Just the facts
Who wrote the book 'No One Writes to the Colonel?'
Who is Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
FOR EXTRA POINTS:
From which country was Garcia Marquez from?
What do the following words mean
El coronel destapó el tarro del café y comprobó que no había más de una cucharadita.
What is
The colonel took the top off the coffee can and saw that there was only one little spoonful left.
What is the significance of the Colonel's pension?
Hope and validation.
What is the central conflict of the story?
The Colonel's struggle to survive without his promised pension and maintain dignity amidst poverty and isolation.
"No one writes to the colonel”
On the second Friday, the colonel goes back to the harbor and waits, once again, for the anticipated piece of mail. The doctor gets his newspapers and personal mail, and when he asks the mailman if there is something for the colonel, the mailman emphatically answers: “No one writes to the colonel” (page 22)
What day of the week did the Colonel normally check for his pension?
What is Friday?
There is mention of a funeral. What is implied by the thought that this is the first death from natural causes?
It implies the community is plagued by sorts of violence.
What symbolic meaning does the Colonel's rooster hold?
Hope and Value, a memory of their son.
What prevents the colonel from selling the clock when he arrives at the tailor shop?
The colonel’s pride gets in his way. Agustın’s friends are at the tailor shop when the colonel arrives and so the colonel is too ashamed to say what has brought him to the store.
"You should realize you can't eat dignity."
'And you're dying of hunger', the woman said. You should realize you can't eat dignity.' (page 46).
What suit did the Colonel wear to the funeral and why?
Because of his wife's asthma, his white suit was not pressed. So he had to wear the old black suit which since his marriage he used only on special occasions.
the makes his characters relatable (especially the Colonel)
to make the characters feel human and likeable
to make the depressing subject matter more approachable
The colonel and his wife own a clock. This item also holds symbolic meaning. List three topics the clock could symbolize.
The passing of time (the agony of waiting)
wealth
social status
change
hope
power
home
pride
The colonel prefers to provide for ________ rather than for __________________.
The colonel prefers to provide for the rooster rather than for his wife and for himself.
"I don't want to die in the dark"
"She mouthed prayers a little after curfew. Then the colonel got ready to put put the lamp. But she objected. 'I don't want to die in the dark', she said" (the wife, page 67)
What was the first lie that the colonel told his wife?
What is 'l've had mine,' the colonel lied. 'There was still a big spoonful left.'
What narrative techniques does Gabriel García Márquez employ?
"run-on" or continuous, non-linear storytelling.
FOR EXTRA POINTS: What would be one reason for employing this type of narrative technique?
What does the month of October represent for the Colonel?
"For nearly sixty years---since the end of the last civil war--the colonel had done nothing else but wait. October was one of the few things which arrived."
Anxiety, desperation (this is the month the pension is supposed to arrive, years ago) the passing of time, the dreaded rainy weather that comes every year
What is surprising to the colonel about the cockfight?
He wasn't expecting to see his rooster there.
"It's torture to go around with this everyplace...it's like carrying death in your pocket."
Sabas describes the little white pill he puts in his coffee "it's sugar, but without sugar" (page 39).
What was similar between the dead man and Augustin?
He was born in 1922,' she said. 'Exactly a month after our son. April 7th.'
What do the following words reveal about the Colonel and his wife?
"we are orphans of our son"
This reveals that the colonel and his wife became 'vilomahs' because their son had passed before them so life ends with them after they die because no one will carry on their legacy and bloodline.
What could be the reason behind Garcia Marquez' decision to leave many characters nameless?
Garcia Marquez' nameless characters represent a broader class of people. Garcia Marquez gives social commentary on the universal issues represented by certain nameless characters (the doctor, the lawyer, the postmaster, etc.)
The young man who repaired the clock tells the colonel that there will be a bill for the completed work once the rooster has won the cockfight. What incident, earlier in the novella, does this moment echo?
The moment when the doctor says that the colonel will get a bill for his wife's care after the cockfight.
Human ingratitude knows no limits.
"The lawyer threw up his hands. 'That's the way it is', he said. 'Human ingratitude knows no limit' (page 25)