In the later part of Gabriel García Márquez’s’ “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, we see the once simple town of Macondo struggle with disruptions brought over by the shiny new train. This comes in the form of modernization and capitalism which begins to take over with the start of industry in the banana plantation and later the towns dependence on it. I wonder if this is supposed to be commentary on colonialism and western industrial technology brought to Latin America. The issues associated with the modernization of Macondo play out throughout the end of the novel which notably is plagued by constant deaths, war, and total collapse. At one point Garcia Marquez draws a pretty vivid comparison to the corpses from the massacred piled up “in the same way in which they transported bunches of bananas”. I think this line is really indicative of the dark fate Macondo experiences during the turmoil and collapse of their major industry after the deluge.
It wasn’t until the end of the book where I finally realized how much of the history of Macondo and the lives of its inhabitants had already been prophesized by Melquíades’ closely following the history described throughout the parchments. It seems like every generation repeated the mistakes of their ancestors (e.g., the Buendia family’s tendency for solitude and involvement in wars and revolutions) seemingly without much progress in terms of new approaches or even much attempt to alter their fates. For these reasons, I believe the fate of Macondo was inevitable and doomed from the outset.
Originally, I thought the intention of novel may have been to provide further commentary on the circular nature of time and inevitable repetition within human nature like we’ve seen in other readings this semester like Borges’. However, after getting through more of the novel it seemed like it was more about the influences of the outside civilization and the ailments that come with progress leaking into Macondo like we’ve seen happen with Western Nations leaking into Latin America. My question for discussion is how has “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez influenced your understanding of progress and change? Is the search for progress and improvement all that productive considering all of the unforeseen possible outcomes that may come as a result of it?