Throughout the novel, Marquez consistently uses language to show how foreign influences subvert the native culture of Macondo. During their childhood Arcadio and Amaranta are cared for by Visitacion, “that was how [they] came to speak the Guajiro language before Spanish” (Marquez 41). Normally, a person is more fluent in the language they learn first and the fact that Arcadio and Amaranta learn to speak Guajiro first demonstrates the growing dominance of foreign culture and language in Macondo. Eventually Meme, or Renata Remedios, also becomes mesmerized by the English language when she becomes friends with a few American girls. Soon Meme becomes so transfixed by American culture that she begins to dress in American clothing and modifies her way of life to fit that of a regular American girl. Her xenophobic mother, Fernanda Del Carpio, “was scandalized by the idea that her daughter’s dressing table must have been the same as those of the French matrons” (Marquez 273). Fernanda despises her daughter’s deviation from the traditional Macondian ways to such an extent that she compares her daughter to a French matron or whore. Although her mother denounces the American ways, Meme’s father, Aureliano Segundo, accepts it and even buys Meme “a six volume English encyclopedia” (Marquez 295).
Marquez also uses the Banana Company to not only represent the ascendancy of foreign advancements but also uses the company to mirror events that actually occurred in Colombia.. The town Macondo, which starts as a rigid, dirty town with the help of the Buendias becomes modernized quickly as a result of the introduction of the Banana Company and the railroad. After the arrival of the foreigners the “perfectly ordered village” that José Arcadio Buendía founded becomes noisy and chaotic, this marks the beginning of the degradation of Macondo’s traditional ways. Macondo starts to change not for the better but in fact changes for the worse because foreign people migrate to Macondo bringing in their foreign traditions and rituals. When the Banana Company exploits the residents of Macondo the workers organize a strike, however, the foreigners trick them and massacre all of workers except Jose Arcadio Segundo and a little boy. The Banana Company cooperates with the government to cover up the massacre and even Jose Arcadio Segunde “could not find [a] trace of the massacre’ (Marquez 308). They toss all of the bodies into the sea. The night of the massacre it begins to rain and does not stop raining for close to five years. After the banana plantations close down, the railroad falls into disrepair and the train ceases even to stop in Macondo anymore. The impoverished town loses its importance and its modernity as result of the rain and rain slowly destroys the houses. Macondo quickly disintegrates, folding back into isolation and the “houses that had been built with such haste during the banana fever had been abandoned” (Marquez 330). The town exists in a state of regression. The Banana Company’s action embodies the colonization that actually occurred in Colombia when the United Fruit Company went Colombia and exploited the Colombians.
Amaranta Ursala, her clothing, and her actions portray the strongest example of how foreign influence grows and dominates Macondo with negative results. When Amaranta Ursala returns to Macondo she did not follow the traditional culture and comes back dressed in “an ivory-colored dress, a string of pearls that reached almost up to her knees, emerald and topaz rings” (Marquez 405). She tries to “repopulate the skies of Macondo” (Marquez 379) with “twenty-five [of the finest] canaries” (Marquez 379) however, the canaries leave Macondo as soon as they are set free. There escape represents how solitary Macondo becomes and how it has regressed back to its original form because foreign influence leaves Macondo. While in Macondo Amaranta Ursala eats imported European food and still keeps up with the latest foreign fashions. Even after her return to Macondo Amaranta Ursala demonstrates how strong foreign society influences her way because she retains all of the customs and traditions she learned of in Belgium.
by
originalxcypher (student)
