Blog Post #8

"The pact did not succeed, however, in incorporating Fernanda into the family. Ursula insisted in vain that she take off the woolen ruff which she would have on when she got up from making love and which made the neighbors whisper. She could not convince her to use the bathroom or night lavatory and sell the gold chamber pot to Colonel Aureliano Buendia so that he could convert it into little fishes. Amaranta felt so uncomfortable with her defective diction and her habit of using euphemisms to designate everything that she would always speak gibberish in front of her... In spite of the visible hostility of the family, Fernanda did not give up her drive to impose the customs of her ancestors." (pg 210-211)

Fernanda's introduction to the Buendia family was very interesting to me. We are able to see that there is immediately tension and she is not welcolmed with open arms, which is shocking since the Buendia's have been historically receptive to newcomers in Macando. I think that Fernanda's arrival could act as a warning for all of the immigrants who would soon be arriving in Macando. The Buendia's have lived pretty isolated in Macando along with the other families who had helped establish the town, and introducing new people with new cultures would definitely bring change to Macando, both good and bad. This, I think, could explain the Buendias' resentment towards Fernanda. It was especially hard for me to read since Fernanda was portrayed as an innocent, poor girl who's been lied to her whole life was taken from her home and brought to a town very different from the one that she grew up in. I was thinking that she was at least lucky to be put in the home of the Buendia's, who had previously taken in just about every family member who showed up at their doorstep, but they did not work to incorporate her into the family. This directly conflicted with my preconcieved notions about the Buendia family, and made me unsure of what I could expect from them later in the book, with more people arriving in Macando.