Analysis of a Key Passage in One Hundred Years of Solitude Essay

The chosen passage is an extract from Gabriel Marquezs saucy One Hundred Years of Solitude. This passage was chosen because it is the final pages of the story that describe the swell tragedy of the town of Macondo. At this point, the novel seems to become clear and everything that happens in between is justified. The passage describes the keen prophecy of Melquiades. It reveals that all of the elements of the Buenda Familys lives were predicted down to the most trivial details. It is the exact antithesis of an existentialist novel, where the characters themselves are responsible for everything that happens to them.Marquez instead demonstrates the image of an overall fate and destiny that lures you into its shadows and leads you down its dark trail. The ending whitethorn seem as an equivocation, but it is so much more. Marquezs use of nature throughout the novel is ironic, because it is nature that eventually murders the town of Macondo, expunging all memories of it. Marquezs use of a third someone point of view is very essential to the novels understanding, because we are able to stand on the outside, and look down upon 100 years worth of time. Throughout this time, the characters are blissfully unaware of their future, lifespan for moments alone. We as readers however, are able to decipher the cyclical writing through Marquezs writing styles and techniques.The Buendas were a huge part of the foundation of their town, Macondo. They built a civilization out of nothing, a wondrously place indeed. But little did they know that the town, along with themselves, was destine for doom. As the Buenda family began to deteriorate, so did the clubhouse in which they lived. From generation to generation, the same things happened over and over again. Each new generation of the family seemed to repeat the same mistakes as their predecessors.This happened in accordance to Macondos deterioration until the town was already a fearful whirlwind of pitter-patter and rub ble being spun about by the wrath of the biblical hurricane (Mrquez, p.416). Marquez uses this fable of a whirlwind to demonstrate how things unploughed going round and round, enclosed within a powerful force that is impossible to escape. This comes off as peculiar because when Jose Arcadio Buenda died, nature instituteed its condolence with a shower of flowers. Nature was kind to Jose Arcadio Buenda, because he did not have detrimental intentions. By the end of the novel, the story is corrupt with jealousy, hate, and lust. Therefore Nature had no discernment for them.One such instance of the cyclical philosophy in the novel is Marquezs usage of the Buenda family tree. The confusion that is created with the repeating of names and personalities is intentionally concocted by Mrquez in order to illustrate the idea that identity is not important and not present in the novel. By using the same names through all six of the generations, he illustrates the Buendas desire to stay the s ame and resist change. Mrquezs stylistic choice makes it difficult to distinguish between characters with similar names, but this is merely to show that it simply does not matter.No matter what their name is, or which generation they are in, theyre destined for the same things. This is why most of the Jose Arcadias were tough and fighters, while most of the Aurelianos had an interest in science and art. Colonel Aureliano Buenda for instance, grew tired of the war and became highly interested in poetry. This is in fact a bigger metaphor to represent the actual commonwealth of society. Mrquez conveys that people, and ultimately society, never learn from their mistakes. This is the sole cause of their downfall.Because Mrquez writes in magical realism time is essential to the story, but along with time, he also utilizes the motifs of blackout and nostalgia. Part of the reason why things were always repeated, and people never questioned it, was because of the amnesia that swept over th e people of every generation. After even the most memorable and life-changing experience of the Banana Plant Massacre, the people baffled all memory that it ever even existed. Their willingness to believe what was told to them shows their lack of individuality and thought. In fact, they had to put up a sign reminding themselves that God even existed. If a person does not have any anamnesis of a past event, then doing it again would seem to them, only the first time. This could explain the constant repetition that the town encounters. This would allow no margin for repent or a lesson to be learned.