dead twigs and withered leaves(kū zhī bài yè)

dead twigs and withered leaves

"Withered branches and leaves" is Garcia Marquez's first work published in 1955. It is also the prototype of "a hundred years of solitude". Since then, the town of Macondo has become the most famous landmark in Marquez's works. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1982 Nobel Prize winner in literature.

content validity

The story takes place in Macondo, a small city with a strong ancient atmosphere. Banana company, a modern commercial organization, has settled down in Macondo, attracting a large number of outsiders working for the company. The outsiders who came to Macondo were like a strong wind sweeping the old and backward town. The novel centers on a well respected old colonel, his daughter Isabel and the Colonel's grandson. The three generations of macondor's family come to the residence of a doctor who hanged himself after his death for half an hour. Their respective views and narrative perspectives are constantly changing, reflecting the symbolic Macondo town after being invaded by banana company Changes in the past 20 years. The doctor was despised by the majority of the residents of the small town because of his eccentric character and improper behavior, but the Colonel abided by the agreement with the doctor and presided over the funeral for him regardless of the coldness of others. After the death of the doctor, who was resented by countless residents but had countless connections with the old colonel, the three found themselves in a situation of spiritual destitution.

Writing background

During the 70 years from 1830 to the end of the 19th century, dozens of civil wars broke out in Colombia, killing hundreds of thousands of people. The hypocrisy of the politicians, the cruelty of the rulers, the blind obedience and ignorance of the people are all incisively and vividly written. Although many people have made all kinds of arduous explorations to break the loneliness, they failed in the end because they could not find an effective way to unify the scattered forces. This loneliness not only permeates the bourndia family and the town of Macondo, but also infiltrates into the narrow mind and becomes a big burden hindering the progress of the nation. The author expresses a kind of loneliness of mental state to criticize a kind of spiritual aggression of outsiders to Latin America, as well as the discrimination and exclusion of Western civilization to Latin America. The origin of writing "withered branches and leaves" is that Marquez accompanied his mother to his hometown when he was 23 years old. Marquez believes that this journey is one of the most important experiences in his life, which eventually determined his literary ambition and gave birth to his first serious work, that is, withered branches and fallen leaves. "The journey to arakataka really made me realize that everything in my childhood has literary value," Marquez said. From the moment I started to write "withered branches and leaves", the only thing I have to do is to become the best writer in the world. No one can stop me Marcus's first work "withered branches and leaves" declares the birth of Macondo, which makes Colonel Aureliano bourndia appear for the first time, and even indicates the end of "a hundred years of solitude", and lays the foundation for almost all future works' Theme - solitude.

Comments on works

theme

In fact, Marquez does not try to solve the mystery of all kinds of things. The most important protagonist of this book, the man from other places, is always called "doctor", but he doesn't even have a proper name. After eight years of eating and drinking at the Colonel's house, no one has ever asked his name and background. This kind of natural tone adds an evil flavor to the story, as if you don't need a clear motive to do anything and say anything. This lack of motive expression perfunctorily creates a gloomy and suspensive atmosphere, which makes us have to ask again and again: is it true that Macondo people cursed this foreign doctor because of his rudeness, obscenity and obscenity Is it unreasonable to refuse to help the wounded? Let's go back to "withered branches and leaves", a vicious word used by Macondo residents for outsiders: "a disorderly and noisy" withered branches and leaves "composed of human dregs and material wastes from other places "Withered branches and leaves" are ruthless, and "withered branches and leaves" stink. ". Of course, the "withered branches and fallen leaves" following the "banana company" ruined the quiet life of the town. However, it was their influx as a source of labor force that made the desolate Macondo develop from a village to a town after the war, from decline to prosperity. However, the residents of macondor Town, as a conservative force, have strangled this vitality. What's more, the novel suggests to the readers such a question: which is right or wrong between "individual evil" and "collective evil"? It's disgusting to see a doctor as an individual with all kinds of sins. When the sins are subdivided into every inhabitant of macondor, can the sins be diluted and accepted? Even if such evil is projected from the narrow gap of the curtains of the residents' houses, or the death notice of "just judgment" is put up at the doctor's door in the middle of the night? In Section 8 of the novel, there is an inner monologue of the Colonel: "I found such a mysterious force in my heart, which made me try my best to protect him from the beginning. I personally felt the distress of living in that dark and gloomy hut. He was defeated by the environment, which made him depressed and terrified. Suddenly, I looked at his cold, sharp yellow eyes. Through the tense pulse of the night, I finally saw through the secret of his puzzling lonely life. "In the last conversation between the colonel and the doctor, the doctor said," do you believe in God? " The answer was noncommittal. "Aren't you afraid?" the captain asked the doctor What are you afraid of? Death? Environmental Science? everybody? The doctor is more afraid of loneliness than of environment and people. Doctors are not afraid of death. After Meimei disappeared, he hanged himself. He didn't die for so many years. His death was due to loneliness. The author once said that the life of the main character in withered branches and leaves is spent in extreme solitude. This person can be said to have been born and died in this place. It can be seen that the mysterious power felt by the colonel is the compassionate force child. The Colonel protects the doctor and buries the doctor, with the meaning of protecting and comforting himself. Burial itself is also a kind of protection, because the Colonel himself is lonely, and no one around him understands his heart. Reality is full of "withered branches and leaves". The existence of God is doubtful. "I feel uneasy when I think of God's existence; I feel uneasy when I think of God's non existence." - the loneliness and uneasiness of the doctors is also the loneliness and uneasiness of the colonel, which makes their hearts resonate and communicate. the Colonel sympathized with the doctors and protected them, and because the doctors yearned for a happy family life, the doctors' home was hard won and lost in the end. In the last conversation between the doctor and the colonel, the doctor expressed his admiration for the Colonel's family and daughter. Although the doctor asked Meimei to have two abortions, it's not that he didn't want to have children. It's that if he had children with Meimei, it would not be tolerated by the world. Meimei's grief is here, and it can't be said yet. Even the "principles of life" of the Colonel's family think that this is a "scandal", and the Colonel himself once had the vanity of a "respectable man" on this point. The Colonel admitted his selfishness, so he was condemned by his conscience for the rest of his life. What is the supreme will that the Colonel's burial doctor is governed by? On the one hand, it is a commitment to life. At the end of the novel, it is mentioned that the doctor once saved the Colonel's life. The Colonel promised to bury him after the doctor's death. Morally speaking, it also means repaying his kindness. On the other hand, it is a pursuit of spiritual realm and emotional realm. In front of the text of the novel is quoted a line from Antigone by Sophocles of ancient Greece. Antigone resists king CRION's ban and buries her brother out of respect not only for family affection, but also for religious belief, for "divine law" and for morality. Of course, the Colonel buries the doctor against the will of the public because of emotional factors and respect for traditional morality. The problem is that the traditional morality and compassion in the Colonel's heart has been lost in the hearts of contemporary Macondo people, and is covered by "withered branches and leaves". Only the Colonel calls for and pursues the fine tradition, which makes him feel lonely. In the novel, the memory of the little grandson is a supplement to the memory of the adults, but also a contrast. The author wrote about the six movements of consciousness of the little grandson, both in the present and in the past. The adult's stream of consciousness center is the doctor, and the child's stream of consciousness center is himself. In terms of length, children's stream of consciousness only accounts for one sixth of the novel, and the novel begins with him and ends with him. The author uses his stream of consciousness to contradict the whole story, because the little grandson is not "withered branches and leaves", and his heart is innocent. The effect of this contrast enriches the level of the novel and gives it a three-dimensional sense. The stream of consciousness of the little grandson shows the nature of the child. At the funeral, he has no freedom, does not understand the outside world, and is not understood by the outside world, which strengthens the theme of loneliness in the novel. It is not difficult to see that the basic theme of withered branches and leaves is loneliness. Because the loneliness of characters comes from the incompatibility with "withered branches and leaves", the expression of loneliness naturally includes the negation of "withered branches and leaves". through the portrayal of the image of the colonel, the work shows that only by advocating leniency and love like the colonel can the morally decadent and ruthless marcondo turn the fight into a piece of jade and silk, and only by giving everyone a piece of love can a lonely man like the doctor walk out of the house and have a good time. The novel shows that because the Colonel saved the doctor first, the doctor of the living dead saved him when he was in danger, while Macondo did not

Chinese PinYin : kū zhī bài yè