One Hundred Years of Solitude

the war, when José Arcadio
Segundo asked Colonel
Gerineldo Márquez to let him
see an execution. Against
Úrsulas better judgment his
wishes were satisfied.
Aureliano Segundo, on the
other hand, shuddered at the
mere idea of witnessing an
execution. He preferred to
stay home. At the age of
twelve he asked Úrsula what
was in the locked room.
Papers, she answered.