Discussion of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Excerpt. Page 447-448. 

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

The end of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is the culmination of the entire history of the Buendia family, as well as the fulfillment of a prediction made early-on and slowly fulfilled as we move through the text. It is a final overview of the lives of the Buendias that transcends space and time. In very few lines, this passage manages to encompass the central themes of this work, thus being worthy of analysis. In these last lines of the book, Marquez uses imagery, contrast, allusion and diction to show the inevitability of fate and the unavoidable destruction that awaits those who live their lives in solitude.

Wind imagery is very prominent throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude, as seen in the passage with the image of the “biblical hurricane” (line 22). The wind is also what carried Remedios the Beauty up into the sky, and was portrayed there as a device for salvation, since Remedios did not fit in with the world she lived in. Here, we are shown the contrasting side of nature with the destructive hurricane that wipes Macondo from the face of the Earth. In using this image, Marquez shows the reader that the wind, a synecdoche for nature as a whole, is dualistic. It has power to destroy but also to create and to save. This nature is unavoidable and inherent, tying back to the inevitability of the Buendia’s fate. Just as the family was created as part of nature, so nature will now destroy them.

This destruction is epitomized in the images on lines 14 to 16 of the house being torn apart. Throughout the novel, Marquez has used the state of the house to reflect the general state of the family. When the family was prosperous, the house grew, and when the family fell on hard times the house began to grow decrepit. This house is also what helps the family members stayed isolated from the rest of humanity, with its various rooms and corners, where throughout the century, many have closed themselves off from the rest of the world. The house is the beginning and the end for the Buendia family with almost all of the members of the family being born and dying in there.  The fate of the Buendias family is sealed by the destruction of the house.

Another recurring image in this passage is that of mirrors, occurring on line 27 with Aureliano’s reading being described as “looking into a speaking mirror”, and on line 31 with Macondo being described as “the city of mirrors (or mirages)”. Mirrors are an important symbol because this book has as one of its main themes the cyclical and repetitive nature of time and the human experience. In mirrors we see duplicates of things that already exist, and this vision of a “city of mirrors” (line 31) is used by Marquez to show the reader how repetitive even the physical nature of Macondo is.

The supernatural nature of Aureliano the Second’s experience is established at the beginning of the passage through the use of vivid sensory images. From lines 1 to 4, Marquez describes Aureliano’s environment: The warm wind full of voices, and the smell of geraniums surround him, and yet he does not notice any of it. The transcendental nature of the passage is further emphasized by the reference on lines 6 to 8 to Aureliano Segundo, inside of whom Aureliano finds himself. This shows the reader that now that Aureliano is reading Melquíades' prophecies he is no longer conscious of his physical surroundings, and instead exists in a metaphysical plane that goes beyond the restrictions of space and time. This type of narration is important in this passage because it allows Aureliano to give the reader a broad look at the Buendia line, and to show how the combined fate of the entire family has come together to bring about this destruction.

Because Aureliano is the last surviving Buendia, and the one who finally fulfills Melquiades’ prophecy, it is probable that he has a special nature to him. We are told about this unique nature by Marquez’s juxtaposition of two images in lines 10 to 11. The image of the scorpion, which has connotations of death and danger, is put alongside the image of yellow butterflies, which signify beauty and the life-giving power of the springtime. The duality of Aureliano’s conception is further emphasized by the image of his parents, Mauricio and Renata Remedios making love while in completely different states of mind. Mauricio is simply satisfying his lust, while to Renata this lovemaking is an act of rebellion.

Through his choice of diction, Marquez shows the reader that Aureliano has his roots in rebellion and lust, the two most common flaws of the Buendia line. Rebellion, as epitomized in Colonel Aureliano Buendia, keeps the Buendia family from blending in with the rest of the world. Lust, whether it be for knowledge, power, or something more carnal, is the driving force behind almost all of the Buendia’s errors and sins. We are shown that Aureliano is the product of two people with these flaws, and he therefore embodies all that is wrong with the Buendia family. This, along with the use of contrasting images, explains to the reader why Aureliano is fate’s final device, and why it is he who will bring about the destruction of the entire blood line.

Marquez also uses diction to emphasize the ignorance of the Buendias for their past and the resulting repetition of history. This is shown when the baby born with the tail of a pig is referred to as a “mythological animal”. This shows how that which was a definite reality and greatly feared by Ursula only a century before has now been relegated to the status of a myth; a vague story from the past with no acknowledged factual basis. It is this attitude of irreverence and ignorance towards the past that condemns the Buendia’s to repeat the mistakes of the past and to eventually be destroyed.

In these final moments of the book, Marquez uses allusion to give the reader the key to the entire story. This allusion is to the Tower of Babel via the mention of Aureliano’s full name: Aureliano Babilonia. The last name is a reference to Babylon, where the Biblical Tower of Babel stood. According to the well-known Biblical story, the Tower of Babel was built by all of God’s men who at that time all spoke one language and came together to build an enormous tower that would touch the sky. This joint work went directly against what God had told Noah and his sons to do, which was to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1, NASB). Instead, people joined together and refused to spread out into the world and instead focussed their energies on building this enormous tower. In response to this, God destroyed the tower and scattered the people who had constructed it, giving each of them different languages to speak so that they could never unite in that way again. There is rich Biblical allusion throughout 100 Years of Solitude, beginning with the Genesis-like introduction to the book, and the massive flood being another very obvious reference. This allusion, however, is to a story in the Bible, which is very clearly the story of the life of the entire Buendia clan. The family accomplished great things that were far ahead of their times, such as Jose Arcadio Buendia’s independent discovery that the Earth is flat (Marquez 5). Similarly, the Babylonians were punished because they were reaching a point where “nothing they [planned] to do [would] be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:7, NASB). Just as the people of Babylon united together in solitude and would not spread out into the world, so the Buendia’s are a family that is isolated from the rest of the world because of their fiery passions and their rebellious spirits. This isolation is shown throughout the book to be harmful and dangerous, most notably through recurring incestuous relationships that have harmful moral, and biological consequences. The solitude and refusal of the people of Macondo to conform and amalgamate with the rest of the world leads to wars, insanity, incest, massacres, and now finally this “biblical hurricane” (line 22) that will end it all.

In this passage, it is shown see how powerful imagery and careful diction are used to give the reader an overview of the Buendia family and why it is inevitably bound to its destructive fate. Marquez uses an allusion to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel to explain to the reader why the Buendia’s must be destroyed: They refuse to listen to the lessons of the past and they continue in their solitude. People were not meant to live in such solitude, and this is why the Buendia family who is “condemned to one hundred years of solitude [does] not have a second opportunity,” (lines 36-37) and must be permanently smitten from the face of the Earth.

Word Count = 1,494

Works Cited

Marquez, Gabriel G. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Perennial Classics, 1998.  

New American Standard Bible. 13 Feb. 2003 <http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?>.