Garcia Marquez's novel 100 years of solitude is full of repetition, magic realism and order, with familiar themes of fate, chaos and death. Although we have only read half of the book and still have much more to go, I want to focus on the themes that stood out.
On the first page, my eye caught a quote highlighting the use of magic realism.
"Things have a life of their own [. . .]. It's simply a matter of waking up their souls." (1-2).
Marquez introduces us to the theme of magic realism. I have read some books that include magic realism in their literature, and I enjoy it but get lost. I love how Marquez opened the book with this theme because it tells readers and sets them up for the journey they are about to venture into. This book seems confusing or complex because things are unrealistic, or our brains can't wrap around what is happening, especially with magic realism. I got lost many times in reading this book, especially with all the similar names. Although this initially caused me some anxiety because I like to know what is going on and understand things, I realized the point is just to read.
Repetition and order were apparent in the town with the Buendía family. In this family, many names keep reoccurring, and habits from older relatives appear in new ones.
"I know all of this by heart [. . .]. It's as if time had turned around and we were back at the beginning." (193)
Ursula, the grandmother, can see the madness and the same emotions of her husband, grandfather, in her grandson. This highlights the repetition of personas and feelings throughout the family.
This is the fate and order of the family because they continue to have incest relations, repeating their family's history.
In contrast to order, chaos is apparent in this half of the novel. After Prudencio Adularia's bird was defeated by Jose A's bird, he decided he wanted revenge. So he spread a rumour about Jose A and caused Jose A to ensue chaos upon him.
"You go home and get a weapon because I'm going to kill you." (21)
Prudencio dies with Jose A's one spear shot. However, Prudencio's ghost lives on to torment Jose and his wife.
"He was tormented by the immense desolation with which the dead man had looked at him through the rain" (22-23)
Jose was driven by fear, and anger from this chaos, so he decided to kill his birds and leave town so the man could be at peace. This was just one chaotic event; there was more like the plague of insomnia destroying the town. Garcia shows that amongst order and repetition, there is chaos.
Although this book made me feel lost many times, I enjoy getting lost. A few questions I have:
Have you ever felt/been lost somewhere, in a book or real life? Did you freak out or find a sense of appreciation in not knowing what's ahead?
Or
Did this book remind you of a time when you had order and familiarity, and chaos arose and shifted things? Did it shape your life like the characters' lives in the book from chaotic events?
It is true, in this novel by García Márquez we see that "amongst order and repetition, there is chaos". As you could have realized, for García Márquez the reader is very important: it seems that the confusion is overwhelming but he manages to intertwine the stories in such a way that the tension between destiny and randomness is maintained. For you, does this reflect the very constitution of the characters? We will see it in the final part of the book.
ReplyDeleteHello! Thank you for your post this week. The quote on the bottom of page 1/top of page 2 also stood out to me when I was reading, and I loved reading your take and thoughts about it and its relation to the rest of the book! To answer one of your questions, there have definitely been times where I have been lost, both in real life and within books. I'm a pretty anxious person so generally, being lost or not knowing what is happening makes me feel scared as I frantically try to find a solution. However, I found that I quite enjoyed the chaos and complexity outlined in this books, viewing each new pages with an enthusiastic attitude rather than fear despite sometime being lost.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post and thoughtful question!
Hi! I really liked how your blog post highlighted the repetition within the family. It makes the story slightly confusing to read, but as you stated, that's a part of the journey that Marquez takes the readers on. The magical realism also through me off a bit, but the beginning helps introduce the reader to this fantastical world that Marquez introduces us to. In regards to your question, most of the books I've read for this course have induced a sense of confusion, but I've gone to embrace that as just another element of the story.
ReplyDeleteHey Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI have literally no sense of direction so I tend to get lost a lot. I used to freak out all the time spiraling into a pit feeling. As I have grown up, and been lost one to many time, I now find appreciation in enjoying the journey ahead. Since then, I have found many places I definitely wouldn't have if I didn't get lost that has now become a staple place in my life. Yes it is scary to be lost, but the journey can be beautiful as well.