we see in her horrified response to Levin�s private diaries. But despite her indifference to intellectual matters, Kitty displays great courage and compassion in the face of death when caring for Levin�s dying brother Nikolai.

Neighbor of Tolstoy that committed suicide by throwing herself under a train. Inspiration for Anna throwing herself under a train.

Home of Tolstoy. Where he was born and is buried. Wrote Anna Karenina and War and Peace there.

Levin�s sickly, thin brother. The freethinking Nikolai is largely estranged from his brothers, but over the course of the novel he starts to spend more time with Levin. Nikolai is representative of liberal social thought among certain Russian intellectuals of the period; his reformed-prostitute girlfriend, Marya Nikolaevna, is living proof of his unconventional, radically democratic viewpoint.

The anonymous narrator and protagonist of the novel. The Underground Man is a minor civil servant living in nineteenth-century St. Petersburg who has retired completely into what he calls the �underground,� a state of total alienation and isolation from society. Severely misanthropic, the Underground Man believes himself to be more intelligent and perceptive than most other people in the world, but he also despises himself and frequently feels himself to be inferior or humiliated. We see all of the events and characters in the novel from the Underground Man�s skewed perspective.

A pure and high-minded young woman who becomes Kitty�s friend at the German spa. Varenka, who is a prot�g�e of Madame Stahl, nearly receives a marriage proposal from Koznyshev.

The practical aristocrat father of Kitty, Dolly, and Natalie. Prince Shcherbatsky favors Levin over Vronsky as a potential husband for Kitty.

Levin�s half-brother, a famed intellectual and writer whose thinking Levin has difficulty following. Koznyshev embodies cold intellectualism and is unable to embrace the fullness of life, as we see when he cannot bring himself to propose to Varenka.

Stiva�s wife and Kitty�s older sister. Dolly is one of the few people who behave kindly toward Anna after her affair becomes public. Dolly�s sympathetic response to Anna�s situation and her guarded admiration for Anna�s attempt to live her life fully hint at the positive aspects of Anna�s experience. Well acquainted with the hardships of matrimony and motherhood, Dolly is, more than anyone else in the novel, in a position to appreciate what Anna has left behind by leaving with Vronsky. The novel opens with the painful revelation that Dolly�s husband has betrayed her, and her even more painful awareness that he is not very repentant.

Painter. Paints a picture of Anna.

Anna�s brother, a pleasure-loving aristocrat and minor government official whose affair with his children�s governess nearly destroys his marriage. Stiva and Anna share a common tendency to place personal fulfillment over social duties. Stiva is incorrigible, proceeding from his affair with the governess�which his wife, Dolly, honorably forgives�to a liaison with a ballerina. For Tolstoy, Stiva�s moral laxity symbolizes the corruptions of big-city St. Petersburg life and contrasts with the powerful moral conscience of Levin. However, despite his transgressions, the affable Stiva is a difficult character to scorn.

An invalid painter whom Kitty befriends.

Vronsk�s mother.

A place in Russia. Something to do with Tolstoy?

hypocrisy, jealousy, faith, fidelity, family, marriage, society, progress, carnal desire, the land/the city, passion, vengeance, religion, Siberia

An existentialist. That�s about all I could find.

Book that made Dostoevsky famous.

Wrote Father and Sons. 1862.

Setting in the 1840s. About the divide between the youth and the older generation. Nihilism.

Translated into Russian in 1864. Part of the Enlightenment. Prompted rational egoism.

Wrote �What Is To BE Done?�(1863)

response to Father and Sons. Furthered nihilism. Embraced enlightenment and said the world will then be turned into the crystal palace.

Utopian/ ideal society. Mentioned in �What is to be Done?� Mocked in Notes from the Underground.

An ideal society

tone, written assault on someone or something. Notes from the Underground is a polemic to the way he sees Russians to be going.

blocks free will

lack of free will, being controlled.

free will, literature and writing, life, consciousness and existence, principles, revenge, society and class, isolation, hate, suffering and despair

Phrase at the beginning of a poem. There is one in Notes from the Underground at Part II. It�s about saving degraded prostitutes, written by Dostoevsky�s friend. Written by man to prostitute. )�I lectured to you and now you will be my wife.� Importance � Underground man is living his life according to literature but thinks that people that read poems are crazy. Tears him self down and can�t live with everybody else.) In Anna Karenina the epigraph is �Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.�

An idea that an action is rational if and only if it maximizes one�s own self-interests. Presented in works like The Origins of Species. The Underground man does not like rational egoism because such rational things (Crystal Palace) always leave something out of account, the desire to defy them.

a.k.a. folk epics. No single author. Written own after centuries of transmission. Examples: Iliad and Beowulf

Literary Epic. Written down by a single author. Examples: Aeneid and Paradise Lost.

Wrote the Iliad, a primary epic.

Wrote the Aeneid, a secondary epic.

Wrote Paradise Lost, a secondary epic.

old English Epic Poem.

into the middle of things. A story can start in medias res if it begins in the middle of the storyline.

a descriptive name given to characters. Example: ��The Great�

a charactertistic of an epic. A character says something like �Help me O muse��

Persian. 940-1020. Son of a landowner. Educated. Spent 35 years writing Shahnemah. Consulted by Sultan Mhmud of Ghangni to write it. Wanted to write a book about history. Died unhappy. Consider the father of Persian Literature.

history, cultural values, ancient religion (Zorastian), sense of ethno-nationalism. Consists of 60,000 couplets. Starts with the beginning of the world to the fall of Persia. Three parts: mythical, heroic age, and historical age. �Book of Kings�

a large and ancient country, it has a long and sordid history. It is the setting of the Mahabharata, and is where the Turans live in the Legend of Seyavash. India has historically not gotten along with Iran, they fight to this day over the province of Kashmir. India is also the birthplace of Hinduism, and Buddhism. These influences are shown in these two epics.

Modern Day Iran, it is the setting of the Shahnemah. Persia resisted Roman Expansion, but was conquered by the Muslims during the middle ages. The dual identity of Persia, through the Persian and Muslim culture, is evident in the Legend of Seyavash.

The son of the legendary warrior Rostrom. He fights his father in battle, and is fatally wounded by him, despite not killing his father when he had the chance earlier. Rostrom only finds out he is his son after killing him, an act that greatly saddens him and puts an end to the war.

The legendary Prince of Persia, perfect in every way, morally, physically, and spiritually. He survives an ordeal through fire after being accused of making advances upon his mother. He builds a city called Seyavashgrid, and marries the daughters of Piran and Afasyab. Legendary Turan warrior and King. He is killed when a Turan, jealous of him, tricks the king into attacking him. He is beheaded, and his death is mourned in Persia.

A legendary warriors, he kills his own son in the poem, Rostrum and Sohrab, and he trains Seyavash in the Legend of Seyavash. He is a huge figure in Perisan Mythology, and is featured often. He was born by C-section and slayed a dragon. He was immortalized in the Shahnemah, though he was featured in mythology long before that. He is the national hero if Iran.

The King of Persia, and father of Seyavash. He is a loving father, but still a King. He grows angry when he believes that Seyavash has made advances on his wife, and nearly kills Seyavash when he refuses to attack the Turan army after crippling them and taking a fort. He keeps Rostrom as his advisor, and Sudebah is his main wife and leader of his harem.

The legendary hero and vizier of the Turans, he befriends Seyavash while he lives in the Kingdom of Turan. He even gives his daughter to Seyavash as his first wife, cementing their relationship. He advises the King of Turan in much the same way Rostrum does for Kavus.

The King of the Turans, he surrenders to Seyavash in battle knowing that if he doesn�t Seyavash will destroy him. He lets Seyavash live in his country, and found the town of Seyavashgrid. He acts as a father to Seyavash. He is tricked into believing that Seyavash in planning to kill him, and has him beheaded. His daughter is the second wife of Seyavash.

The daughter of Piran and the first wife of Seyavash. She bears him the son, Forud.

The wife of King Kavus, and Seyavash�s mother, she is said to be exceptionally beautiful. When she is first found, the two knights who discover her nearly kill themselves over her. She falls in love with her son, and even goes so far as to plot her husband�s murder in order to be with him. When she cannot have him, she tries to get Seyavash killed, and forces him to go through an ordeal of fire.

The central and most revered character in Hindu Tradition. He is the author and a character of the Mahabharata. He is the grandson of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He was the son of Satyavati, the daughter of a fisherman, and the wandering sage Parashara. He is considered an avatar for the God Vishnu. He is known as the splitter of the Vedas, as he separated the large body of Indian text into four, in order for it to be better understood.

A descendent of the Pandavas. His fat her is killed by the snake God. As a result he begins a ritual to exterminate all the snakes, but stops at the last moment. He then asks his aide to tell him the story of the Mahabharata, effectively framing the story. He is a vehicle by which the story is told.

One of two Indian Epics, the other being the Ramayana, it was written by Vyasa. It is one of the world�s longest epics, and we only read a portion. It is ten times the length of the Illiad and the Odyssey combined. It concerns itself mainly with the fight between the Pandavas and the Karuvas. It also had several chapters, or parvas, devoted to discussing the �four goals of life,� (moksha, darma, karma, and artha,) and the way of war. The Indian gods are featured heavily in this book, as well as numerous Indian beliefs and rituals.

The line of warriors born of Kunti. They include the five brothers plus their wife Draupadi. They are fighting the Kauravas.

The king of the Panchala. He is a childhood friend of Drona, whom he promised if they ever made fortune they would share. When he becomes King he does not honor this promise, so Drona goes and teaches the Kuru princes, who surprise Drupada and force him to give up a portion of his Kingdom. He fathers Shikhandi, the transvestite, Draupadi, and Dhrishtadyumna. He is killed by Drona during the big war.

defined in the back of the Mahabarata as the father of Krsna, Balarama, and Subhadra.

The older branch of the family, though the eldest Pandava is older than the eldest Kauravas. They cheat the Pandavas out of their kingdom in a game of dice and act dishonorably throughout the book. They embarrass Draupadi in front of everyone, and exile the Pandavas, for thirteen years. When they return to reclaim the throne, the Karuvas refuse. This leads to a war in which they are slaughtered. Karuvas will have a box around their name.

celestial nymphs who dance in the courts of the gods and sometimes seduce sages and humans. There are several named in the Mahabharata (45 to be exact). The most famous mentioned are Rambha, Menaka, Urvashi, and Tilottama.

The child of Kunti, and the third Pandava Brother. He is a renowned archer. He was the brother-in-law of Krishna, who gave him the Bhagavad Gita. His skills in archery won him the hand of Draupadi. He is probably the most powerful warrior of the Pandavas, getting his training from Shiva himself. He disguised himself as a eunuch at one point, and defeated an entire army singlehandedly. During the war he is the one who kills Karna, as well as King Jayadratha, who slayed his son.

One of the few remaining Karuvas, he and two others sneak into the Pandava camp at night and slaughter all of them, leaving only a few alive. He does this inretibution for the murder of King Duryodhana, along with the rest of the Karuvas.

neutral in the war, he taught both Bhima and Duryodhana how to fight with a mace. When Bhima kills Duryodhana with an illegal move, he threatens to kill him, until Krishna reminds Balarama of the vow Bhima made to do just that years ago. He is considered lord of eternity and knowledge, and is one of the prime Gods.

The common ancestor of both the Pandavas and the Karuvas. (Back of Mahabharata) In the Ramayana, he is the brother of Lord Rama, and is considered by many to be even more virtuous than his brother.

A son of King Dhrtarstra.

The son of Dhrtarastra. (only thing the back of the book has to say, and no sources on the internet identify him.)

The second Pandava brother, he is a giant with immense strength. When they lose everything in a game of dice and are embarrassed, he promises to smash King Duryodhana�s thighs and to smash the chest of Dushasana and drink his blood. When the big war comes he does just this, as well as slaughtering countless thousands. He was the last to die on the journey to the top of the Himalayas, leaving only his eldest brother alive.

An unparalleled archer, he was the strongest figure in the Mahabharata. Invincible, he was the grandfather of both the Pandavas and the Karuvas. He fought for the Karuvas, and was killed by Arjuna after he advanced behind Sikhandi. He refused to kill any Pandavas, but fought his hardest for the Karuvas. He was their commander in chief for ten days. He was able to choose when he died, but was pierced with so many arrows that he lay on a bed of them. He chooses to die only after they won. He is the only character who witnesses the Mahabharata from the beginning.

A priestly caste of hindus, they know the ways of the Gods, as well as rituals and prayers. They are held in great respect, and can use a variety of magic. They can also issue forth curses. In real life, they are in charge of interpreting and teaching the Hindu Holy Scripture.

The name that Arjuna uses during his thirteenth year of exile. See Arjuna for details about him.

Dharma means the source of things and Truth. He is the God of virtue, usage, right, justice, virtue, and morality. Dharma can also refer to the teachings of Buddha. He is the one who saves Draupadi from being de-clothed.

The King of Hastinapura, he has been blind from birth. He is the uncle of the Pandavas, and the Father of the Karuvas. He treats the Pandavas unfairly throughout the epic, with the end result being the death of all his children. When the Pandavas come before him, he smashes a metal statue he believes in Bhima, though he regrets this immediately.

The son of Draupada and the brother of Draupadi. He is the Pandava Commander in Chief during the war. He is the one who kills Drona, even though at the time it is a dishonorable act accomplished through dirty means. He beheads Drona, who believes his son has been killed, when in reality it was only an elephant.

Any of the sons of Dhrtarastra

The daughter of Drapada, she eventually marries the five Pandavas brothers. She is beautiful, and bears them children. After they lose everything in that game of dice, she is embarrassed and nearly de-clothed. These acts greatly anger the Pandavas. Her brother becomes the leader of the Pandavas� Army.

He is the second oldest Kauravas Brother, and is fiercely loyal to his brother. He is the one who embarrasses Draupadi in front of everyone, and is killed because of this by Bhima during the war. From the beginning he is involved in various plots to try to kill the Pandavas.

The son of Dhrtarastra. (only thing the back of the book has to say, and no sources on the internet identify him.)

The son of Dhrtarastra. (only thing the back of the book has to say, and no sources on the internet identify him.)

The son of Dhrtarastra. (only thing the back of the book has to say, and no sources on the internet identify him.)

The son of Dhrtarastra. (only thing the back of the book has to say, and no sources on the internet identify him.)

The oldest of the Karuvas, and the first of the 100 children of King Dhrtarastra. He is technically the first in line to ascension, though this is challenged by Yudhistra of the Pandavas. He is the one who pushes for the war with the Pandavas, eventually leading to his entire family being demolished, and he himself killed at last by Bhima. Throughout the novel he makes many attempts to kill the Pandavas.

The incarnation of the Goddess Mati, she is the daughter of Subala, and the wife of Dhrtarastra. She loves her husband so much that she voluntary blindfolds herself when she learns he himself is blind. She bears him 100 sons, the Karuvas. She is highy virtuous, even when her sons become the villains of the novel. She dies with her husband and Kunti in a forest fire many years after the death of her children, and after she has cursed Krishna.

The mystic bow Arjuna receives from the God Varuna himself. It makes him invincible and creates the sound of thunder when it is strung. It was made by the creator himself, Brahman. It is used to kill thousands in the war, though after the war it is requested by Agni that Arjuna return it to Varuna. It was wielded by Indra for some time in history, before Varuna obtained it and gave it to Arjuna.

The goddess of the river Ganges, who took human form to become the mother of Bhisma. She had many children before him, but drowned each one, until her husband stopped her from drowning the eighth, Bhisma. Because of the deal she had with her husband (He could never question her) she left him, though this was part of the prophecy. When Bhisma dies, she weeps in sadness.

The half-asura son of Bhima, he is a terrible and powerful monster, who draws energy from the night. He is able to create horrible illusions, causing entire armies to give up fighting. He is finally killed with an invincible dart by Drona meant for Arjuna. His death was the sacrifice that guaranteed that the Pandavas would win the war.

The name assumed by Sahadeva, one of the Pandavas, during their thirteenth year of exile. He was the accountant of the cows.

Birth place of Gabriel Marquez. Its national epic is One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Author of One Hundred Years of Solitude. Won the Nobel Prize in 1982.

Marquez�s other famous work, it tells the story of romance between a woman and a doctor commited to eradicating chlorea.

The fictional town modeled after Marquez�s hometown. It tells the tale of creation to the end of time. It is originally cut off from the world, but grows more open until it�s destruction in a hurricane. It is a place of magic realism, and undergoes much tragedy. What happens here also affects the rest of the country.

The patriarch of the Buend�a clan, Jos� Arcadio Buend�a is Macondo�s founder and its most charismatic citizen. He is a man of great strength and curiosity. Impulsively, he embarks on mad pursuits of esoteric and practical knowledge, and it is his solitary and obsessive quest for knowledge that drives him mad at the end of his life; he spends many years, in the end, tied to a tree in the Buend�a backyard, speaking Latin that only the priest understands. Jos� Arcadio Buend�a is married to �rsula Iguar�n and the father of Jos� Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buend�a, and�Amaranta.

The tenacious matriarch of the Buend�a clan, �rsula lives to be well over a hundred years old, continuing with her hard-headed common sense to try and preserve the family. Every now and then, when things get particularly run-down, �rsula revitalizes the family both physically and emotionally, repairing the Buend�a house and breathing new life into the family. She is the wife of Jos� Arcadio Buend�a and the mother of Jos� Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buend�a, and�Amaranta.

The second son of Jos� Arcadio Buend�a and �rsula Iguar�n. Aureliano grows up solitary and enigmatic, with a strange capacity for extrasensory perception. Outraged by the corruption of the Conservative government, he joins the Liberal rebellion and becomes Colonel Aureliano Buend�a, the rebel commander. After years of fighting, he loses his capacity for memory and deep emotion, signs a peace accord, and withdraws into his workshop, a lonely and hardened man. He is the widower of Remedios Moscote and the father, with Pilar Ternera, of Aureliano Jos�, and of seventeen sons�each named Aureliano�by seventeen different women.

The child-bride of Colonel Aureliano Buend�a, Remedios Moscote brings joy to the Buend�a household for a short while before she dies suddenly, possibly of a miscarriage.

The first son of �rsula Iguar�n and Jos� Arcadio Buend�a, from whom he inherits his amazing strength and his impulsive drive. After running off in pursuit of a gypsy girl, Jos� Arcadio returns a savage brute of a man and marries Rebeca, the orphan adopted by the Buend�as. He is the father, with Pilar Ternera, of Arcadio, and brother to Colonel Aureliano Buend�a and Amaranta.

The earth-eating orphan girl who mysteriously arrives at the Buend�a doorstep. Rebeca is adopted by the Buend� family. Rebeca infects the town with an insomnia that causes loss of memory. Rebeca seems to orphan herself from society and the Buend�a family when, after her husband Jos� Arcadio�s death, she becomes a hermit, never seen outside her dilapidated�home.

The daughter of �rsula Iguar�n and Jos� Arcadio Buend�a, Amaranta dies an embittered and lonely virgin. She bears deep jealousy and hatred for Rebeca, whom, she believes, stole Pietro Crespi from her. In many ways her life is characterized by a fear of men; when Pietro Crespi finally falls in love with her, she rejects him, and he kills himself. As penance, she gives herself a bad burn on the hand and wears a black bandage over it for the rest of her life. When she is much older, she finds real love with Colonel Gerineldo M�rquez, but she spurns him because of her ancient fear and bitterness. She is also the object of the unconsummated incestuous passion of Aureliano Jos�, whom she helped to raise. Amaranta is the sister of Colonel Aureliano Buend�a and Jos� Arcadio.

The son of Colonel Aureliano Buend�a and Pilar Ternera. Aureliano Jos� becomes obsessed with his aunt, Amaranta, and joins his father�s army when she ends the affair. He deserts the army to return to her, however, but she rejects him, horrified. He is killed by Conservative soldiers.

A local whore and madam. With Jos� Arcadio, Pilar is the mother of Arcadio; with Colonel Aureliano Buend�a, she is the mother of Aureliano Jos�. She is also a fortune-teller whose quiet wisdom helps guide the Buend�a family. She survives until the very last days of�Macondo.

Sons that the Colonel had. They were born by different women. All of them got a cross stained to their head on ash Wednesday. They were all shot by the workers of the banana plantation.

The son of Jos� Arcadio and Pilar Ternera. Arcadio, seemingly a gentle boy, becomes schoolmaster of the town. When Colonel Aureliano Buend�a places him in charge of Macondo during the uprising, however, Arcadio proves a vicious dictator who is obsessed with order. He is killed when the conservatives retake the village. Arcadio marries Santa Sof�a de la Piedad and is the father of Remedios the Beauty, Aureliano Segundo, and Jos� Arcadio Segundo.

The quiet woman, almost invisible in this novel, who marries Arcadio and continues to live in the Buend�a house for many years after his death, impassively tending to the family. She is the mother of Remedios the Beauty, Aureliano Segundo, and Jos� Arcadio Segundo. She does not quite seem to exist in the real world, and when she grows old and tired, she simply walks out of the house, never to be heard from�again.

The daughter of Santa Sof�a de la Piedad and Arcadio, Remedios the Beauty becomes the most beautiful woman in the world: desire for her drives men to their deaths. Not comprehending her power over men, she remains innocent and childlike. One day, she floats to heaven, leaving Macondo and the novel�abruptly.

The son of Arcadio and Santa Sof�a de la Piedad, Aureliano Segundo may have been switched at birth with his twin brother, Jos� Arcadio Segundo. Despite an early interest in solitary study�characteristic of his great-uncle, Colonel Aureliano Buend�a�Aureliano Segundo begins to show all the characteristics of the family�s Jos� Arcadios: he is immense, boisterous, impulsive, and hedonistic. Although he loves the concubine Petra Cotes, he is married to the cold beauty Fernanda del Carpio, with whom he has three children: Meme, Jos� Arcadio (II) and Amaranta �rsula.

The wife of Aureliano Segundo and the mother of Meme, Jos� Arcadio (II), and Amaranta �rsula. Fernanda del Carpio was raised by a family of impoverished aristocrats; she is very haughty and very religious. Her hedonistic husband does not love her and maintains his relationship with his concubine, Petra Cotes. Fernanda del Carpio, meanwhile, tries unsuccessfully to impress her sterile religion and aristocratic manners on the Buend�a house.

The son of Arcadio and Santa Sof�a de la Piedad, Jos� Arcadio Segundo may have been switched at birth with his twin brother, Aureliano Segundo. Appalled by witnessing an execution at an early age, Jos� Arcadio Segundo becomes thin, bony, solitary, and increasingly scholarly, like his great-uncle Colonel Aureliano Buend�a. A cockfighter and a drifter, he finds purpose in leading the strikers against the banana company. He is the lone survivor of the massacre of the strikers, and when he finds that nobody believes the massacre occurred, he secludes himself in Melqu�ades� old study, trying to decipher the old prophecies and preserving the memory of the massacre.

The daughter of Fernanda del Carpio and Aureliano Segundo, Meme�s real name is Renata Remedios. She feigns studiousness and docility to please her mother, but she is actually a hedonist like her father. When her mother discovers her illicit affair with Mauricio Babilonia, she posts a guard in front of the house; the guard ends up shooting Mauricio. He ends up paralyzed, and Meme is imprisoned in a convent where she spends the rest of her life. The product of her affair with Babilonia is Aureliano (II).

The sallow, solemn lover of Meme. Fernanda del Carpio disapproves of their affair, and she sets up a guard who shoots Mauricio Babilonia when he attempts to climb into the house for a tryst with Meme. As a result, Mauricio lives the rest of his life completely paralyzed. He fathers Meme�s child, Aureliano (II).

The illegitimate son of Meme and Mauricio Babilonia, Aureliano (II) is concealed by his scandalized grandmother, Fernanda del Carpio. He grows up a hermit in the Buend�a household, only gradually acclimating himself to society. Aureliano (II) becomes a scholar, and it is he who eventually deciphers the prophecies of Melqu�ades. With his aunt, Amaranta �rsula, he fathers the last in the Buend�a line, the baby Aureliano (III), who dies soon after birth.

The eldest child of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda del Carpio, �rsula decides that Jos� Arcadio (II) is supposed to become the Pope, but he in fact slides into dissolution and solitude. On his return from his unsuccessful trip to seminary in Italy, Jos� Arcadio (II) leads a life of debauchery with local adolescents who eventually murder him and steal his money.

The daughter of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda del Carpio, Amaranta �rsula returns from her trip to Europe with a Belgian husband, Gaston. She wants to revitalize Macondo and the Buend�a household, but it is too late: both are headed for inevitable ruin. She falls in love with her nephew, Aureliano (II), and gives birth to his child, whom they also name Aureliano (III) and who proves the last in the Buend�a line. Born of incest, he has the tail of a pig. Amaranta dies in childbirth.

The Belgian husband of Amaranta �rsula, Gaston is loving and cultured but feels isolated in the now-desolate Macondo. He travels to Belgium to start an airmail company, and, when he hears of the relationship between his wife and Aureliano (II), he never returns.

Son of Aureliano II and Amaranta Ursula. He died and was eaten by ants. His death prompted Aureliano to be able to decode the prophesy.

The gypsy who brings technological marvels to Macondo and befriends the Buend�a clan. Melqu�ades is the first person to die in Macondo. Melqu�ades serves as Jos� Arcadio Buend�a�s guide in his quest for knowledge and, even after dying, returns to guide other generations of Buend�as. Melqu�ades� mysterious and undecipherable prophecies, which torment generations of Buend�as, are finally translated by Aureliano (II) at the end of the novel�they contain the entire history of Macondo, foretold.

The practice of trying to change other substances into gold. Jose Arcadio Buendia became obsessed with the practice and locked himself into a room doing it. His decedents also partook in alchemy.

A rival to Jose Arcadio Buendia that tells him he is impotent. Buendia then kills him but it filled with guilt.

Spiritual beings that fill Macondo. Examples include Melquiades and Jose Arcadio Buendia.

brought by Rebeca. Made Macondo loss their memories and not be able to sleep. Melquiades returns with an antidote for the plague.

Father of Remedios Moscote and government-appointed magistrate of Macondo. Don Apolinar Moscote is a Conservative and helps rig the election so that his party will win. His dishonesty is partly why Colonel Aureliano Buend�a first joins the�Liberals.

The gentle, delicate Italian musician who is loved by both Amaranta and Rebeca. Rebeca, however, chooses to marry the more manly Jos� Arcadio. After Amaranta leads on Pietro and rejects him, Pietro commits suicide.

Priest that came to Macondo. He wants to build a beautiful church. He also gives Jose Arcadio Buendia hot chocolate and talks to him in Latin.

The political party that the Colonel supports. They don�t want government control. However, they turn out to be just as bad as the Liberals in the oppression factor.

Political party of the central government and Moscote. They want control of the town. Gabriel Marquez did not like the Liberals.

A real treaty signed in 1902 that ended The Thousands days� War which was a conflict of the Liberals and Conservatives in Columbia.