Blog Post 8

"The only cases that were impossible to classify were those of Jose Aradio Segundo and Aureliano Segundo. They were so much alike and so mischievous during childhood that not even Santa Sofia de la Piedad could tell them apart. On the day of their christening Amaranta put bracelets on them with their respective names and dressed them in different colored clothing marked with each one's initials, but when they began to go to school they decided to exchange clothing and bracelets and call each other by opposite names. The teacher, Melchor Escalona, used to knowing Jose Arcadio Segundo by his green shirt, went out of his mind when he discovered that the latter was wearing Aureliano Segundo's bracelet and that the other one said, nevertheless, that his name was Aureliano Segundo in spite of the fact that he was wearing the white shirt and the bracelet with Jose Arcadio Segundo's name" (Marquez, 181-182).

At the beginning of this chapter, we see the twins combine not only their physical appearance, but their personality traits as well. This chapter had me feeling a little lost, so I turned to SparkNotes for additional explanation. Initially, I was under the impression that the twins did this with the intent of being mischievous and rebellious. After doing some research, it seems as though this passage can be interpreted in a number of different ways. For example, SparkNotes suggests that because the two were switched at birth, they are simply mistaken for one another very frequently. However, a few other resources suggest that the twins really do like to play tricks on the adults in their lives, so often that it reaches the extent of the two actually forgetting who they truly are. Towards the end of this passage, Santa Sofía discovers that they can actually feel what the other is feeling, so it is almost as if the two characters become one.
I think this small excerpt is a good representation of the kind of writing that Márquez is attempting to portray. He is constantly challenging the concept of time and how we are supposed to read and analyze a typical story, creating a subjective experience for each individual reader.