百年孤独为什么值得看 世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第15章Part7

世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第15章Part7  

Nevertheless
that surge of humanity did not alter his professional conduct. At Melquíades?room
which was locked up again with the padlock
Santa Sofía de la Piedad tried one last hope. “No one has lived in that room for a century
?she said. The officer had it opened and flashed the beam of the lantern over it
and Aureliano Segundo and Santa Sofía de la Piedad saw the Arab eyes of Jos?Arcadio Segundo at the moment when the ray of light passed over his face and they understood that it was the end of one anxiety and the beginning of another which would find relief only in resignation. But the officer continued examining the room with the lantern and showed no sign of interest until he discovered the seventy-o chamberpots piled up in the cupboards. Then he turned on the light. Jos?Arcadio Segundo was sitting on the edge of the cot
ready to go
more solemn and pensive than ever. In the background were the shelves with the shredded books
the rolls of parchment
and the clean and orderly worktable with the ink still fresh in the inkwells. There was the same pureness in the air
the same clarity
the same respite from dust and destruction that Aureliano Segundo had known in childhood and that only Colonel Aureliano Buendía could not perceive. But the officer was only interested in the chamberpots.
“How many people live in this house??he asked.
“Five.?
The officer obviously did not understand. He paused with his glance on the space where Aureliano Segundo and Santa Soft de la Piedad were still seeing Jos?Arcadio Segundo and the latter also realized that the soldier was looking at him without seeing him. Then he turned out the light and closed the door. When he spoke to the soldiers
Aureliano
Segundo understood that the young officer had seen the room with the same eyes as Colonel Aureliano Buendía.
“It’s obvious that no one has been in that room for at least a hundred years.?the officer said to the soldiers. “There must even be snakes in there.?
When the door closed
Jos?Arcadio Segundo was sure that the war was over. Years before Colonel Aureliano Buendía had spoken to him about the fascination of war and had tried to show it to him with countless examples drawn from his own experience. He had believed him. But the night when the soldiers looked at him without seeing him while he thought about the tension of the past few months
the misery of jail
the panic at the station
and the train loaded with dead people
Jos?Arcadio Segundo reached the conclusion that Colonel Aureliano Buendía was nothing but a faker or an imbecile. He could not understand why he had needed so many words to explain what he felt in war because one was enough: fear. In Melquíades?room
on the other hand
protected by the supernatural light
by the sound of the rain
by the feeling of being invisible
he found the repose that he had not had for one single instant during his previous life
and the only fear that remained was that they would bury him alive. He told Santa Sofía de la Piedad about it when she brought him his daily meals and she promised to struggle to stay alive even beyond her natural forces in order to make sure that they would bury him dead. Free from all fear
Jos?Arcadio Segundo dedicated himself then to peruse the manuscripts of Melquíades many times
and with so much more pleasure when he could not understand them. He became accustomed to the sound of the rain
which after o months had bee another form of silence
and the only thing that disturbed his solitude was the ing and going of Santa Sofía de la Piedad. He asked her
therefore
to leave the meals on the windowsill and padlock the door. The rest of the family fot about him including Fernanda
who did not mind leaving him there when she found that the soldiers had seen him without recognizing him. After six months of enclosure
since the soldiers had left Macondo Aureliano Segundo removed the padlock
looking for someone he could talk to until the rain stopped. As soon as he opened the doorhe felt the pestilential attack of the chamberpots
which were placed on the floor and all of which had been used several times. Jos?Arcadio Segundo
devoured by baldness
indifferent to the air that had been sharpened by the nauseating vapors
was still reading and rereading the unintelligible parchments. He was illuminated by a seraphic glow. He scarcely raised his eyes when he heard the door open
but that look was enough for his brother to see repeated in it the irreparable fate of his great-grandfather.
“There were more than three thousand of them
?was all that Jos?Arcadio Segundo said. “I’m sure now that they were everybody who had been at the station.?