“One Hundred Years of Solitude” was a book that I was really looking forward to reading since I had heard a lot about it before, especially in Spanish literature classes I took. I had even read some extracts from the book and analyzed them, but without properly reading it nor understanding the story behind it. The novel surprised me and I really enjoyed it in general, although sometimes I got a bit lost following the main plot.
Overall, the analysis of human life and its ups and downs is what I found the most touching and attractive in the story, which is also a theme that has been present in many of the novels that we read so far. The main family in the story, the Buendías, suffer from a curse that causes them to repeat their mistakes and go through unpleasant experiences like war, death, and solitude. The last one, solitude, is the most important one, as not only gives the name to the book but also is a central theme in the story. I enjoyed the way the writer explores the ideas and consequences of the passage of time and the effects of isolation. This analysis gives rise to the more philosophical aspect of the story that García Márquez also examines in a broader way: the meaning of human life and human suffering.
Moreover, the author accomplishes to create a sense of wonder throughout the story, which really caught my attention and made me feel connected to the characters and their experiences. I genuinely loved the magical, mysterious aspect of the story and its main setting, Macondo, which is described as a remote and isolated place, surrounded by swamps and dense jungle. The town is depicted as being phisically idyllic, but you also get the feeling of mystery and curse in the descriptions of the town. It was initially founded by the patriarch of the Buendía family, José Arcadio Buendía, and at the beginning it is asmall, simple village inhabited by a few families.
How do you think that the town of Macondo accomplishes to represent the world and human society? How does the place/seting contribute to the development of the story and the fate of the family?
“Macondo, which is described as a remote and isolated place, surrounded by swamps and dense jungle.”
Now this may be about to change, almost exactly halfway through the novel, as the railway arrives…
Spoiler alert: the railway will bring bad things as well as good. And it may be worth asking how much of what happens to Macondo in the end is down to its initial “curse” (as you say), and how much in fact comes from outside.