Magical Realism in 100 Years of Solitude

100 Years of Solitude – Unit Assessment

Define Magical Realism and give examples from within the novel. What does “magical realism” accomplish as a technique? Is it successful here? Why or why not?

Gabriel Garcia Márquez is an author that is commonly associated with the term Magical Realism. His book One Hundred Years of Solitude is overall a fine example of this fusion of mysticism and reality. The novel is about the Buendía family over the span of seven generations and how they affected their city of Macondo. Throughout the story, they face real and many times unreal situations, and it is because of Márquez’s seamless use of Magical Realism that the effects of these situations are so profound. Through the use of Magical Realism, Márquez accomplishes in setting a unique mood for the story as well as help convey the themes of the novel. In this way, he is successful because he uses Magical Realism not just to add novelty to the story but to also make connections with the themes as well as Latin American history to some degree. One Hundred Years of Solitude uses and is successful with its usage of Magical Realism because of the subtlety and depth at which he uses it.

Magical Realism can be described as a style of writing. It is a style characterized by its frequent use of fusing together magical, mystical, and illogical scenarios with an otherwise realistic setting. The usage of fantasy here isn’t seen as extraordinary; instead all of the characters act as if whatever illogical or magical situation they are in is normal. The elements of magic are also nothing too spectacular or out of place, and because of this any time fantasy is used it may seem logical but remain relatively unexplained to the reader. One example of this apathetic approach at magic is early in the book, when one of the gypsies is flying around on a magic carpet.

“One afternoon the boys grew enthusiastic over the flying carpet that went swiftly by the laboratory at window level carrying the gypsy who was driving it and several children from the village who were merrily waving their hands, but José Arcadio Buendía did not even look at it” (Márquez 32).

This is a preview of the whole essay

In this passage, the enthusiasm the boys show isn’t described as if they saw anything amazingly extraordinary, and José Arcadio Buendía doesn’t even bother to look up from his studies at the sight. We know that if the children really reacted as if they saw something out of this world that the author would have described the event in more detail because Márquez uses a good amount of detail to describe other parts of the novel.

Another aspect that is prevalent in magical realism is how time is treated throughout the novel. Time is used very loosely in One Hundred Years of Solitude, as people live way much longer than they should be living in real life. Another way we see that time is flexible in the book is the way time moves in a literal cycle in the story. The novel begins with Macondo being an innocent town resting within its own solitude. By the end after so much change, tragedy, and emotion the town shrinks again into itself after the five year-long rain. This point is further proven after José Arcadio translates the prophecies and is swept away along with the town in a violent wind storm.

“Then the wind began, warm, incipient, full of voices from the past, the murmurs of ancient geraniums, sighs of disenchantment that preceded the most tenacious nostalgia”(421).

This sentence is near the ending of the book when José Arcadio is reading the prophecy. It shows how time is going in a cycle because it references nostalgia and the past. This means that the wind is bringing back the situation that Macondo was in, while it was a solitary and quiet village. By using these two elements of Magical Realism as well as others, Márquez shows how his use of the style helps push the reader to examine certain details.

As a technique, Márquez uses Magical Realism to help convey one of the major themes of the knowledge: time. Márquez uses time as a theme to show the looseness and circular properties of time. This can be seen through the strong carrying on of personality between the generations of Buendías and even through the repetitiveness in how each person is named. Time also seems to have a preserving effect on some of the things in the novel, such as the laboratory and even the long lives of some of the Buendías. The laboratory seems to be one of the things in the book that defies time, as its appeal to the Buendía family stays with it through multiple generations. Other things in the book that seem to defy time are Melquiades, who lives through multiple generations of Buendías and apparently has risen from the dead on more than one occasion, and the constant fight against the red ants. The red ants are a menace to the entire line of Buendías, and could represent time itself because of their constancy. The idea of a circular time is brought up in the novel, and is shown through repetitiveness of the characters and the end where Macondo ultimately is swept away, as if to start anew. Another way the Magical Realism technique is used in the book is to help convey parts of Latin American history and culture. By definition Magical Realism sets a sort of mysterious mood, because it takes what is known to the reader and challenges is by adding magical and mystical elements. This coincides with the mood of Latin America, which is shrouded in its own mystery and history because to the general audience not much is known about the area and its history or culture. Also there are times in the book when an event that has elements of Magical Realism in it, such as the mass massacre of the workers and later the forgetting of the event, is actually based off of real events. Another example of Magical Realism events in the book running parallel to events in Colombia’s and Latin America’s history is the arrival of the Christian missionaries. Márquez took a real-life event, and gave it a magical twist by literally giving the missionaries holy powers, such as levitation. Magical Realism as a technique succeeds in helping the author convey the themes and set the mood of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Gabriel Garcia Márquez uses Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude because of how well it complements the rest of the novel through its presentation and added complexity. The way Márquez uses Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude is just how it is supposed to be used: subtle in a way that the reader notices when it occurs but not so apparent that it detracts from what the author is trying to say or focus on. From a technical and creative standpoint, Márquez uses Magical Realism successfully in his work. His use of Magical Realism not only enhances the story, but provides an extra layer of depth to the themes discussed throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude. Magical Realism also contributes greatly to the mood of the novel, by adding even more mystery and magic to the Latin American setting. Gabriel Garcia Márquez uses Magical Realism successfully to enhance and deepen the themes and moods of One Hundred Years of Solitude in a way normal realistic fiction couldn’t.