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GENERAL ENGLISH · GENERAL ISSUES · ADVANCED (C1-C2)

ONE HUNDRED
YEARS OF
SOLITUDE
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1 Warm up
Read the definition and then discuss the questions in pairs.

solitude (n) - a state of being alone, usually in a way that brings happiness

1. What other parts of speech are connected to ‘solitude’?

2. Do you enjoy solitude? Why/why not?
3. What do you know about Gabriel García Márquez?

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2 Focus on vocabulary
Part A: Complete the vocabulary with the correct vowels (a,e, i,o,u).

1. l _ sh (adj.) - beautiful, and creating a pleasurable experience

2. _ ntr _ g _ _ (n) - the act of making plans secretly to achieve a desired outcome

3. s _ rr _ _ l (adj.) - strange and dream-like

4. pr _ ph _ cy (n) - a prediction about what will happen in future, usually in a religious or spiritual
context

5. c _ _ p d’ét _ t (n) - an illegal and often violent change of government

6. s _ c _ _ l _ st (n) - a person who believes that the wealth of a country should be shared equally
and workers should own the means of production

7. f _ t _ l _ sm (n) - a belief that our future is already decided and that we have no power over it

8. _ n _ q _ _ ty (n) - the state of things being unfair and wrong

Part B: Now write the words from Part A into the correct gaps in the following sentences.

1. George Orwell, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Twain, and Martin Luther King Jr. were all outspoken
, using their platforms to further ideas on equality for all.

2. In Chile on September 11th, 1973, Augusto Pinochet led a taking power from
the democratically-elected President Salvador Allende, before embarking on a 17-year long
dictatorship which saw brutal executions, torture and ‘disappearences’ of anyone who opposed
him.

3. Widespread protests broke out following the death of Eric Garner in the hands of the police, with
much anger aimed at the of the American legal system.

4. Asked about his sense of calm when faced with difficult events, the author pointed towards his
sense of and belief that we must simply endure whatever hardships come our
way.

5. She woke early and smiled as she opened the window revealing the autumnal
colors and allowing the fresh air to roll in.

6. The documentary showed the relationships and the political of life in Washington
DC.

7. Looking back on cartoons I watched when I was a child, some of them were really quite
when you think about it. But I always loved them.

8. They all strongly believed in the that the world would end in 2012, but 2013
ended all that.

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ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

3 Watching for detail

Watch the video about Gabriel García Márquez and write down what happened in the following years.

a. 1928 -

b. 1958 -

c. 1965 -

d. 1982 -

4 Understanding the video

Part A: Answer the questions below. Then, watch the video again to check your answers.

1. How long did it take Gabriel García Márquez to write One Hundred Years of Solitude?

2. How many generations of the Buendía family does the book focus on?

3. Which literary genre does One Hundred Years of Solitude exemplify?

4. Where in Colombia is the village of Macondo?

5. What always follows a romantic mechanic in the story?

6. What do characters in the novel often repeat?

7. What were the biggest influences on García Márquez?

Part B: Decide if the following statements are True (T) or False (F).

1. Gabriel García Márquez’s grandfather fought for the conservative government.

2. García Márquez’s childhood home inspired the setting for his novel.

3. García Márquez’s novel is ultimately pessimistic.

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5 Identifying vocabulary
Part A: Match the following vocabulary to the definitions.

1. assassinate (v) a. a system by one country of controlling other countries, often

after defeat in a war
2. serenade (v) b. describing a degree which someone has received for the work
they have done without having to do the usual work for it
3. imperialism (n) c. make someone feel calmer and less upset about something

4. placate (v) d. kill someone, usually someone well-known for political reasons

5. honorary (adj.) e. remind people of an important event or the life of a special person

6. commemorate (v) f. play or sing a song with the hope of attracting a particular lover

Part B: Now match the definitions to the words in bold in the article on page five.

1. a large amount of noisy and confused activity (n)

2. related to someone via the mother’s side of the family (adj.)

3. base a story on real places or events but changing the details so that it isn’t
obvious (v)
4. giving a strong physical or mental effect (adj.)

5. a man who pursues sexual relationships with multiple women (n)

6. A period of time when sadness is felt after losing someone who has died (n)

6 Reading for gist

Read the following sentences and match them to gaps a - f in the article on page five. There are more
sentences than gaps.

1. This was in 1928 when workers for the United Fruit Company went on strike over their poor
working conditions.
2. After she died, he was left heartbroken.
3. Regardless of how difficult her stories were to believe, she always told them as if they were the
absolute truth.
4. The Colonel tried sending her away at one point to separate the couple, but to no effect.
5. He never completed his degree.
6. At this time, corruption was a major political problem in the area.
7. The exact death toll is unknown, but there are estimates that put the number as high as 2000.
8. Gabriel Eligio had previously worked as a telegraph operator, but had trained to be a pharmacist.

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Gabriel García Márquez

His early life

A. When Gabriel Eligio García and Luisa Santiaga Márquez Iguarán fell in love, their relationship was met with
disapproval from Luisa’s father, a colonel in the Colombian army. Amongst Liberals, Colonel Nicolás Ricardo
Márquez was thought of as a hero and was a veteran of the Colombian Civil War, known as the Thousand Days’
War. Gabriel Eligio was a conservative and had a reputation as a womanizer. Still, this didn’t stop him from writing
love letters, poems and serenading Luisa Santiaga with his violin to win her heart. a) . He finally
agreed to allow them to be married.

B. In March 1927, their son was born, Gabriel García Márquez, the first of eleven children. b) . Not
long after García Márquez’s birth, they moved from Aracataca, their hometown, to Barranquilla, over one hundred
miles away on the Caribbean coast to find work, leaving their son behind. García Márquez was mostly raised by
his maternal grandparents who exercised a huge amount of influence over him during a time when his parents
were relatively strangers.

C. His grandfather, the Colonel, told him tales of Colombia’s wars and the Banana Massacre. c) .
After the company refused to negotiate with workers, the conservative government sent in the national army
which fired machine guns at workers and their families as they gathered after church on Sunday to hear a speech
by the local governor. d) . A fictionalized account of this horrific event appears in One Hundred
Years of Solitude. García Márquez’s politics were always leftist as a result of the influence of his grandfather. He
publicly spoke out against American Imperialism and for years was denied visas to visit the US until the ban was
lifted by Bill Clinton during the 1990s.

D. García Márquez’s grandmother, Doña Tranquilina Iguarán Cotes, was also a potent force in his development. She
would often tell tales which mixed the perfectly ordinary with elements of the supernatural. e) .
It was this style of storytelling that inspired the young García Márquez to create magic realism in his literature, a
style of writing which muddies the waters between realism and fantasy.

E. Initially, following his graduation, García Márquez studied law in Bogotá to placate his father’s ambitions for him,
while harboring ambitions to become an author and writing short stories in his spare time. One lunchtime, García
Márquez was disturbed from his lunch by a commotion. Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a left-wing politician campaigning for
the presidency had been assassinated and García Márquez arrived in time to see the crowd murder the suspected
assassin. Shortly after this, the University of Bogotá was closed down and the boarding house where García
Márquez was living was burned to the ground. Transferring his degree to Cartagena, he soon began working as
a reporter on El Universal and ended up quitting his studies entirely to focus on journalism. f) .
However, years later after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, he was offered an honorary doctorate by
Columbia University in New York City. Following his death in 2014, three days of mourning were declared in
Colombia and his life was later commemorated on bank notes.

Sources: CRG Soft, Time, Wikipedia

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7 Reading comprehension

Part A: Decide if the following statements are true (T), false (F), or not given (NG).

1. Gabriel Eligio and Nicolas Ricardo had different political outlooks.

2. Luisa Santiaga’s mother liked Gabriel Eligio more than her father did.

3. Gabriel García Márquez had a close relationship with his parents in the early years of his life.

4. Gabriel García Márquez was a great admirer of the United States.

Part B: Answer the following questions in your own words.

1. What is the meaning of ‘muddies the waters’ in paragraph D?

2. Why did García Márquez study law?

3. How many people did García Márquez witness being murdered?

4. Why did García Márquez transfer to Cartagena?

5. How did Colombia demonstrate the importance of García Márquez’s life?

8 Talking point

In pairs, take it in turns to interview each other using the following cue cards.

Part A: Answer the following questions.

1. When did you first start reading for pleasure?

2. What kind of things did you like to read when you were young?
3. What was your favorite book when you were a child?
4. What kind of things do you like to read now? Why?
5. Have you ever stopped reading a book before you finished it? Why?

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Part B: Talk for around two minutes on the following subject.

Discuss a book you have read

You should say:

• Who wrote it
• What it was about (generally)
• What you liked about it
• What you didn’t like about it

Part C: Answer the following questions.

1. Do you think certain books should be banned? Why/why not?

2. What do you think a world without literature would be like?
3. Would you want to be a writer? Why/why not?
4. Who are your favorite authors from your home country?

9 Extended activity/Homework

Write a book review.

Consider the following questions:

• What is the book about? Give a general idea, not a detailed breakdown, of the plot.
• Who are the main characters?
• What are the themes of the book?
• What made you choose the book to read?
• What did you enjoy about the book?
• What did you not enjoy about the book?
• Would you recommend it to other readers? What would you tell them about it?

You should:

• Write at least 300 words.

• Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

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