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.”

The Autumn of the Patriarch MCQs

1. What first entered the presidential palace, stirring stagnant time?

A. Peasant troops
B. Flapping wings
C. Rotting grandeur
D. Armored doors

B. Flapping wings.
Vultures entered through balcony screens, their wings stirring the stagnant time inside the palace before dawn.

2. What covered the palace courtyards due to abandonment?

A. Reinforced stone
B. Underground weeds
C. Lunar dust
D. Fallen portraits

B. Underground weeds.
In the first courtyard, paving stones gave way to weeds due to years of neglect and desertion.

3. What former viceregal area had been transformed into a coach house?

A. Stable
B. Kitchen
C. Garden
D. Courtyard

A. Stable.
The ancient viceregal stable located in the rear courtyard had been converted into a coach house.

4. What animals wandered through the ruined palace, eating curtains?

A. Street dogs
B. Bold vultures
C. Brazen cows
D. Jaguars

C. Brazen cows.
Cows wandered the main floor, consuming velvet curtains and nibbling chair trim in the ruined salons.

5. What kind of machinery was abandoned in a palace corner?

A. Wind machine
B. Sewing machines
C. Printing press
D. Musical box

A. Wind machine.
A machine counterfeited the four-point phenomenon, helping residents bear their immense nostalgia for the vanished sea.

6. What was displayed on all coins, stamps, and condom labels?

A. The flag
B. His profile
C. Vultures’ image
D. A dragon

B. His profile.
The dictator’s profile was omnipresent, appearing on stamps, coins, scapulars, and even condom labels.

7. Where did the Patriarch keep the good ammunition for the armed forces?

A. Conde barracks
B. Harbor fort
C. Arsenal in the palace
D. San Jerónimo base

C. Arsenal in the Palace.
He kept the good ammunition locked up in an arsenal located inside the presidential palace.

8. What unique physical feature was observed on the Patriarch’s feet?

A. Small and stubby
B. Like hawk talons
C. Soft and smooth
D. Bandaged

B. Like hawk talons.
The corpse possessed enormous, flat, square feet with calluses and twisted talons of a hawk.

9. How many years did the Patriarch estimate he had lived when the comet passed?

A. Fifty years
B. A hundred
C. Two hundred
D. Three hundred

B. A hundred.
He wrote on a slip of paper that he had turned a hundred years old around the time the comet passed.

10. How long did the bells of the cathedral toll following Bendición Alvarado’s death?

A. Three days
B. One week
C. One hundred days
D. A century

C. One hundred days.
The cathedral and all churches in the nation tolled their bells without pause for one hundred consecutive days.

11. Who was the Patriarch’s perfect double used for public duties?

A. Rodrigo de Aguilar
B. Patricio Aragonés
C. Saturno Santos
D. José Ignacio Saenz

B. Patricio Aragonés.
Patricio Aragonés served as the official impostor, protecting the Patriarch by taking his place in public.

12. What was Patricio Aragonés’s original trade before becoming the double?

A. Glass-blower
B. Soldier
C. Vendor of miracles
D. Artilleryman

A. Glass-blower.
Before his imposed destiny, Patricio Aragonés was a jokester and a glass-blower in his father’s workshop.

13. What was Patricio Aragonés’s nominal monthly salary?

A. Three hundred pesos
B. Fifty pesos
C. Four hundred pesos
D. Ten cents

B. Fifty pesos.
Patricio Aragonés exchanged his life for the role of impostor with a nominal salary of fifty pesos monthly.

14. How was Patricio Aragonés eventually assassinated?

A. Machine-gun burst
B. Dynamite charge
C. Poisoned dart
D. Domino game

C. Poisoned dart.
Patricio Aragonés was fatally wounded by a poisoned dart, which was delivered during street tumult.

15. What humiliation did Patricio Aragonés suffer during his agony?

A. Being strangled
B. Dying of fear
C. Soaked in shit
D. Stabbed by General

C. Soaked in shit.
While dying, Patricio Aragonés suffered from incontinence, falling down soaked in tears and excrement.

16. Who was the Patriarch’s lifelong comrade and Minister of Defense?

A. Patricio Aragonés
B. José Ignacio Saenz
C. Rodrigo de Aguilar
D. Bonivento Barboza

C. Rodrigo de Aguilar.
General Rodrigo de Aguilar was his lifelong comrade, protector, and Minister of Defense until his own demise.

17. What horrifying fate befell General Rodrigo de Aguilar?

A. Dynamite explosion
B. Quartered by horses
C. Assassinated privately
D. Served roasted at the banquet

D. Served roasted at the banquet.
He was cooked and served on a silver tray at a banquet for the presidential guard, roasted and stuffed.

18. Who was brought in to establish a secret empire of repression?

A. Ambassador Wilson
B. José Ignacio Saenz
C. General Barboza
D. Rubén Darío

B. José Ignacio Sáenz.
José Ignacio Saenz de la Barra, an aristocrat, was hired to hunt assassins and established a brutal secret service.

19. What material was used to stuff Bendición Alvarado’s body after its miracle failed?

A. Cotton wool
B. Sawdust and rags
C. Earth and stones
D. Linen

B. Sawdust and rags.
The Devil’s Advocate found that Bendición Alvarado’s body had been stuffed with rags during its display.

20. What was typically contained in the fiber sacks sent by Saenz de la Barra?

A. Coconut fiber
B. Gold coins
C. Severed heads
D. Stolen goods

C. Severed heads.
Saenz de la Barra regularly sent sacks containing the severed heads and death certificates of the Patriarch’s enemies.

21. How did the Patriarch always sleep, face down or face up?

A. With a pillow
B. Face down
C. On his side
D. Fully clothed

B. Face down.
He habitually slept face down on the floor, using his right arm bent under his head as a pillow.

22. What item did the Patriarch wear on his left heel?

A. Iron boot
B. Gold spur
C. Velvet glove
D. Canvas truss

B. Gold spur.
The Patriarch always wore his boots and the gold spur on his left heel, even when found dead.

23. What large medical device was worn due to a physical anomaly?

A. Orthopedic cart
B. Gold spur
C. Canvas truss
D. Small eyeglasses

C. Canvas truss.
He wore a canvas truss to support his herniated testicle, which was described as the size of an ox kidney.

24. What time of day was considered the mortal hour of siesta?

A. Dawn
B. Noon
C. Mortal hour
D. Late afternoon

C. Mortal hour.
Siesta time was referred to as the “mortal hour,” when he would briefly take refuge with concubines.

25. What did the Patriarch keep trying to kill in his ears to help him think?

A. Mosquitoes
B. Buzzing
C. Katydids
D. Vultures

C. Katydids.
He tried to kill katydids in his ears, along with mosquitoes, to find silence to aid his thinking.

26. What substance was found to be the supposed remedy for lepers?

A. Salt of health
B. Cocoa butter
C. Creolin
D. Turpentine

A. Salt of health.
Lepers, cripples, and blind people begged for the ‘salt of health’ from his hands, a cure attributed to him.

27. What animal characteristic was attributed to the Patriarch’s immense appetite for power?

A. Elephant
B. Lizard
C. Manatee
D. Bison

D. Bison.
In moments of crisis, he was referred to as the “bison of old” due to his forceful and stubborn nature.

28. What activity did the Patriarch continue to do daily since taking possession of the house?

A. Milking cows
B. Writing decrees
C. Playing dominoes
D. Lighting lanterns

A. Milking cows.
Every day, before dawn, he supervised the milking in the cow barns to measure the milk ration.

29. What type of physical injury was the Patriarch supposedly only vulnerable to?

A. Stab wounds
B. Coup de grace
C. Gunshot to the back
D. Dynamite

B. Coup de grace.
He was only vulnerable to a coup de grace fired by someone who loved him enough to die for him.

30. What phrase did the Patriarch use to dismiss his ministers’ urgent reports?

A. Long live the stud
B. God damn it
C. Never in a million
D. Don’t tell me the truth

D. Don’t tell me the truth.
He frequently thwarted strategies by saying they should not tell him the truth, lest it be believed.

31. What title did the Patriarch proclaim for his mother by decree?

A. Saint of Birds
B. Matriarch of the land
C. First Lady
D. Queen Mother

B. Matriarch of the land.
He proclaimed his mother, Bendición Alvarado, the Matriarch of the land, arguing that his mother was the only mother.

32. What occupation did Bendición Alvarado follow involving animals?

A. Milker
B. Bird-woman
C. Turkey breeder
D. Hen owner

B. Bird-woman.
Bendición Alvarado followed the trade of a bird-woman, painting birds to sell them off as orioles.

33. Where was Bendición Alvarado exiled after diplomatic embarrassment?

A. Convent
B. Suburban mansion
C. Harbor fort
D. Dogfight district

B. Suburban mansion.
Following a social faux pas at a diplomatic party, she was exiled to an eleven-room suburban mansion.

34. What did Bendición Alvarado frequently worry about regarding her son?

A. His health
B. His poverty
C. His enemies
D. His loneliness

B. His poverty.
She lamented her son’s meager salary and worried constantly that he would end up begging if overthrown.

35. Where was Leticia Nazareno kidnapped from and initially held?

A. Dominican Republic
B. Jamaica
C. Cuba
D. Curaçao

B. Jamaica.
She was kidnapped from a convent in Jamaica, hidden inside a crate of fragile party crystal.

36. What was Leticia Nazareno’s previous occupation before captivity?

A. Concubine
B. Socialite
C. Novice nun
D. First lady

C. Novice nun.
She was a novice who was taken captive to be the Patriarch’s wife, eventually becoming First Lady.

37. What name was given to Leticia Nazareno’s seven-month-old child?

A. Patricio
B. Emanuel
C. Rodrigo
D. Zacarías

B. Emanuel.
The son conceived by the Patriarch and Leticia Nazareno was named Emanuel, meaning God with us.

38. What evil virtue did Leticia Nazareno’s touch possess?

A. Curing lepers
B. Cursing enemies
C. Causing mold
D. Speaking truth

C. Causing mold.
Her touch made mold grow on warm bread, blackened gold, and withered flowers due to an evil virtue.

39. What animals tore Leticia Nazareno and Emanuel to pieces?

A. Hungry cows
B. Stray dogs
C. Vultures
D. Jaguars

B. Stray dogs.
A pack of sixty specially trained bulldogs attacked and devoured Leticia Nazareno and the child at the market.

40. What was the Patriarch’s immediate reaction to the news of Leticia Nazareno’s death?

A. Wept with rage
B. Sent assassins
C. Ordered war
D. Fled the palace

A. Wept with rage.
When told the terrible news, the Patriarch “wept with rage” and woke up shouting during the night.

41. What title did Manuela Sanchez hold at the time of the Patriarch’s fascination?

A. Carnival Queen
B. First Lady
C. Queen of the Póor
D. Divine Messenger

C. Queen of the Póor.
Manuela Sanchez was the beauty queen of the póor, intriguing the Patriarch enough to grant an audience.

42. What physical detail of Manuela Sanchez did the Patriarch obsess over?

A. Her pale lips
B. Her licorice smell
C. Her soft hands
D. Her green eyes

B. Her licorice smell.
He was constantly seeking her “licorice stagnation of your breath,” a unique and powerful odor associated with her.

43. What major natural event occurred during Manuela Sanchez’s disappearance?

A. Earthquake
B. Total eclipse
C. Hurricane
D. Comet passage

B. Total eclipse.
Manuela Sanchez disappeared from her house during a total eclipse of the sun, deepening the Patriarch’s anguish.

44. What was the ultimate consequence of trying to win the lottery fairly?

A. Massive payout
B. Children kidnapped
C. Bankrupted government
D. Public exposure

B. Children kidnapped.
To maintain the fixed lottery results, 2,000 children who knew the method were eventually sequestered.

45. How did the Patriarch resolve the problem of the kidnapped children?

A. Released them
B. Blew them up at sea
C. Sent them to the jungle
D. Adopted them all

B. Blew them up at sea.
He ordered the children loaded onto a cement-filled barge and blown up with dynamite at the territorial limits.

46. What event led to the U.S. being granted the rights to exploit the nation’s subsoil?

A. Yellow fever epidemic
B. Sale of the sea
C. Hamburg bankers’ blockade
D. Assassination plot

C. Hamburg bankers’ blockade.
The US Ambassador guaranteed European agreements in exchange for a lifetime concession for exploiting the nation’s subsoil.

47. What natural resource did foreign powers eventually carry off entirely from the nation?

A. Cocoa
B. Quinine
C. The sea
D. Gold mines

C. The sea.
Nautical engineers carried off the Caribbean Sea, leaving behind a plain of harsh lunar dust.

48. What did the Patriarch use to defend himself from Ambassador Wilson’s importuning about the debt?

A. The Bible
B. A handgun
C. Listening to birds
D. The velvet glove

C. Listening to birds.
He disconnected his hearing aid and listened to the chorus of a painted bird to defend himself from the ambassador’s arguments.

49. What did the crowds believe was the real reason the Patriarch survived everything?

A. His courage
B. His prudence
C. His destiny knowledge
D. His love

C. His destiny knowledge.
People believed he survived because he alone knew the real, small size of the nation’s destiny.

50. What did the crowds celebrate at the novel’s end, signaling liberation?

A. New President
B. Peace Treaty
C. His death
D. Return of the sea

C. His death.
The frantic crowds celebrated his death with music, rockets, and shouts of joy, welcoming the end of his rule.

Brief Overview

The Autumn of the Patriarch is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1975. The book employs Magic Realism to portray the absolute power, extreme loneliness, and profound corruption of an ancient, unnamed dictator, referred to only as the Patriarch.

The novel opens with the death of this mighty ruler in his presidential palace. Vultures enter the palace through broken windows. The smell of his rotting body awakens the city.

When people finally enter, they find the palace in a massive state of disarray. Cows wander inside, eating curtains and carpets. The dead man is lying on the floor in a simple uniform, his face unrecognizable because no one has ever truly seen him.

The story illustrates how the dictator maintained power for an impossibly long period, blurring the passage of time itself. He ruled through intense fear, trickery, and profound loneliness.

The narrative mentions Patricio Aragonés, a perfect double whom the dictator used for public appearances. It also details the regime’s corruption, including acts of torture and the symbolic selling of the sea to a foreign power.

The novel concludes with the suggestion that the dictator is finally dead, and his long, oppressive rule has truly come to an end.