Power

Aaron and Paul
 * POWER**


 * = __**Positive**__ ||= __**Negative**__ ||
 * = Control ||= Ego ||
 * = Leadership ||= Questioned by others ||
 * = Money (wealth) ||= Corruption ||
 * = Command own destiny ||= Never Fulfilled ||
 * = Live Better ||= Underestimation ||
 * = Provides a goal to work towards ||= Stressful ||
 * = Feeling of Fulfillment ||= Scapegoat for others ||
 * = Expansion of Power ||= Fear ||
 * = Ability to Change ||= //**Control**// ||
 * = //**Respect**// ||= Lack of Solitude ||

I feel that Gabo uses the term power in a negative way in the book multiple times, but the one that grabs my attention the most is from pages 308-311. When the Banana Republic decides to kill all 3,000 of the revolting workers and somehow has the immense capabilities to cover it up. The complete and utter control they have over the population is astounding, and scary to consider how they choose to exercise it. When Jose Arcadio Segundo is recovering in a women's house on page 308 after escaping the massacre, he tells her there must be about 3,000 dead, and she merely thinks he's crazy and dismisses the thought with the statement "There haven't been any dead here, since the time of your uncle, the colonel, nothing has happened here in Macondo." Not only in the own city where the massacre happened, did the information leak out. To have that amount of raw control over a population is incredible. Alot of these terms dealing with power can be intertwined as I don't think any of these really stand by their own and the concept of fear definetely comes into play here. On pages 310-311 when the banana company has it's army search the houses with a "military decree #4," the power is truly seen. No questions are asked and people are taken without reason and never seeen again. With no one to stand up to it, no consequences for their actions, that is being in control, with power over the population. "Nothing ever happened in Macondo, nothing has ever happened, and nothing ever will." Those words are uttered by an officer and it seems to create the mental picture and mindset that they really can even control how people think and percieve everything. Some words to emphasize how this connotation is exemplified in the text are: "extermination," "rebels," "wipe out," "martial Law," and "massacre."
 * __Negative: Control__**

My good friend and comrade Gabo takes the positive form of the word power and expresses it nicely throughout his story 100 years of solitude by the connotations of respect. To use the same chapter as above a passage following in chapter 15 on pages 310-312 the concept of respect as being a positive one is explained. When the officers are searching the Buendia household for Jose Arcadio Segundo, he comes across one of Colonel Aureliano Buendia's gold fishes, even in death the fish commands an authorative figure, the presence of the Colonel that is felt in the military world especially. The officer is amazed that he could acquire one of the famous gold fishes. These fishes are very simple, not elegant, yet stand for all the Colonel had accomplished and are recognized everywhere. That is a sign of respect when something as minute as a little gold fish that he did as a hobby, can be so wanted by those still living after his death. "It's a wonderful momento, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was one of our greatest men." This statement of admiration also serves as a reminder of respect. On page 242 after he retires, The Colonel is highly sought after because of his reputation and war accomplishments, a sign of his respect that he holds among his peers. Some words that jump out to connect with respect are: "faithful," "relic," "greatest," "momento," and "Colonel."
 * __Positive: Respect__**

We chose to use similiar passages in making my point to show that the negative and positive connotations in the stories are not that different. Although they are different in paper, in stories and real life they are very much connected and Gabo brings the two together in the story to try to show us this.