Cebu Normal University

E.M. 7 Contemporary & Emergent & Popular Literature

BSED-ENGLISH II-C
Monterde, Shainie
Rabor, Gwendolyn L.
Tuico, Cristy
Villamora, Kimberly Kate
 García Márquez
died on April
17, 2014, at
home in Mexico
City following
complications
from
pneumonia; he
He noted signs on the way advising that dogs
and Mexicans were prohibited; he thus found
was 87.
In Mexico City ("with only a hundred dollars in my pockets"), he
began slowly, and with great difficulty, a new career as a screen
himself barred from hotels because of his dark writer. He wrote film scripts, some in collaboration with Mexican
Latin complexion, the bigoted clerks mistaking novelist Carlos Fuentes; several of these scripts became movies. At
him for a Mexican. Upon being served a "filet other times he worked as an editor and once did publicity for the J.
mignon with a peach and syrup on top of it" in Walter Thompson office in Mexico City. During this period — almost
New Orleans, he fled to Mexico City without six years — he wrote only one short story.
further delay.
Meanwhile, his friends had arranged for his two recent books to be
published. In 1961, The Evil Hour (La Mala Hora), which had been
completed in Mexico but initially published in Spain, had been
published, but only after he had won a Colombian literary prize. The
original title of the novel had been Este Pueblo de Mérida (The Town
of Dung).
García Márquez had now written four books of literary merit: the
novels Leaf Storm (1955) and The Evil Hour (1961); a novella entitled
No One Writes to the Colonel (1961); and a short story collection, Big
Mama's Funeral (1962). Later on 1967, his award winning novel
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” was published. In 1970, the novel
was published in English and on 1982, García Márquez received the
Nobel Prize in Literature for the very same novel he had written.
 In January of 1965, while driving from Mexico City to Acapulco,
he began plans for One Hundred Years of Solitude. Though
promising enough, all his previous works can be seen as but
preliminary exercises to this masterpiece. He later told an
Argentinean writer that he could have dictated an entire chapter
on the spot if he had had a tape recorder. He went home and
told his wife and he began writing the work, which he says he
had been brooding over since he was sixteen.

His desk was called the "Cave

of the Mafia"; there, he
worked for eight to ten hours
a day for eighteen months.
García Márquez says that he
again began writing, "straight
off without a break, and
afterwards made a great
many corrections on the He dates his interest in
manuscript, made copies, and writing to an impulse to draw
corrected it again." Now, comics as a child.
however, he corrects line by
García Márquez sent the first three 100 as
Hundred Years of Solitude was published initially in Buenos
line he works.
chapters of 100 Hundred Years of Aires, Argentina, in 1967 by Editorial Sudamericana. It was
Solitude to Carlos Fuentes, who translated into English by Gregory Rabassa, a winner of the
along with the Argentinean writer National Book Award for his translation of Julio Cortázar's
Julio Cortázar was an early fan and Hopscotch. In 1970, 100 Hundred Years of Solitude was
supporter. Fuentes was so published in English by Harper & Row. It drew universal critical
impressed that he wrote to a acclaim and won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger in France in
Mexican magazine: "I have just 1969; that same year it also won Italy's coveted literary award,
finished reading the first seventy- the Premio Chianciano. In 1970, the novel was chosen as one of
five pages of Cien Años de Soledad. the twelve best books of the year by many American critics; in
They are absolutely magisterial." 1972, García Márquez won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in
Venezuela and the Books Abroad/Neustadt International Prize
for Literature. Finally, he was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in
Literature.
In his Nobel lecture in Stockholm, he declared: "This, my friends, is
the very scale of our solitude . . . in spite of this, to oppression,
plundering and abandonment, we respond with life. Neither floods
nor plagues, nor famines nor cataclysms, nor even the eternal wars
of century upon century have been able to subdue the persistent
advantage of life over death. . . . On a day like today, my master
William Faulkner said 'I decline to accept the end of man.' I would
feel unworthy of standing in this place that was his if I were not
fully aware that the colossal tragedy he refused to recognize thirty-
two years ago is now, for the first time since the beginning of
humanity, nothing more than a simple scientific possibility. Faced
with this awesome reality that must have seemed a mere utopia
through all of human time, we, the inventors of tales, who will
believe anything, feel entitled to believe that it is not yet too late to
engage in the creation of the opposite utopia."

Still a prolific writer of fiction and journalism, García Márquez was

perhaps the central figure in the so-called Latin Boom, which
designates the rise in popularity of Latin-American writing in the
1960s and 1970s.
 In part, the magic of García Márquez’s writing is a
result of his rendering the world through a child’s
eyes: he has said that nothing really important
has happened to him since he was eight years old
and that the atmosphere of his books is the
atmosphere of childhood. García Márquez’s native
town of Aracataca is the inspiration for much of
his fiction, and readers of One Hundred Years of
Solitude may recognize many parallels between
the real-life history of García Márquez’s hometown
and the history of the fictional town of Macondo.
In both towns, foreign fruit companies brought
many prosperous plantations to nearby locations
at the beginning of the twentieth century. By the
time of García Márquez’s birth, however,
Aracataca had begun a long, slow decline into
poverty and obscurity, a decline mirrored by the
fall of Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Even as it draws from García Márquez’s provincial

experiences, One Hundred Years of Solitude also
reflects political ideas that apply to Latin America
as a whole. Latin America once had a thriving
population of native Aztecs and Incas, but, slowly,
as European explorers arrived, the native
population had to adjust to the technology and
capitalism that the outsiders brought with them.

García Márquez’s real-life political leanings are revolutionary, even communist: he is a friend of Fidel
Castro. But his depictions of cruel dictatorships show that his communist sympathies do not extend to
the cruel governments that Communism sometimes produces.
One Hundred Years of Solitude, then, is partly an attempt to render the reality of García Márquez’s
own experiences in a fictional narrative. Its importance, however, can also be traced back to the way it
appeals to broader spheres of experience. One Hundred Years of Solitude is an extremely ambitious
novel. To a certain extent, in its sketching of the histories of civil war, plantations, and labor unrest,
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells a story about Colombian history and, even more broadly, about
Latin America’s struggles with colonialism and with its own emergence into modernity.
 100 Years of Solitude
José Arcadio Buendía and his cousin, Úrsula, fall in love
and decide to get married without their families' permission.
Úrsula is stressed that incest isn't best and that it will lead
to a child with a pig's tail, so she doesn't want to
consummate the marriage. José Arcadio Buendía wins a
cockfight, and the loser, Prudencio Aguilar, teases him
about his wife not putting out. He gets mad, kills Prudencio,
then goes home and has sex with his wife. Prudencio
Aguilar's ghost starts to haunt José Arcadio and Úrsula
until they decide to pack up and go found a new city,
Macondo, with some of their friends. Their idea is to set up
the town near the sea, but they can't find it and eventually

José Arcadio (II) this one is strong and tough,

Aureliano, like all the future Aurelianos, this

one is nerdy, bookish, and clairvoyant.

The town mainly gets its view of the outside world from a group of nomadic gypsies, headed by
Melquíades, who brings real-life and magical inventions to Macondo – things like ice, flying
carpets, magnifying glasses, and magnets. José Arcadio Buendía usually wants to turn every new
thing into a weapon.
Tired of being so isolated from modern developments, José Arcadio leads a band of dudes on a
mission to try to find a route to the sea and thus get contact with the outside world. They get
stuck in the jungle, go kind of crazy, and eventually give up. Meanwhile, back home, José
Arcadio (II) has sex with Pilar Ternera, knocks her up, freaks out at impending fatherhood, falls
in love with a little gypsy girl, and runs off with the caravan.
Trying to find him, Úrsula leaves Macondo and comes back a few months later having found a route
to another town, connecting Macondo to the world. New people start coming to the town, and the
government sends over a mayor-type guy, Don Apolinar Moscote.
Pilar Ternera gives her baby to the Buendía family, and he is named Arcadio and raised without
knowing who his 'rents are. Also joining the family are Rebeca, an orphan who arrives with a letter
for José Arcadio and a bag of her parents' bones, and Amaranta, a new baby born to Úrsula and
José Arcadio. Aureliano falls in love with Don Apolinar's beautiful nine-year-old child, Remedios.
Suddenly, the town is hit by a plague. The main symptoms are insomnia and complete memory
loss. José Arcadio and Aureliano try to fight the disease first by posting signs labeling everything,
and then by creating a memory machine. But it's no use. In the nick of time, they are rescued by
Melquíades, who has a potion to bring all the memories back. Melquíades claims that he's back
from the dead, and he holes up in a room in the house to write manuscripts in a secret code and
teach Aureliano how to be a goldsmith.
Another memory that pops up after the plague is the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar, who has spent
years trying to find José Arcadio and Macondo. He hangs out with José Arcadio for a long night,
and the next day José Arcadio has gone completely insane. The family ties him to a tree in the
backyard where he seems happy, speaking some language no one can understand.
Meanwhile, Aureliano is tortured by his feelings for little girl Remedios and goes to bed with Pilar
Ternera to make himself feel better. It doesn't work, and he ends up getting her pregnant in the
process. But she does agree to set up the marriage.
After Remedios finally gets her period, she and Aureliano marry and he is extremely happy for the
first time in his life.
Úrsula decides to liven up the house and throw a party. Part of the prep is buying a player-piano,
which comes with a technician named Pietro Crespi. Both Rebeca and Amaranta fall in love with
him, and a bitter hatred and rivalry starts up between them. Pietro prefers Rebeca and they become
engaged, while Amaranta plots ways to disrupt the wedding. Finally, the wedding is about to
happen, and Amaranta decides to murder Rebeca. But she prays hard for some other thing to
happen so she doesn't have to go through with it. The other thing that happens? Remedios dies
from some kind of pregnancy complication.
José Arcadio (II) suddenly comes back, giant, tattooed, and wild. He's been a sailor. When he gets
home, he and Rebeca have instant chemistry and get married despite the fact that everyone is
grossed out by the almost-incest. Pietro Crespi now falls in love with Amaranta, but she rejects him
and he ends up killing himself.
After Remedios' death, Aureliano starts to become more and more political. At first he's on the side
of his father-in-law, the Conservative town mayor Don Apolinar, but when he sees how super-
corrupt the Conservative government is, he decides to join up with the Liberals. They turn out to be
better, so Aureliano starts calling himself Colonel Aureliano Buendía and becomes a leader in a civil
war between the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Colonel loses all of the rebellions he starts all
over the country, but manages to constantly escape death in a series of close calls and
assassination attempts. Also, while he travels, a lot of beautiful women come to his tent at night to
sleep with him – it's apparently a thing, like back in the days of gladiators. He ends up fathering
seventeen sons, all named Aureliano. Eventually he is captured and put in front of a firing squad,
but his brother José Arcadio (II) rescues him.
The civil wars are endless and relentless. Back home, Arcadio, the secret son of José Arcadio (II),
marries Santa Sofía de la Piedad. While she is pregnant Arcadio is put in charge of Macondo by
Colonel Aureliano Buendía. He turns out to be a horrible tyrant, making up for the all the sad
indignities of his childhood, and is finally executed by firing squad. He and Sofía have three kids:
Remedios, and the twins Aureliano Segundo and José Arcadio Segundo.
When the civil war finally ends, Colonel Aureliano Buendía is forced to sign a demoralizing peace
agreement, and his depression and loner-ism become extreme. He comes home and spends the rest
of his life making tiny gold fishes, melting them down, and making them again.
But hey, life goes on – this time in the form of Americans and a banana plantation. At first, the
company and its doings are hunky-dory, but eventually the workers get upset about their terrible
working conditions and they strike. The company pretends to hold a meeting to come to terms, but
instead it gathers the 3,000 workers together in a square and slaughters them with machine guns.
José Arcadio Segundo, who was a foreman at the plantation and is one of the key strike leaders, is
one of the only survivors. When he comes to after the massacre, he is on a train of corpses on their
way to be dumped into the sea. He just barely escapes, and when he gets back to Macondo, no one
knows the massacre has happened. For the whole rest of the novel, all the people in the town stick
to the government line that the strike ended peacefully and all the workers just went home. The
banana company leaves and the plantation shuts down.
While all that was going on, Aureliano Segundo fell in love with Petra Cotes, but goes off and
marries a super-strict, super-religious, kind-of-crazy woman named Fernanda. After the wedding,
he goes back and forth between them. While he's with Petra Cotes, their farm animals breed crazily
and he becomes extremely wealthy. With Fernanda he has a daughter, Meme, and a son, José
Arcadio (III).
Meme falls in love with a mechanic named Mauricio Babilonia. Fernanda discovers them, has
Mauricio shot as a thief, and ships Meme off to a convent. A year later, a nun comes to Macondo
with Aureliano (II), Meme's baby, who becomes a huge persona non grata (unwelcome person) at the
house, and who is raised in near-captivity playing alongside Fernanda and Aureliano Segundo's last
daughter, Amaranta Úrsula, without knowing that he's related to the Buendías.
Then it starts to rain. It rains for almost five years straight without interruption. Most of the town is
completely destroyed, rotted, and washed away. Úrsula, the last of the original Buendías, dies.
Everyone who is still alive starts dying off. Amaranta Úrsula goes off to Belgium, and eventually
Aureliano (II) is left alone in the house. José Arcadio (III) comes back, starts an orgy lifestyle with
some local kids, and they eventually kill him for his money. Then Amaranta Úrsula comes back
with her husband, a Flemish pilot. After a while, she and Aureliano (II) end up getting it on, and the
husband leaves. As their love grows, the house and the town fall more and more into complete
nothingness.
Amaranta Úrsula becomes pregnant, and neither she nor Aureliano (II) knows that they are actually
aunt and nephew. She dies during childbirth, after giving birth to a baby with the tail of a pig – just
as Úrsula had been worried about all this time, bringing the story full circle. Totally depressed,
Aureliano (II) goes and gets drunk. By the time he remembers the baby, little Aureliano (III) has
been eaten by ants.
Aureliano (II) freaks out but can't do anything except go and finally translate the scrolls that
Melquíades had left behind, which turn out to be the whole history of the Buendía family, from the
patriarch tied to a tree to the baby devoured by ants. As he finishes reading the story, Aureliano (II),
the house, and the rest of the town are wiped away by a hurricane. Everything is gone from
memory, history, and existence.
The Buenida Family : First Generation
José Arcadio Buendía -  The patriarch of the Buendía clan, José Arcadio Buendía is Macondo’s founder and
its most charismatic citizen. He is a man of great strength and curiosity. Impulsively, he embarks on mad
pursuits of esoteric and practical knowledge, and it is his solitary and obsessive quest for knowledge that
drives him mad at the end of his life; he spends many years, in the end, tied to a tree in the Buendía
backyard, speaking Latin that only the priest understands. José Arcadio Buendía is married to Úrsula Iguarán
and the father of José Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, and Amaranta.
Úrsula Iguarán -  The tenacious matriarch of the Buendía clan, Úrsula lives to be well over a hundred years
old, continuing with her hard-headed common sense to try and preserve the family. Every now and then,
when things get particularly run-down, Úrsula revitalizes the family both physically and emotionally,
repairing the Buendía house and breathing new life into the family. She is the wife of José Arcadio Buendía
and the mother of José Arcadio, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, and Amaranta.

The Buenida Family : Second Generation

Amaranta -  The daughter of Úrsula Iguarán and José Arcadio Buendía, Amaranta dies an embittered and
lonely virgin. She bears deep jealousy and hatred for Rebeca, whom, she believes, stole Pietro Crespi from
her. In many ways her life is characterized by a fear of men; when Pietro Crespi finally falls in love with her,
she rejects him, and he kills himself. As penance, she gives herself a bad burn on the hand and wears a black
bandage over it for the rest of her life. When she is much older, she finds real love with Colonel Gerineldo
Márquez, but she spurns him because of her ancient fear and bitterness. She is also the object of the
unconsummated incestuous passion of Aureliano José, whom she helped to raise. Amaranta is the sister of
Colonel Aureliano Buendía and José Arcadio.
Colonel Aureliano Buendía -  The second son of José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán. Aureliano
grows up solitary and enigmatic, with a strange capacity for extrasensory perception. Outraged by the
corruption of the Conservative government, he joins the Liberal rebellion and becomes Colonel Aureliano
Buendía, the rebel commander. After years of fighting, he loses his capacity for memory and deep emotion,
signs a peace accord, and withdraws into his workshop, a lonely and hardened man. He is the widower of
Remedios Moscote and the father, with Pilar Ternera, of Aureliano José, and of seventeen sons—each named
Aureliano—by seventeen different women.
Remedios Moscote -  The child-bride of Colonel Aureliano Buendía, Remedios Moscote brings joy to the
Buendía household for a short while before she dies suddenly, possibly of a miscarriage.
José Arcadio -  The first son of Úrsula Iguarán and José Arcadio Buendía, from whom he inherits his
amazing strength and his impulsive drive. After running off in pursuit of a gypsy girl, José Arcadio returns
a savage brute of a man and marries Rebeca, the orphan adopted by the Buendías. He is the father, with
Pilar Ternera, of Arcadio, and brother to Colonel Aureliano Buendía and Amaranta.
Rebeca -  The earth-eating orphan girl who mysteriously arrives at the Buendía doorstep. Rebeca is adopted
by the Buendí family. Rebeca infects the town with an insomnia that causes loss of memory. Rebeca seems to
orphan herself from society and the Buendía family when, after her husband José Arcadio’s death, she
becomes a hermit, never seen outside her dilapidated home.

The Buenida Family : Third Generation

Aureliano José -  The son of Colonel Aureliano Buendía and Pilar Ternera. Aureliano José becomes obsessed
with his aunt, Amaranta, and joins his father’s army when she ends the affair. He deserts the army to return
to her, however, but she rejects him, horrified. He is killed by Conservative soldiers.
Arcadio -  The son of José Arcadio and Pilar Ternera. Arcadio, seemingly a gentle boy, becomes
schoolmaster of the town. When Colonel Aureliano Buendía places him in charge of Macondo during the
uprising, however, Arcadio proves a vicious dictator who is obsessed with order. He is killed when the
conservatives retake the village. Arcadio marries Santa Sofía de la Piedad and is the father of Remedios the
Beauty, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo.
Santa Sofía De La Piedad -  The quiet woman, almost invisible in this novel, who marries Arcadio and
continues to live in the Buendía house for many years after his death, impassively tending to the family. She
is the mother of Remedios the Beauty, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo. She does not quite
seem to exist in the real world, and when she grows old and tired, she simply walks out of the house, never
to be heard from again.
The Buenida Family : Fourth Generation
Remedios The Beauty -  The daughter of Santa Sofía de la Piedad and Arcadio, Remedios the Beauty
becomes the most beautiful woman in the world: desire for her drives men to their deaths. Not
comprehending her power over men, she remains innocent and childlike. One day, she floats to heaven,
leaving Macondo and the novel abruptly
José Arcadio Segundo -  The son of Arcadio and Santa Sofía de la Piedad, José Arcadio Segundo may have
been switched at birth with his twin brother, Aureliano Segundo. Appalled by witnessing an execution at
an early age, José Arcadio Segundo becomes thin, bony, solitary, and increasingly scholarly, like his great-
uncle Colonel Aureliano Buendía. A cockfighter and a drifter, he finds purpose in leading the strikers
against the banana company. He is the lone survivor of the massacre of the strikers, and when he finds
that nobody believes the massacre occurred, he secludes himself in Melquíades’ old study, trying to
decipher the old prophecies and preserving the memory of the massacre.
Aureliano Segundo -  The son of Arcadio and Santa Sofía de la Piedad, Aureliano Segundo may have been
switched at birth with his twin brother, José Arcadio Segundo. Despite an early interest in solitary study—
characteristic of his great-uncle, Colonel Aureliano Buendía—Aureliano Segundo begins to show all the
characteristics of the family’s José Arcadios: he is immense, boisterous, impulsive, and hedonistic.
Although he loves the concubine Petra Cotes, he is married to the cold beauty Fernanda del Carpio, with
whom he has three children: Meme, José Arcadio (II) and Amaranta Úrsula.
Fernanda Del Carpio -  The wife of Aureliano Segundo and the mother of Meme, José Arcadio (II), and
Amaranta Úrsula. Fernanda del Carpio was raised by a family of impoverished aristocrats; she is very
haughty and very religious. Her hedonistic husband does not love her and maintains his relationship with
his concubine, Petra Cotes. Fernanda del Carpio, meanwhile, tries unsuccessfully to impress her sterile
religion and aristocratic manners on the Buendía house.

The Buenida Family : Fifth Generation

José Arcadio (II) -  The eldest child of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda del Carpio, Úrsula decides that
José Arcadio (II) is supposed to become the Pope, but he in fact slides into dissolution and solitude. On his
return from his unsuccessful trip to seminary in Italy, José Arcadio (II) leads a life of debauchery with local
adolescents who eventually murder him and steal his money.
Amaranta Úrsula -  The daughter of Aureliano Segundo and Fernanda del Carpio, Amaranta Úrsula
returns from her trip to Europe with a Belgian husband, Gaston. She wants to revitalize Macondo and the
Buendía household, but it is too late: both are headed for inevitable ruin. She falls in love with her nephew,
Aureliano (II), and gives birth to his child, whom they also vname Aureliano (III) and who proves the last in
the Buendía line. Born of incest, he has the tail of a pig. Amaranta dies in childbirth.
Gaston -  The Belgian husband of Amaranta Úrsula, Gaston is loving and cultured but feels isolated in the
now-desolate Macondo. He travels to Belgium to start an airmail company, and, when he hears of the
relationship between his wife and Aureliano (II), he never returns.
Meme -  The daughter of Fernanda del Carpio and Aureliano Segundo, Meme’s real name is Renata
Remedios. She feigns studiousness and docility to please her mother, but she is actually a hedonist like her
father. When her mother discovers her illicit affair with Mauricio Babilonia, she posts a guard in front of
the house; the guard ends up shooting Mauricio. He ends up paralyzed, and Meme is imprisoned in a
convent where she spends the rest of her life. The product of her affair with Babilonia is Aureliano (II).

The Buenida Family : Sixth Generation

Aureliano (II) -  The illegitimate son of Meme and Mauricio Babilonia, Aureliano (II) is concealed by his
scandalized grandmother, Fernanda del Carpio. He grows up a hermit in the Buendía household, only
gradually acclimating himself to society. Aureliano (II) becomes a scholar, and it is he who eventually
deciphers the prophecies of Melquíades. With his aunt, Amaranta Úrsula, he fathers the last in the Buendía
line, the baby Aureliano (III), who dies soon after birth.
Melquíades -  The gypsy who brings technological marvels to Macondo and befriends the Buendía clan.
Melquíades is the first person to die in Macondo. Melquíades serves as José Arcadio Buendía’s guide in his
quest for knowledge and, even after dying, returns to guide other generations of Buendías. Melquíades’
mysterious and undecipherable prophecies, which torment generations of Buendías, are finally translated
by Aureliano (II) at the end of the novel—they contain the entire history of Macondo, foretold.
Pilar Ternera -  A local whore and madam. With José Arcadio, Pilar is the mother of Arcadio; with Colonel
Aureliano Buendía, she is the mother of Aureliano José. She is also a fortune-teller whose quiet wisdom
helps guide the Buendía family. She survives until the very last days of Macondo.
Petra Cotes -  Aureliano Segundo’s concubine. Petra Cotes and Aureliano Segundo become extremely rich
—their own love seems to inspire their animals to procreate unnaturally quickly. Even after the poverty
caused by the flood, she stays with Aureliano Segundo; their deepened love is one of the purest emotions
in the novel.
Mauricio Babilonia -  The sallow, solemn lover of Meme. Fernanda del Carpio disapproves of their affair,
and she sets up a guard who shoots Mauricio Babilonia when he attempts to climb into the house for a
tryst with Meme. As a result, Mauricio lives the rest of his life completely paralyzed. He fathers Meme’s
child, Aureliano (II).
Pietro Crespi  - The gentle, delicate Italian musician who is loved by both Amaranta and Rebeca. Rebeca,
however, chooses to marry the more manly José Arcadio. After Amaranta leads on Pietro and rejects him,
Pietro commits suicide.
Colonel Gerineldo Márquez -  The comrade-in-arms of Colonel Aureliano Buendía. Colonel Gerineldo is
the first to become tired of the civil war. He falls in love with Amaranta, who spurns him.
Don Apolinar Moscote -  Father of Remedios Moscote and government-appointed magistrate of Macondo.
Don Apolinar Moscote is a Conservative and helps rig the election so that his party will win. His
dishonesty is partly why Colonel Aureliano Buendía first joins the Liberals.

The Subjectivity of Experienced Reality The Inseparability of Past, Present, and

Future
Although the realism and the magic that One
Hundred Years of Solitude includes seem at first From the names that return generation after
to be opposites, they are, in fact, perfectly generation to the repetition of personalities
reconcilable. Both are necessary in order to and events, time in One Hundred Years of
convey Márquez’s particular conception of the Solitude refuses to divide neatly into past,
world. Márquez’s novel reflects reality not as it is present, and future. Úrsula Iguarán is always
experienced by one observer, but as it is the first to notice that time in Macondo is not

Theme
individually experienced by those with different finite, but, rather, moves forward over and
backgrounds. These multiple perspectives are over again. Sometimes, this simultaneity of
especially appropriate to the unique reality of time leads to amnesia, when people cannot
Latin America. see the past any more than they can see the
future. Other times the future becomes as
This novel treats biblical narratives and native
easy to recall as the past. The prophecies of
Latin American mythology as historically
Melquíades prove that events in time are
credible. This approach may stem from the
continuous: from the beginning of the novel,
sense, shared by some Latin American authors,
the old gypsy was able to see its end, as if the
that important and powerful strains of magic
various events were all occurring at once.
running through ordinary lives fall victim to the
Similarly, the presence of the ghosts of
Western emphasis on logic and reason. If García
Melquíades and José Arcadio Buendía shows
Márquez seems to confuse reality and fiction, it is
that the past in which those men lived has
only because, from some perspectives, fiction
become one with the present.
may be truer than reality, and vice versa.
 The Power of Reading and of Language
Although language is in an unripe, Garden-of-Eden state at the beginning of One Hundred Years
of Solitude, when most things in the newborn world are still unnamed, its function quickly
becomes more complex. Various languages fill the novel, including the Guajiro language that the
children learn, the multilingual tattoos that cover José Arcadio’s body, the Latin spoken by José
Arcadio Buendía, and the final Sanskrit translation of Melquíades’s prophecies. In fact, this final
act of translation can be seen as the most significant act in the book, since it seems to be the one
that makes the book’s existence possible and gives life to the characters and story within.
As García Márquez makes reading the final apocalyptic force that destroys Macondo and calls
attention to his own task as a writer, he also reminds us that our reading provides the
fundamental first breath to every action that takes place in One Hundred Years of Solitude. While
the novel can be thought of as something with one clear, predetermined meaning, García Márquez
asks his reader to acknowledge the fact that every act of reading is also an interpretation, and that
such interpretations can have weighty consequences. Aureliano (II), then, does not just take the
manuscripts’ meanings for granted, but, in addition, he must also translate and interpret them
and ultimately precipitate the destruction of the town.

Motifs
Memory and Forgetfulness
While the characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude consider total forgetfulness a danger, they,
ironically, also seem to consider memory a burden. About half of the novel’s characters speak of the
weight of having too many memories while the rest seem to be amnesiacs. Rebeca’s overabundance
of memory causes her to lock herself in her house after her husband’s death, and to live of better
days gone by prevents her from existing in a changing world. The opposite of her character can be
found in Colonel Aureliano Buendía, who has almost no memories at all. He lives in an endlessly
repeating present, melting down and then recreating his collection of little gold fishes. Nostalgia and
amnesia are the dual diseases of the Buendía clan, one tying its victims to the past, the other
trapping them in the present. Thus afflicted, the Buendías are doomed to repeat the same cycles
until they consume themselves, and they are never able to move into the future.
The Bible
One Hundred Years of Solitude draws on many of the basic narratives of the Bible, and its characters
can be seen as allegorical of some major biblical figures. The novel recounts the creation of Macondo
and its earliest Edenic days of innocence, and continues until its apocalyptic end, with a cleansing
flood in between. We can see José Arcadio Buendía’s downfall—his loss of sanity—as a result of his
quest for knowledge. He and his wife, Ursula Iguarán, represent the biblical Adam and Eve, who
were exiled from Eden after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The entire novel functions as a
metaphor for human history and an extended commentary on human nature. On the one hand,
their story, taken literally as applying to the fictional Buendías, evokes immense pathos. But as
representatives of the human race, the Buendías personify solitude and inevitable tragedy, together
with the elusive possibility of happiness, as chronicled by the Bible.

The Gypsies
Gypsies are present in One Hundred Years of Solitude primarily to act as links. They function to offer
transitions from contrasting or unrelated events and characters. Every few years, especially in the
early days of Macondo, a pack of wandering gypsies arrives, turning the town into something like a
carnival and displaying the wares that they have brought with them. Before Macondo has a road to
civilization, they are the town’s only contact with the outside world. They bring both technology—
inventions that Melquíades displays—and magic—magic carpets and other wonders. Gypsies, then,
serve as versatile literary devices that also blur the line between fantasy and reality, especially when
they connect Macondo and the outside world, magic and science, and even the past and present.

Symbols
Little Gold Fishes
The meaning of the thousands of little gold fishes that Colonel Aureliano Buendía makes shifts over
time. At first, these fishes represent Aureliano’s artistic nature and, by extension, the artistic nature
of all the Aurelianos. Soon, however, they acquire a greater significance, marking the ways in which
Aureliano has affected the world. His seventeen sons, for example, are each given a little gold fish,
and, in this case, the fishes represent Aureliano’s effect on the world through his sons. In another
instance, they are used as passkeys when messengers for the Liberals use them to prove their
allegiance. Many years later, however, the fishes become collector’s items, merely relics of a once-
great leader. This attitude disgusts Aureliano because he recognizes that people are using him as a
figurehead, a mythological hero that represents whatever they want it to represent. When he begins
to understand that the little gold fishes no longer are symbolic of him personally, but instead of a
mistaken ideal, he stops making new fishes and starts to melt down the old ones again and again.
The Railroad
The railroad represents the arrival of the modern world in Macondo. This devastating turn leads to
the development of a banana plantation and the ensuing massacre of three thousand workers. The
railroad also represents the period when Macondo is connected most closely with the outside world.
After the banana plantations close down, the railroad falls into disrepair and the train ceases even to
stop in Macondo any more. The advent of the railroad is a turning point. Before it comes, Macondo
grows bigger and thrives; afterward, Macondo quickly disintegrates, folding back into isolation and
eventually expiring.

The English Encyclopedia

At first, the English encyclopedia that Meme receives from her American friend is a symbol for the
way the American plantation owners are taking over Macondo. When Meme, a descendant of the
town’s founders, begins to learn English, the foreigners’ encroachment on Macondo’s culture
becomes obvious. The concrete threat posed by the encyclopedia is later lessened when Aureliano
Segundo uses it to tell his children stories. Because he does not speak English, Aureliano Segundo
makes up stories to go with the pictures. By creating the possibility for multiple interpretations of
the text, he unwittingly diffuses the encyclopedia’s danger.

The Golden Chamber Pot

The golden chamber pot that Fernanda del Carpio brings to Macondo from her home is, for her, a
marker of her lofty status; she believes that she was destined to be a queen. But while the gold of
the chamber pot is associated with royalty, the function of the chamber pot is, of course, associated
with defecation: a sign of the real value of Fernanda’s snooty condescension. Later, when José
Arcadio (II) tries to sell the chamber pot, he finds that it is not really solid gold, but, rather, gold-
plated. Again, this revelation represents the hollowness of Fernanda’s pride and the flimsiness of
cheap cover-ups.
Full Title  · Cien Años de Soledad; One Setting (Time)  · The early 1800s until the mid 1900s.
Hundred Years of Solitude
Setting (Place)  · Macondo, a fictional village in
Author  · Gabriel García Márquez Colombia.
Type Of Work  · Novel Protagonist  · The Buendía family; in a single
Genre  · Magical realism character, Úrsula Iguarán, the soul and backbone of
the family.
Language  · Spanish
Major Conflict  · The struggle between old and new
Time And Place Written  · 1965–1967, ways of life; tradition and modernity
Mexico City
Rising Action  · Macondo’s civil war; Macondo
Date Of First Publication  · 1967 acquires a banana plantation.
Publisher  · Editorial Climax  · The banana workers go on strike and are
Sudamericanos, S.A. massacred near the train station.

Narrator  · Omniscient and anonymous, Falling Action  · The banana plantation shuts down;

but primarily concerned with what the Macondo returns to its former isolation and
Buendías are doing and how they are backwardness; the Buendía clan dies out; Aureliano
feeling. (II), who finally discovers how to read Melquíades’s
prophecies, realizes that the rise and fall of the
Point Of View  · Third person, but Buendías has always been destined to happen
sometimes uses vivid descriptions to
show the reader the world through the Themes  · The subjectivity of experienced reality; the
eyes of one of the characters. inseparability of past, present, and future; the power of
reading and of language
Tone  · Although García Márquez writes
with wonder and is truly sympathetic to Motifs  · Memory and forgetfulness; the Bible; the
the deep emotions of his characters, he gypsies
also maintains a certain detachment, so Symbols  · Little gold fishes; the railroad; the English
that we are always aware that the book is encyclopedia; the golden chamber pot
an account of Macondo as it appears to a
modern, cultured eye. Foreshadowing  · The fact that both Colonel Aureliano
Buendía and Arcadio will face firing squads is heavily
Tense  · Past, with occasional flashbacks. foreshadowed in several places. The final, apocalyptic
There are also brief, single-sentence reading of the prophecies is also foreshadowed
references to future events that unfold throughout the novel: García Márquez often mentions
with the novel. the prophecies in passing, and we see various
members of the family puzzled by them at different
Senna, Carl CliffsNotes on 100 Years of Solitude. 01 Oct 2019
</literature/o/100-years-of-solitude/about-100-hundred-years-of-solitude>.
SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on One Hundred Years of Solitude. Retrieved September
30, 2019, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/solitude/
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). One Hundred Years of Solitude Summary. Retrieved
October 1, 2019, from https://www.shmoop.com/one-hundred-years-solitude/summary.html
In-line reference:
(Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008)
https://sites.google.com/site/100yearsofsolitude2011/family-tree

https://www.michaelyoungfineart.com/solitude.html