Wow, what a read. 100 Years of Solitude was a great novel, one that I am very pleased we got to read in class. The second half of the book wasn’t as great as the first part in my opinion, but that may be due to the fact that reading break is over and I was occupied with other assignments that deterred me away from reading the novel in less sittings. This lead to confusion between who’s who, and that made me less interested in this novel. Having said that, I enjoyed how the themes explored in the first half of the book such as time and memory playing a continuing role in the rest of the book. Macondo was now not what it once was; due to many reasons such as the war, and new technology.
The end was bleak, with a Buendia descendant being born with a pigs tail, suggesting that the family’s curse will continue in the future. The brief detail in this “scene” could be too much for some, but I personally thought it was useful in understanding just how devastating this curse was. The fact that the baby was just described as having a pig tail goes to show the style of magic realism, and that the baby symbolized much more than what it was.
There was some positive aspects to the book as well, especially when there was some hope when the rain of yellow flowers occurred after destructive rains and floods devastated Macondo. Although bad things are occurring at the moment, there will also be good things up ahead, or at least that’s how I look at it. The good things may not be for the descendants of the Buendia family, but perhaps for Macondo in the future. I appreciated this magical realism due to its uniqueness and creativity.This intrigued me as I connected it to the cyclical nature of things and how history will probably repeat itself.
I was also brought back to the idea of play in literature, and how well magical realism can be a part of play. I now understand how powerful tools like these are in literature, especially when exploring complex ideas through innovative ways. It just makes reading much more enjoyable!
My question to you all is what other aspects of magical realism did you find connected to the overall theme of time or memory throughout the book?