100 Years of Solitude (Day Four / Chapters 16 - 20)

Choose TWO of the discussion topics below for your blog post (or you can come up with your own topic for one of the responses). As always, I am looking for your own ideas here.

1. The meaning of the flood and the subsequent drought

2. The fact that Ursula shrinks and becomes like a doll

3. Aureliano's deciphering of the parchment - Why does Melquiadez want this parchment to be deciphered and read?

4. The notion of time in chapter 18

5. The assassination of Aureliano Amador

6. Why is one of Aureliano's friends named Garcia Marquez (yes, the same name as the author)?

7. The importance of Pilar Ternera surviving throughout (almost) the entire novel

8. The symbolism behind the sexual union of Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano and the resulting pig-tail child

9. In what role does the novel place its reader (if we are to buy into the myth that the novel is Melquiadez's parchment and Aureliano is trying to read it so that it becomes legible)? Why does the novel do this? What does this have to say about your role as reader of this novel?