Chapter 15 Summary

Several days after being shot, Mauricio Babilonia dies, denounced as a thief and Meme, pregnant and emotionally shattered, never speaks again. Within a few days Fernanda del Carpio takes the mute Meme to a distant convent and she vanishes from the Buendia family. Several months after forcing Meme's exile, Fernanda del Carpio receives a nun from the distant convent who bears Meme's bastard child, already christened Aureliano. Fernanda del Carpio keenly feels the social shame and stigma and locks Aureliano into the back rooms of the house, denying his very existence.

Life in the town continues to be dominated by the vast swarms of foreign workers and American bosses that manage the banana company's extensive plantations. Jose Arcadio Segundo works for the banana company and begins to agitate for improved labor conditions. Tensions mount as the discussions become more frenzied; the banana company...