Garcia Marquez describes the novel’s storyline as simple. He told Rita Guibert that it is "the story of a family who for a hundred years did everything they could to prevent having a son with pig's tail, and just because of their very efforts to avoid having one they ended up by doing so." This narrative mirrors the classic tragedy Oedipus Rex, a favorite of Garcia Marquez, where trying to escape a prophecy only ensures its fulfillment. The novel also echoes themes from another foundational Western text, similar to Eve's fate. The women suffer the agony of childbirth, aware that their children will become tyrants, illegitimates, and eventually bear a pig's tail. Ursula’s attempts to avoid this fate not only fail but also result in her family's exile under the shadow of murder. This sets off a cycle of violence, incest, and reproduction. Her descendants' efforts to alter their destiny are in vain. For example, Fernanda tries to control her children's futures, leading them to resent her. The men, through their acts of creation and destruction, merely bring closure to what Ursula initiated. The novel’s most significant commentary on destiny is encapsulated in the epigraph of Melquiades’s manuscript: "The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants."