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One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel García Márquez

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Macondo

Macondo (ma-COHN-doh). Fictional inland town in Colombia that is not far from the coast. Critics generally agree that Macondo is modeled after Gabriel García Márquez’s hometown of Aracataca, Colombia. Indeed, a nearby banana plantation was named Macondo. In the novel, Macondo is founded by an expedition led by the Buendía family who, after crossing mountains and looking for a new outlet to the sea, finally decide to simply stop and settle. The novel describes the town in terms reminiscent of Eden: It is a town so young that no one is older than thirty and no one has died. The town of Macondo is isolated from the outside world, except for the band of gypsies led by Melquíades, who ride through the air on carpets and bring the wonders of the world to the townspeople.

The novel is organized around the development of the town. The first five chapters detail the founding and early years of Macondo. This is then followed by four chapters describing military uprisings, civil wars, and revolutions. The next five chapters represent a period of prosperity for the town, with a concurrent loss of innocence. The final chapters reveal the inner decadence of the town and its final destruction in a whirlwind.

While the novel is fantastic and magical, it also reveals significant information about the history of Colombia, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During the years between 1884 and 1902, Colombia experienced three civil wars. The events of the novel parallel this period of Columbian history surprisingly closely. Indeed, many critics identify one of the novel’s major characters, Colonel Aureliano Buendía, as the historical figure Colonel Uribe Uribe. This period in Colombian history is full of chaos and confusion, just as in the novel. Certainly, the characters in the novel seem to have little idea of what they are fighting for or why they are fighting.

The second important historical event treated in the novel is the incursion of American investors and the Banana Massacre of 1928. In the early years of the twentieth century, United Fruit Company, an American concern, began building huge banana plantations in the vicinity of Aracataca. Likewise, in the novel, Americans arrive in Macondo and begin developing the area. In the novel, the Banana Company engineers magically change the course of the river; in Columbia, the erection of dams and dikes did indeed change the flow of the river.

Further, in the real town of Ciénaga, near Aracataca, labor unrest erupted into violence in 1928. On December 6, a large number of striking banana workers were massacred at the railway station by government troops. It is still uncertain how many people were actually killed, despite the many investigations. It is clear that the government attempted to mask its involvement in the massacre. This event is dramatically rendered in the novel. José Arcadio Segundo is present with the striking workers at the train station when the army opens fire with machine guns. He witnesses two hundred train cars filled with the dead and wounded. Yet, when he attempts to report the massacre, he finds that no one will believe him and that everyone denies any such event took place. Critics suggest that this denial represents the reluctance of the real witnesses of the Ciénaga massacre to speak out about what they had seen.

Riohacha

Riohacha (ree-oh-HAHCH-ah). Coastal town, the birthplace of Macondo’s founders, José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán. In the sixteenth century, according to the novel, the pirate Francis Drake attacked the town. It is here that Buendía murders Prudencio Aguilar in response to his taunting about...

(This entire section contains 640 words.)

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Buendía’s supposed impotence. Aguilar’s ghost will not leave José and Úrsula alone, and so it is that Macondo’s founders set off on their expedition to their new home.

Historical Context

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Origins of the Colombian State

Understanding Colombia's history can shed light on the political conflicts depicted in One Hundred Years of Solitude. The original inhabitants of what is now Colombia were conquered by the Spanish in the 1530s and integrated into the colony of New Granada, which included contemporary Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Under Spanish rule for nearly three centuries, the region developed a culture that fused Spanish, Indigenous, and African elements. In 1810, Simon Bolivar led a movement for independence, primarily supported by the Mestizo (mixed-race) population. This struggle culminated in victory at Boyaca, Colombia, in 1819. However, the new republic of Gran Colombia disintegrated when Ecuador and Venezuela became separate nations in 1830. The remaining territory adopted the name Republic of Colombia in 1886. In 1903, Panama seceded with the aid of the United States, which sought to control a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Colombia was plagued by political turmoil, with factions aligning under Liberal and Conservative banners. These factions were rooted in the followers of President Bolivar and his vice-president-turned-rival, Francisco Santander. The core dispute centered on the extent of central government power, with Conservatives advocating for more and Liberals for less. Numerous conflicts ensued, but the civil war from 1899 to 1902 was particularly brutal, resulting in one hundred thousand deaths. This backdrop of relentless political struggle is mirrored in the life of Colonel Aureliano Buendia in the novel.

The United Fruit Company

The United States began influencing Colombian history in the early 20th century, notably by aiding Panama's secession. American interests continued to shape the region for many years. While Colombia's main exports today include petroleum, minerals, coffee, and cocoa, bananas were the primary export at the century's start. The United Fruit Company (UFC), based in the United States, was the most infamous entity involved in this trade. The UFC gradually took control of the Banana Zone, a region of banana plantations in Colombia. They would establish company towns, attract workers, and pay them in scrip redeemable only at company stores. The UFC would then withdraw as soon as workers unionized or the land showed signs of over-cultivation.

The most significant event in this industry took place in October 1928, when thirty-two thousand workers went on strike, demanding proper sanitary facilities and cash wages. One evening, a large crowd gathered in Cienaga's central plaza for a demonstration. Troops, compensated by the UFC with cigarettes and beer, opened fire on the crowd. General Cortes Vargas, commanding the troops that night, estimated around forty deaths. Another observer, however, counted approximately four hundred dead in the square and estimated a total of fifteen hundred fatalities due to injuries sustained there. He also noted an additional three thousand people with non-fatal injuries. Regardless of the actual numbers, the government officially denied the incident, and it was excluded from history textbooks. This denial is echoed in the novel when Jose Arcadio Segundo struggles to convince others that the massacre he witnessed actually happened.

Twentieth-Century Political Conflicts

Social and political tensions in Colombia escalated throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The next era of Colombian history, known as "the Violence," began after the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, the Liberal mayor of Bogota. The Liberal government was overthrown, and General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla seized control. Both political parties deployed their paramilitary forces across the regions under their influence. Many people were displaced during the conflict. Rojas initiated a period of absolute military rule, leading to the dissolution of Congress. It was during Rojas's regime that Garcia Marquez was compelled to leave the country due to an article he had written.

When Rojas was ousted by a military junta in 1957, the Liberal and Conservative parties agreed on a compromise government called the National Front. This arrangement provided equal representation for both parties in the cabinet and legislature, with an alternating presidency. Although this reduced direct political rivalry between the two parties, it led to an increase in guerrilla insurgencies. This was the environment in Garcia Marquez's homeland during the time he was writing One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Since then, the guerrilla factions of the 1970s evolved into a coordinated network of drug cartels, struggling farmers, and indigenous tribes in the 1980s and 1990s. Violence has frequently marked the political landscape as guerrillas and drug lords sought to influence elections and trials with threats. In 1990, after three other candidates were assassinated, Cesar Gaviria Trujillo was elected President. During his administration, Colombians approved a new constitution aimed at further democratizing the political system. However, the drug trade continued to challenge the government. When the Medellin drug cartel was dismantled in 1993, the Cali cartel rose to fill the void. The government of Liberal Ernesto Samper Pizano, elected in 1994, has endeavored to combat drug traffickers and improve relations with the United States. Nonetheless, popular support for these efforts has been inconsistent, especially among small farmers economically reliant on the drug trade.

Literary Techniques

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One Hundred Years of Solitude uniquely combines allegory, epic, history, and biography, blending fantasy with reality to craft a novel rich in humor, suspense, and paradox. Remarkably, and a testament to Garcia Marquez's creative prowess, the book remains highly engaging and readable despite its intricate plot and complex characters. As a masterful writer, Garcia Marquez employs an omniscient narrator who exhibits childlike wonder at seemingly miraculous events, tracing a family's lineage and the uncertainties of existence in Latin America. Throughout the novel, readers can discern Garcia Marquez's profound sense of decency and compassion for the human condition.

Technically brilliant, One Hundred Years of Solitude provides unparalleled access to Garcia Marquez's vast and fertile imagination through vivid, expressive imagery: the miracle of ice, the mirror houses of Macondo, the raving Jose Arcadio tied to the chestnut tree, the infinite beauty of Remedios, the priest's levitation, and the enormous wind that consumes the last remnants of paradise. Additionally, Garcia Marquez incorporates a satirical edge, humorously critiquing cultural quirks and definitions, exemplified by the character of Aureliano (III), who embodies the tradition of machismo. Garcia Marquez's insightful understanding of his characters' nature and personalities is often cited as a key reason for his immense popularity, especially among readers in Latin America.

Compare and Contrast

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Colombia: Colombia, the third most populous country in Latin America, has around 38 million residents, with 95 percent living in the mountainous western region. The per capita GDP stands at approximately $5,400. Since the 1950s, rapid urbanization has occurred, resulting in 73 percent of the population residing in cities. About 95 percent of Colombians are Catholic.

United States: The United States has a population close to 270 million, with a per capita GDP of about $28,000. Most Americans live in urban areas, with a growing trend of migration to the suburbs and the southwestern parts of the country. There is no dominant religion, although Judeo-Christian faiths are prevalent, with Roman Catholicism being the largest single denomination.

Colombia: Immigration to Colombia is minimal. The country’s appeal as a destination is diminished by violent conflicts between guerrilla groups and the government forces, alongside pervasive drug-related violence. Internal displacement due to this violence is significant, with two families being displaced every two hours in 1997.

United States: Despite recent anti-immigrant sentiments in the United States, millions of people worldwide aspire to make the U.S. their home. Among Latin American immigrants, Colombians are the largest group.

Colombia: In 1995, Colombia allocated $2 billion to defense, which was 2.8% of its GDP. By 1997, the country had purchased $60 million worth of weapons from the United States.

United States: The U.S., the world's leading arms dealer, spent slightly less on defense in the 1990s compared to the 1980s. In 1997, defense expenditure was 3.4% of GDP, amounting to roughly $267 billion.

Colombia: In 1995, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico established the Group of Three trading alliance, adjusting tariffs to benefit each other. This alliance replaced the earlier Latin American Free Trade Agreement (LAFTA) from the 1960s and was a counter-response to the Southern Cone Common Market formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

United States: In response to emerging trade blocs in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Mexico formed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. Many labor activists blame NAFTA for job losses in the U.S., while environmentalists argue it has led to increased pollution and wage suppression in Mexico.

Colombia: After the decline of international banana conglomerates, Colombian farmers shifted to traditional agriculture. However, poor transportation infrastructure means some farmers must race against time to get their perishable goods to market before they spoil. Faced with such challenges, many farmers turn to the cocaine trade, where traders collect their produce.

United States: Some American farmers grow marijuana for the black market to supplement their income, which has decreased due to consumer demand for cheaper food and reductions in farm subsidies. The number of farm bankruptcies in the 1990s significantly exceeded those of the 1980s.

Literary Precedents

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Described by the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as "perhaps the greatest revelation in the Spanish language since the Don Quixote of Cervantes," One Hundred Years of Solitude was undoubtedly crafted in the tradition of epic narratives. Garcia Marquez has openly expressed his debt to Cervantes and Francois Rabelais in shaping the novel artistically. Garcia Marquez has been influenced by a multitude of writers from America, Europe, and Latin America. Notably, William Faulkner stands out as an early and pivotal figure in his literary development. Much like Faulkner's creation of a Jefferson cycle, Garcia Marquez developed a Macondo cycle of fiction, striving to evolve characters and themes identifiable with the "regionalism" of a particular setting. Franz Kafka's influence is also significant in both stylistic technique and thematic design. The antirationality found in Kafka's Metamorphosis (1915) is clearly comparable to that in Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Primarily, however, Garcia Marquez is a Latin American writer. Traces of his epic novel can unmistakably be found in the works of many Latin American contemporaries, including Alejo Carpentier, Carlos Fuentes, Jose Donoso, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Miguel Angel Asturias.

Media Adaptations

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One Hundred Years of Solitude has been transformed into a stage play titled Blood and Champagne. Additionally, there is an audio cassette study guide for One Hundred Years of Solitude by Brenda K. Marshall. This study guide, narrated by F. Murray Abraham, features dramatic excerpts from the novel.

Bibliography and Further Reading

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Gene H. Bell-Villada, an interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Boston Review, Vol. VIE, No. 2, April 1983, pp. 25-27.

Gene H. Bell-Villada, "Banana Strike and Military Massacre in One Hundred Years of Solitude and What Happened in 1928," in From Dante to Garcia Marquez: Studies in Romance Literatures and Linguistics, edited by Gene H. Bell-Villada, Antonio Gimenes, and George Pistorius, Williams College, 1987, pp. 391-403.

Gordon Brotherston, "An End to Secular Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez," in his book, The Emergence of the Latin American Novel, Cambridge University Press, 1977, pp. 122-135.

Claudia Dreifus, an interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Playboy, February 1983.

D. J. Enright, "Larger Than Death," in The Listener, Vol. 84, No. 2160, August 20, 1970, p. 252.

Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, "Cien Años de Soledad: The Novel as Myth and Archive," in Modern Language Notes, Vol. 99, No. 2, 1984, pp. 358-380.

Rita Guibert, an interview with Garcia Marquez in Seven Latin American Writers Talk to Rita Guibert, translated by Frances Partridge, Alfred A. Knopf, 1973, pp. 305-337.

Ricardo Gullon, "Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the Lost Art of Storytelling," translated by Jose G. Sanchez, in Diacritics, Vol. I, No. 1, Fall 1971, pp. 27-32.

William Kennedy, review of One Hundred Years of Solitude, in National Observer, April 20, 1970.

John Leonard, "Myth is Alive in Latin America," in New York Times, March 3, 1970, p. 39.

Pablo Neruda, quoted in Time, March 16, 1970.

Jack Richardson, "Master Builder," in The New York Review of Books, Vol. XIV, No. 6, March 26, 1970, pp. 3-4.

Paul West, "A Green Thought in a Green Shade," in Book World—Chicago Tribune, February 22, 1970, pp. 4-5.

For Further Study

Claudette Kemper Columbus, "The Heir Must Die: One Hundred Years of Solitude as a Gothic Novel," in Modern Fiction Studies, Vol. 32, No. 3, Autumn 1986, pp. 397-416.
Examines the gothic elements in Garcia Marquez's novel and compares them to Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

William Faulkner, The Portable Faulkner, edited by Malcolm Cowley, Viking Press, 1977.
This collection presents the entire legend of Yoknapatawpha. The creation of this fictional place is often compared to the creation of Macondo by Garcia Marquez. It is noted that Garcia Marquez read Hemingway as a counterbalance to Faulkner.

Jean Franco, "Gabriel Garcia Marquez," in his book An Introduction to Spanish American Literature, Cambridge University Press, 1969, pp. 343-347.
Franco provides a concise but valuable overview of Garcia Marquez's major themes in One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Carlos Fuentes, The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World, Houghton (Pap), 1993.
Renowned Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes offers a brief history of Hispanic heritage. The tone is reflective with a hint of apology for Spanish history, clearly responding to the Spain-bashing that accompanied the quincentennial.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "The Solitude of Latin America," in Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the Powers of Fiction, edited by Julio Ortega, University of Texas Press, 1988, pp. 87-92.
Garcia Marquez's 1982 Nobel Prize acceptance speech is essential background reading for anyone studying One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Regina Janes, "At Home in the Pope's Grotto: One Hundred Years of Solitude," in her book Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Revolutions in Wonderland, University of Missouri Press, 1981, pp. 48-69.
Janes examines the novel's structure, arguing that its historical and biblical references provide cohesion.

Regina Janes, "Liberals, Conservatives, and Bananas: Colombian Politics in the Fictions of Gabriel Garcia Marquez," in Gabriel Garcia Marquez, edited by Harold Bloom, Chelsea House Publishers, 1989, pp. 125-146.
Janes offers a clear explanation of how Colombian political dynamics are woven into the novel.

Regina Janes, "One Hundred Years of Solitude: Modes of Reading," Twayne, 1991.
In this comprehensive study aimed at students, Janes provides literary and historical contexts, along with detailed biographical, mythical, and literary analyses of the novel.

Gerald Martin, "On 'Magical' and Social Realism in Garcia Marquez," in Gabriel Garcia Marquez New Readings, edited by Bernard McGuirk and Richard Caldwell, Cambridge University Press, 1987, pp. 95-116.
Martin argues that critics should "revise the impression of a novel whose two levels, magical and realist, mythical and historical, are entirely inseparable, since after the death of Ursula they slowly but surely begin to come apart."

Stephen Minta, Garcia Marquez: Writer of Colombia, New York, 1987.
This biography is the first comprehensive account of the author's life.

Bradley A. Shaw and Nora G. Vera-Godwin, eds., Critical Perspectives on Gabriel Garcia Marquez, University of Nebraska Press, 1986.
Shaw and Vera-Godwin compile various insightful essays, including a notable piece on magical realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude by Morton P. Levitt.

Anna Mane Taylor, "Cien años de soledad: History and the Novel," in Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 2, No. 3, Fall, 1975, pp. 96-111.
Taylor explores the novel's historical consciousness and its political significance.

Mario Vargas Llosa, "Garcia Marquez: From Aracataca to Macondo," in Gabriel Garcia Marquez, edited by Harold Bloom, Chelsea House Publishers, 1989, pp. 5-20.
Esteemed Latin American writer Mario Vargas Llosa is considered the leading expert on Garcia Marquez. This essay provides essential background for students of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Raymond Williams, "One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)," in his book Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Twayne, 1984.
Scholar Raymond Williams offers a chapter-length introduction to the novel, delivering an excellent overview and concise summaries of various critical perspectives. The remainder of this well-written and informative book covers Garcia Marquez's life and career.

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