Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez Study questions

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Facts about Gabriel García Márquez

➾ Gabriel García Márquez did not meet his mother until he was almost eight years old.

➾ He derived his rich, pungent writing style directly from the storytelling mannerisms of his grandmother.

➾ He quit law school because he felt that the study of law “had nothing to do with justice”.

➾ As a reporter, he once staged a fake rebellion using sirens and drums in a remote jungle village to create a news story.

➾ An exposé he wrote on a shipwrecked sailor revealed that the naval destroyer had been carrying black market goods, which deeply embarrassed the government.

➾ He rewrote his novel No One Writes to the Colonel a remarkable eleven times.

➾ During extreme poverty in Paris, he sustained himself by re-boiling chicken bones to make daily broth.

➾ His hotel landlord trusted him enough to allow him to accumulate massive debt because they saw him constantly writing in his room.

➾ He later reflected that his three years of poverty taught him that “nobody dies of hunger” and one is capable of sleeping under bridges.

➾ He worked for a magazine sometimes nicknamed Venezuela Pornografica and stated that he read and believed all the gossip within.

➾ After experiencing writer’s block, he broke it by turning his family car around and barricading himself at home for 15 months to write One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Gabriel García Márquez MCQs

1. What is the full name of the author, born March 6, 1928?

A. Gabo Jimenez
B. Gabriel José García Márquez
C. Luis Alejandro Velasco
D. William Faulkner

B. Gabriel José García Márquez
This is his full birth name, though he is often known by his affectionate nickname, Gabo.

2. What is one of the common nicknames Gabriel García Márquez is known by?

A. Gabby
B. Gabito
C. Colonel
D. Maestro

B. Gabito
“Gabito” (or “Gabo”) was a popular and affectionate nickname used for him throughout Latin America.

3. In which Colombian village was Gabriel García Márquez born?

A. Sucre
B. Macondo
C. Bogotá
D. Aracataca

D. Aracataca
He was born in Aracataca, which became the real-life inspiration for the fictional town of Macondo.

4. In which year did Gabriel García Márquez die?

A. 1982
B. 1999
C. 2012
D. 2014

D. 2014
He died of pneumonia at the age of 87 in Mexico City.

5. What was the immediate cause of Gabriel García Márquez’s death?

A. Lymphatic cancer
B. Dementia
C. Pneumonia
D. Heart failure

C. Pneumonia
Though he suffered from cancer and dementia, his death in 2014 was attributed to pneumonia.

6. García Márquez was diagnosed with what type of cancer in 1999?

A. Lung
B. Lymphatic
C. Bone
D. Skin

B. Lymphatic
He was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1999 but recovered following treatment.

7. What was García Márquez reported to be suffering from in 2012?

A. A severe infection
B. Paralysis
C. Dementia
D. Writer’s block

C. Dementia
In 2012, his brother announced that García Márquez was suffering from dementia.

8. What is considered García Márquez’s first serious writing or novella, published in 1955?

A. The Evil Hour
B. Big Mama’s Funeral
C. Leaf Storm (La Hojarasca)
D. The Colonel

C. Leaf Storm (La Hojarasca)
Leaf Storm was his first novella and the first work to introduce the fictional town of Macondo.

9. Which novel, published in 1985, is described as his second most well-known work?

A. The Autumn of the Patriarch
B. Chronicle of a Death Foretold
C. Love in the Time of Cholera
D. Leaf Storm

C. Love in the Time of Cholera
After One Hundred Years of Solitude, this is his most celebrated novel.

10. Who raised García Márquez for the first ten years of his life?

A. His father
B. His mother
C. His maternal grandparents
D. Fidel Castro

C. His maternal grandparents
He was raised by his maternal grandparents, who had a profound influence on his storytelling.

11. García Márquez credited his grandmother with providing the foundation for what aspect of his work?

A. His political views
B. His financial stability
C. His pungent style
D. His love of cinema

C. His pungent style
His grandmother’s “pungent style” of telling fantastic stories matter-of-factly inspired magical realism.

12. The author’s grandfather became the model for what archetype character in his fiction?

A. The Seaman
B. The Dictator
C. The Colonel
D. The Telegraph Operator

C. The Colonel
His grandfather, a veteran of the War of a Thousand Days, became the model for the recurring colonel archetype.

13. What traumatic Colombian civil war did García Márquez’s grandfather participate in?

A. La Violencia
B. The War of a Thousand Days
C. The Cuban Revolution
D. The Spanish Civil War

B. The War of a Thousand Days
His grandfather was a colonel in this devastating civil war, a recurring theme in his novels.

14. The village of Aracataca is the real-life inspiration for what fictional town?

A. Sucre
B. Cartagena
C. Cienaga
D. Macondo

D. Macondo
Macondo, the setting of One Hundred Years of Solitude, is based on his childhood home of Aracataca.

15. What US company established a banana headquarters in Aracataca, leading to massacres?

A. Standard Oil
B. The United Fruit Company
C. Chiquita Brands
D. Wells Fargo

B. The United Fruit Company
The 1928 “Banana Massacre” by this company became a key event in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

16. When did García Márquez first publish short stories?

A. 1955
B. 1967
C. 1947 while a student
D. 1970

C. 1947 while a student
He began his literary career publishing short stories in newspapers while he was a student.

17. After abandoning his higher studies, what profession did García Márquez fully commit to?

A. Film direction
B. Pharmacy
C. Journalism
D. Political activism

C. Journalism
He dropped out of law school to become a journalist, a profession that deeply shaped his writing style.

18. What newspaper column did García Márquez write for El Heraldo in Barranquilla?

A. El Espectador
B. La Hojarasca
C. La Jirafa
D. El Pueblo

C. “La Jirafa”
He wrote a regular column called “La Jirafa” (The Giraffe) under the name “Septimus.”

19. Which literary quality characterized García Márquez’s early journalistic writings?

A. Academic formality
B. Irony and mordant humor
C. Pure naturalism
D. Excessive pathos

B. Irony and mordant humor
His early columns were known for their biting humor and ironic observations.

20. García Márquez preferred to cover what type of stories as a reporter for El Espectador?

A. Editorials
B. Foreign correspondence
C. Fires and crimes
D. Political analysis

C. Fires and crimes
He preferred covering the “police beat” and sensational stories, like fires and crimes.

21. The fabricated rebellion story in Quibdo was staged to protest what?

A. Government corruption
B. The correspondent’s assignment
C. Censorship
D. The price of bananas

B. The correspondent’s assignment
He staged the story out of boredom and frustration with his assignment in the remote town.

22. What did the sailor Luis Alejandro Velasco reveal that embarrassed the Rojas Pinilla government?

A. The storm was fabricated
B. The destroyer carried black market goods
C. The sailor was a spy
D. The storm hit in New Orleans

B. The destroyer carried black market goods
Velasco revealed the shipwreck was due to contraband, not a storm, embarrassing the dictatorship.

23. When was The Tale of A Shipwrecked Sailor first published under García Márquez’s name?

A. 1954
B. 1966
C. 1970
D. 1982

C. 1970
Though written as a newspaper series in 1955, it was first published in book form in 1970.

24. Which of his novels was García Márquez rewriting eleven times while stuck jobless in Paris?

A. Leaf Storm
B. The Evil Hour
C. One Hundred Years of Solitude
D. No One Writes to the Colonel

D. No One Writes to the Colonel
He wrote this novella, a masterpiece of conciseness, during a period of extreme poverty in Paris.

25. What was García Márquez’s first novel focused on the theme of violence?

A. La Hojarasca
B. La Mala Hora (The Evil Hour)
C. El Coronel
D. Cien años de soledad

B. La Mala Hora (The Evil Hour)
This novel was his first to directly confront the theme of *La Violencia*, the political violence in Colombia.

26. What conclusion did García Márquez reach after three years of poverty in Paris?

A. That he required political asylum
B. That he needed a US visa
C. That nobody dies of hunger
D. That he should stop writing

C. That nobody dies of hunger
His experience of extreme poverty in Paris gave him a sense of resilience and this philosophical conclusion.

27. Who was the fiancée and eventual wife of García Márquez, described as having a “beautiful neck”?

A. Luisa Santiaga
B. Pilar Ternera
C. Mercedes Barcha
D. Consuelo

C. Mercedes Barcha
He married Mercedes Barcha, his childhood sweetheart, in 1958.

28. García Márquez finished which short story collection while working in Caracas, Venezuela?

A. No One Writes to the Colonel
B. Big Mama’s Funeral
C. Leaf Storm
D. The Tale of A Shipwrecked Sailor

B. Big Mama’s Funeral
He completed this collection (Los funerales de la Mamá Grande) while living in Venezuela.

29. After the Cuban revolution, García Márquez opened the Bogotá office for what Cuban news agency?

A. El Espectador
B. Momento
C. Prensa Latina
D. Alternativa

C. Prensa Latina
His support for the revolution led him to help establish the Bogotá office for Cuba’s official news agency.

30. García Márquez’s political leanings, since his student days, are described as being what?

A. Liberal
B. Conservative
C. Revolutionary, even communist
D. Federalist

C. Revolutionary, even communist
He was a committed leftist and socialist his entire life, stemming from his student activism.

31. While representing Prensa Latina at the UN, what famous incident did García Márquez witness?

A. Castro’s long speech
B. Khruschev using his shoe as a gavel
C. The signing of a peace treaty
D. An assassination attempt

B. Khruschev using his shoe as a gavel
He was present for the infamous (and possibly apocryphal) incident of Khruschev banging his shoe.

32. García Márquez’s US visa was withdrawn around 1961 due to what reason?

A. Financial debt
B. His political leanings and association with Cuba
C. Criminal activities
D. A dispute with immigration officials

B. His political leanings and association with Cuba
His left-wing politics and friendship with Castro made him a target of the US government.

33. García Márquez traveled through the US Deep South by bus as an homage to which writer?

A. Ben Hecht
B. Ernest Hemingway
C. John Steinbeck
D. William Faulkner

D. William Faulkner
He deeply admired Faulkner and traveled through his territory, the American South, by Greyhound bus.

34. What period of intense political violence and repression in Colombia occurred around 1948?

A. The Banana Massacre
B. The War of a Thousand Days
C. La Violencia
D. The Latin Boom

C. La Violencia
“La Violencia” (The Violence) was a brutal ten-year civil war that became a major theme in his work.

35. Who was the famed Mexican novelist with whom García Márquez collaborated on screenplays?

A. Julio Cortázar
B. Jorge Rojas
C. Carlos Fuentes
D. Juan Ramon Jimenez

C. Carlos Fuentes
He formed a close friendship with Fuentes, and they worked together on several film projects in Mexico.

36. What did García Márquez realize he lacked working on film scripts compared to novels?

A. Sufficient money
B. Technical expertise
C. The writer’s complete control over the work
D. Critical acclaim

C. The writer’s complete control over the work
He felt that in filmmaking, the writer’s vision was diluted by the collaborative process.

37. García Márquez experienced a four-year period of difficulty known as what, before writing his masterpiece?

A. Exile
B. Writer’s block
C. Political imprisonment
D. Journalism fatigue

B. Writer’s block
He suffered a severe writer’s block for four years before his breakthrough inspiration for his masterpiece.

38. While driving from Mexico City to Acapulco, García Márquez began planning which masterpiece?

A. The Evil Hour
B. Chronicle of a Death Foretold
C. One Hundred Years of Solitude
D. Love in the Time of Cholera

C. One Hundred Years of Solitude
He had a sudden flash of inspiration for the novel while on this drive, ending his writer’s block.

39. Approximately how long did García Márquez work on writing One Hundred Years of Solitude?

A. Six months
B. Eighteen months
C. Three years
D. Ten years

B. Eighteen months
He locked himself away for 18 months, writing in a haze of creative energy to complete the novel.

40. In which year was One Hundred Years of Solitude first published in Spanish (Cien años de soledad)?

A. 1961
B. 1967
C. 1970
D. 1982

B. 1967
The novel was an immediate and massive success upon its 1967 publication in Buenos Aires.

41. Which Argentinean writer, alongside Carlos Fuentes, was an early supporter of Cien Años de Soledad?

A. Jorge Luis Borges
B. Julio Cortázar
C. Pablo Neruda
D. Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza

B. Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar, a major figure of the “Latin Boom,” was an important early champion of the novel.

42. Who was the translator who rendered One Hundred Years of Solitude into English?

A. William Kennedy
B. Gregory Rabassa
C. Ben Hecht
D. Luisa Santiaga

B. Gregory Rabassa
Rabassa’s 1970 translation was highly acclaimed by García Márquez himself as a work of art.

43. What term describes the rise in popularity of Latin-American writing in the 1960s and 1970s?

A. The New Wave
B. The Latin Boom
C. Modernism
D. Postmodernism

B. The Latin Boom
His novel was a central work of the “Latin Boom,” which brought global attention to Latin American authors.

44. One Hundred Years of Solitude is considered a central work in which literary movement?

A. Postmodernism
B. Naturalism
C. Magical realism
D. Existentialism

C. Magical realism
The novel is the most famous example of magical realism, blending the fantastic with the mundane.

45. In 1973, following the assassination of Salvador Allende, García Márquez co-founded which left-wing magazine?

A. El Espectador
B. Prensa Latina
C. Alternativa
D. Momento

C. Alternativa
He co-founded this political magazine in Colombia in response to the coup in Chile.

46. What novel, published in 1975, focused on the theme of dictatorship and power?

A. Love in the Time of Cholera
B. The Autumn of the Patriarch
C. Chronicle of a Death Foretold
D. The Evil Hour

B. The Autumn of the Patriarch
This dense, experimental novel is a portrait of an archetypal Caribbean dictator, isolated by absolute power.

47. García Márquez established a personal relationship with which Cuban leader?

A. Che Guevara
B. Fidel Castro
C. Omar Torrijos
D. Salvador Allende

B. Fidel Castro
His controversial and long-standing friendship with Fidel Castro often drew criticism from the West.

48. In which year was García Márquez awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature?

A. 1967
B. 1970
C. 1981
D. 1982

D. 1982
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his novels and short stories, which combined the fantastic and realistic.

49. García Márquez claimed that the atmosphere of his books is the atmosphere of what stage of life?

A. Old age
B. Journalism
C. Childhood
D. Adulthood

C. Childhood
He stated that his style was based on his grandmother’s way of telling stories, rooted in his childhood.

50. In his Nobel lecture, García Márquez expressed belief in the possibility of creating what?

A. Scientific advancement
B. Eternal solitude
C. The opposite utopia
D. Universal warfare

C. The opposite utopia
He concluded his lecture with a powerful call for a “new and sweeping utopia of life.”

No One Writes to the Colonel MCQs

1. How much coffee was left in the can?

A. None
B. One spoonful
C. Half cup
D. Whole can

B. One spoonful.
The colonel saw that only one small spoonful of ground coffee remained when he took the top off the can.

2. What month is described as “difficult” and “sinister”?

A. January
B. October
C. April
D. November

B. October.
The colonel felt the sinister month of October in his intestines and noted it was difficult to get through.

3. How long has the Colonel been actively waiting since the Civil War?

A. Twenty years
B. Fifty years
C. Sixty years
D. Fifteen years

C. Sixty years.
The colonel has done nothing but wait for nearly sixty years since the end of the last civil war.

4. What ailment did the Colonel’s wife suffer from the night before?

A. Headache
B. Asthma attack
C. High fever
D. Bad cough

B. Asthma attack.
The wife had suffered an asthma attack the night before, leaving her in a very drowsy state that morning.

5. What date was the Colonel’s son, Agustin, born?

A. October 27th
B. August 12th
C. April 7th
D. January 3rd

C. April 7th.
The wife noted that the dead man was born on April 7th, exactly one month after their son, Agustin.

6. What did the Colonel lie about to his wife that morning?

A. Rain stopping
B. Drinking coffee
C. Rooster status
D. Letter arrival

B. Drinking coffee.
When asked about his coffee, the colonel told his wife he had already had his, which was a lie.

7. What animal was tied to the leg of the bed?

A. Pet dog
B. Piglet
C. Fighting cock
D. Young calf

C. Fighting cock.
The colonel remembered the animal tied to the leg of the bed, which was explicitly a fighting cock.

8. What time did the clock show after the Colonel finished winding it?

A. Seven-ten
B. Six-forty
C. Seven-twenty
D. Eight-thirty

C. Seven-twenty.
After winding the pendulum clock in the living room’s carved case, the time was seven-twenty.

9. What object was on the little table in the living room?

A. Vase of flowers
B. Pile of books
C. Plaster cat
D. Ashtray

C. Plaster cat.
The living room featured a small table with a cover and a plaster cat sitting upon it.

10. What items did the Colonel provide for the rooster in the kitchen?

A. Water, bread
B. Water, corn
C. Seed, grit
D. Beans, water

B. Water, corn.
The colonel changed the water in the can and added a handful of corn next to the fighting cock.

11. Why did the Colonel ask the child not to play the harmonica?

A. Too noisy
B. Someone died
C. Roosters rested
D. Wife was ill

B. Someone died.
The colonel stopped the child from playing the popular song, explaining that there had been a death in town.

12. Why did the Colonel wear the old black suit?

A. Preferred black
B. White suit stained
C. White suit not pressed
D. Only formal suit

C. White suit not pressed.
Due to his wife’s asthma, the Colonel’s white suit was not pressed, forcing him to wear the old black one.

13. How old was Agustin when the family won the umbrella?

A. Five
B. Eight
C. Ten
D. Twelve

B. Eight.
The colonel, his wife, and their eight-year-old son, Agustin, watched the show.

14. What happened to the material of the raffle umbrella over time?

A. Ripped by the wind
B. Eaten by moths
C. Faded by the sun
D. Stolen by a child

B. Eaten by moths.
The umbrella’s bright satin material was ruined, having been eaten away by moths in storage.

15. What did the wife whisper about their situation after seeing the umbrella?

A. We are lucky
B. We’re rotting alive
C. God helps us
D. We need money

B. We’re rotting alive.
After the colonel commented on the umbrella, his wife whispered that they were “rotting alive”.

16. What did the Colonel use to hold up his trousers instead of a belt?

A. Metal chain
B. String knots
C. Fabric straps
D. Rope belt

C. Fabric straps.
Two straps of the same material held up his trousers, passed through two gilt buckles.

17. Why did the Colonel shave “by touch” that morning?

A. Blindness
B. Lacked a mirror
C. Poor light
D. Old habit

B. Lacked a mirror.
He shaved by touch because he had been without a mirror for a very long period.

18. What made this burial a “special event” for the town?

A. Famous person
B. First natural death
C. Terrible weather
D. Musician’s passing

B. First natural death.
The colonel told his wife that this was the first death from natural causes in many years.

19. What did the Colonel compare his bristly, steel-colored hair to?

A. A mop
B. A brush
C. A parrot
D. A helmet

C. A parrot.
He tried to comb his hair but failed, joking that he must look like a parrot afterwards.

20. What kept the Colonel from appearing “preserved in formalin”?

A. His strong build
B. His loud voice
C. Vitality in eyes
D. His dry skin

C. Vitality in the eyes.
Although dry and old, the vitality and liveliness in his eyes prevented him from looking preserved.

21. What kind of roof did the Colonel’s house have?

A. Tile roof
B. Palm-thatched roof
C. Metal roof
D. Shingle roof

B. Palm-thatched roof.
The colonel and his wife lived at the edge of town in a house with a thatched roof of palm.

22. What covered the town “as far as the eye could see” when the Colonel reached the main street?

A. Fresh mud
B. Flowers
C. People
D. Black cloth

B. Flowers.
As he walked down to the plaza, he shivered because the town was carpeted with flowers.

23. Where did the men, waiting for the procession, gather for shelter?

A. Pool hall
B. Church doorway
C. Store porch
D. Doctor’s office

B. Church doorway.
The men dressed in white stood under their umbrellas, talking in the low doorway of the church.

24. Who offered the Colonel an umbrella from the pool hall door?

A. The Mayor
B. Sabas
C. The proprietor
D. Father Ángel

C. The proprietor.
The proprietor of the pool hall shouted to the colonel, offering to lend him an umbrella.

25. What was the first thing the Colonel noticed when entering the dead man’s house?

A. Silence
B. Odor of flowers
C. Loud weeping
D. The coffin

B. Odor of flowers.
The colonel’s first perception upon entering the crowded house was the intense odor of many different flowers.

26. What did the dead man’s mother use to shoo flies away from the coffin?

A. A towel
B. Palm fan
C. Piece of cloth
D. Newspaper

B. Palm fan.
The dead man’s mother was using a fan made of plaited palm to shoo the flies away gently.

27. What musical instrument was the dead man holding in his hands?

A. Clarinet
B. Flute
C. Trumpet
D. Harmonica

C. Trumpet.
The colonel saw the corpse, which was stiff and dynamic, wrapped in white cloths with his trumpet in his hands.

28. What feeling did the Colonel experience when pushed against the corpse?

A. Relief
B. Panic
C. His joints ached
D. Great cold

C. His joints ached.
The shapeless crowd pushed him against the body, causing the colonel’s joints to ache from the sudden push.

29. Who seized the Colonel by the arm in the street after the church scene?

A. Doctor
B. Sabas
C. The Mayor
D. The tailor

B. Sabas.
As the colonel exited, Sabas, his dead son’s godfather, seized him by the arm.

30. What was Sabas’s political standing in the town?

A. Mayor
B. Only the party leader escaped
C. Exiled official
D. New recruit

B. Only party leader escaped.
Sabas was identified as the only leader of the Colonel’s party who had avoided political persecution.

31. Where did the Colonel see the Mayor during the confrontation?

A. Office door
B. Town hall steps
C. Barracks balcony
D. Plaza Center

C. Barracks balcony.
The colonel saw the Mayor on the balcony of the police barracks, shouting down at the procession.

32. What clothing was the Mayor wearing when he appeared on the balcony?

A. Uniform
B. Flannel underwear
C. Suit jacket
D. White tunic

B. Flannel underwear.
The Mayor was dressed only in his flannel underwear, and his cheek appeared noticeably swollen.

33. What regulation did Sabas forget was currently in effect?

A. Curfew
B. Martial law
C. No assemblies
D. No music

B. Martial law.
Sabas exclaimed that he had always forgotten the town was currently under martial law.

34. How did the women in the poor neighborhoods react to the new route?

A. Crying
B. Shouts of praise
C. Threw stones
D. Hid indoors

B. Shouts of praise.
As the cortege passed, the women came out and sent up shouts of praise and gratitude.

35. What did the Colonel compare the sensation in his gut during October to?

A. Fire
B. Animals
C. Empty hole
D. Water

B. Animals.
The colonel stated that in October, he felt “as if I had animals in my gut”.

36. What type of new building was Sabas’s house?

A. One story, wood
B. Two stories, iron gratings
C. Stone wall
D. Palm-thatched

B. Two stories, iron gratings.
Sabas’s house was new, two stories high, and featured wrought-iron window gratings.

37. What did the Colonel estimate the rooster’s market worth to be?

A. Thirty pesos
B. Fifty pesos
C. Nine hundred
D. Forty-two

B. Fifty pesos.
The colonel proudly told his wife that the rooster was considered the best and was worth about fifty pesos.

38. What caused Agustin’s death nine months before?

A. Gunshot, war
B. Shot distributing literature
C. Cholera
D. Natural causes

B. Shot distributing literature.
Agustin was shot down at the cock-fights nine months before for distributing clandestine political literature.

39. When did the Colonel expect the cockfights to take place?

A. December
B. January
C. March
D. November

B. January.
The colonel stated they knew there would be cockfights happening in January.

40. Why did the Colonel complain about his patent-leather shoes?

A. Too tight
B. Looked like an orphan’s
C. Were uncomfortable
D. Very old

B. Looked like an orphan’s.
He protested that the shoes looked like those of an orphan and made him feel like a fugitive.

41. What type of goods were displayed in the stalls along the harbor?

A. Foodstuffs
B. Books
C. Colored merchandise
D. Tools

C. Colored merchandise.
The street parallel to the harbor was a labyrinth of stores displaying colored merchandise.

42. What outstanding physical feature did the young doctor possess?

A. Strong build
B. Perfect dentition
C. Clear skin
D. Nice hair

B. Perfect dentition.
The young doctor had something unbelievable in the absolute perfection of his natural teeth.

43. What was the Colonel’s truthful confession to the doctor?

A. He was ill
B. No one writes him
C. He was waiting
D. He needed money

B. No one writes him.
After lying, he wasn’t expecting anything, the colonel admitted, “No one writes to me”.

44. What international event dominated the main headlines of the newspapers?

A. World War
B. Suez Canal report
C. New President
D. Oil discovery

B. Suez Canal report.
The front page, spanning four columns, featured a comprehensive report on international events related to the Suez Canal.

45. How many bells did the priest ring for the “unfit for everyone” movie rating?

A. Ten bells
B. Twelve bells
C. Fifteen bells
D. Eight bells

B. Twelve bells.
The colonel’s wife counted twelve bells, signifying the movie was morally “unfit for everyone”.

46. Who did the Colonel speak to while delirious with fever?

A. His wife
B. The Doctor
C. Englishman disguised as a tiger
D. Agustin

C. Englishman disguised as a tiger.
He answered his wife, claiming he was speaking to the Englishman disguised as a tiger at Colonel Buendía’s camp.

47. What rushed out of the privy pit when the lid was raised?

A. Rats
B. Triangular cloud of flies
C. Foul odor
D. Water

B. Triangular cloud of flies.
When the colonel lifted the lid of the privy, a large, triangular cloud of flies immediately rushed out.

48. What animal did the Colonel compare his wife to after seeing her patchwork outfit?

A. Rooster
B. Magpie
C. Sparrow
D. Heron

B. Magpie.
After seeing his wife covered in different colored scraps of fabric, the colonel said she looked like a magpie.

49. How much money did the Colonel need to buy a pound of corn for the rooster?

A. Fifty cents
B. Forty pesos
C. Forty-two cents
D. Twenty cents

C. Forty-two cents.
The colonel stated that the corn alone cost forty-two cents, frustrating his wife’s budget.

50. What object did the Colonel’s lawyer use as a desk in his office?

A. Old table
B. Keyless Pianola
C. Wooden crate
D. Filing cabinet

B. Keyless Pianola.
The lawyer’s office used a dusty, keyless Pianola as a dual-purpose desk for papers and ledgers.

Brief Overview

No One Writes to the Colonel is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1961. The story portrays the challenging life of a poor, éderly, and unnamed Colonel and his ailing wife in a rainy, rundown Colombian coastal town.

The Colonel has been waiting for nearly sixty years for a military pension that never arrives. This enduring, futile hope defines his existence. Every Friday, the Colonel visits the post office, only to be told the same thing: “No one writes to the colonel.”

The couple lives in extreme poverty. Their only remaining hope and asset is a fighting rooster that belonged to their dead son, Agustin. The Colonel’s wife, who suffers from severe asthma, views the rooster as an expensive burden, as they have used their last money to buy corn for the bird.

The Colonel is pressured to sell the rooster to Sabas, a local leader and exploiter, but he refrains from doing so. He feels the rooster is a symbol of his son and a point of pride for the whole town.

When his wife desperately asks what they will eat while waiting for the rooster’s fight in January, the Colonel gives a pure and defiant final answer: “Shit.” This response signifies his choice of dignity and hope over surrender to despair and poverty.