One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, chronicles the rise and fall of the Buendia family in the fabled town of Macondo. Over the span of a century, Macondo and the Buendias, faced many triumphs and tragedies that lead to their downfall. The patriarch, Jose Arcadio Buendia, founded the town of Macondo while escaping a violent past. However, unknowingly, he brought his anguish, violence and personal despair to the town. Through the generations, Garcia creates a world of solitude, fantasy, sex, and discovery for Buendia family.Solitude is a major theme in the novel. Examples of solitude can be seen within two of Marquez?s characters, Jose Arcadio and Colonel Aureliano, ...view middle of the document...
Melquiades is also a fantastic character. He is a superhuman spirit, who seems to give advice to each generation of Buendias. Time is also distorted in the novel. Characters like Ursula and Pilar seem to live forever. Also Marquez?s lack of linear time through the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards minimizes clarity. However, it does provide curiosity and necessary information. Time is also fantasy in the novel, because the time frame contradicts outside events that occur.A reoccurring theme in One Hundred Years of Solitude is sex and incest. The Buendias view of sex is not a sacred one, but of animal instinct. Characters like the Colonel, while traveling during the war, fathered seventeen bastard sons. Pilar had an unusual attraction to the Buendia?s males. She had an affair with Jose Arcadio II and his brother, Colonel Aureliano, which resulted in a child from each. She later was almost seduced, unknowingly, by her own son. Within the Buendia family tree there were many incidents of incest. Even though the Buendias feared incest, they still continued their relations, and in the end a child was born with the cursed pig?s tail, Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula. Sexually was not only within the family but outside as well. Many of the Buendia men frequently visited the brothel. During time in Rome, Jose Arcadio V, engaged in pedophilic orgies. The consequence of this led to his death, when he was drowned in his tub. The theme of sexually, both good and bad, is a prevalent issue in Marquez?s novel.However, not all of Marquez?s themes were negative. Both the Buendias and the town of Macondo w...
