One Hundred Years of Solitude Responses
Austin Lewis
Weinberg
Personal Responses to One Hundred Years of Solitude
1.
The marriage between Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia has struck me
repeatedly as nothing short of comical. In fact, I could go so far as
to say that the pair is worthy of a sitcom. On the one hand, you have
the hard-working wife, trying to be prudent, trying to keep the house
running. In fact, towards the middle of the book, Ursula states, " As
long as God gives me life, there will always be money in this
madhouse." On the other is the crazy husband, filled with zany ideas
and harebrained schemes. The analogy of the sitcom does not end with
the husband and wife. Melquiades fills in the role of the wacky
neighbor, if only for short stretches of time. Like the sitcomical
neighbor, Melquiades is constantly in the midst of some bizarre
exhibit, from the secret arts of the alchemist to the simple beauty of
a giant block of ice. As the book goes on, the comedic mischief of
the family metamorphoses into serious issues, mirroring the sitcom
family yet again. The children grow older and begin to have problems
of their own. This, however, is the massive difference between the
Buendia family and other families, both fictional and existent.
Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia both show a shocking ability to
abandon their own children. During Jose Arcadio's absence, Ursula
scarcely casts her son a second thought, despite the many hardships he
suffers during that time. While Amaranta withers in solitude,
scorning the affections of others, despite her desperate craving,
Ursula merely wishes to save face for the family. Even after Rebeca's
heart lies twisted and spiteful, Ursula has disowned both her and Jose
Arcadio. By this point one must surely wonder what Jose Arcadio
Buendia has been doing the whole time. Despite the many hardships of
his family, the patriarch merely shuts himself in his laboratory and
drives himself mad, shirking even his responsibility as the family
provider. Despite their sitcom-like nature, the first generation of
the Buendia family shows none of the responsibility entailed by that
distinction.
2.
The second generation of the Buendia family marks the beginning of
the downfall of their line. It is Colonel Aureliano Buendia who
instigates the political issues that tear Macondo apart. It is Jose
Arcadio who begins the incestuous traditions that torment Ursula to
her grave. It is Amaranta who commences the terrible isolation, the
depressing solitude that all Buendias experience at one point or
another. I felt that Marquez used this generation as a foundation on
which to build the rest of the family. I also felt that the
connection of the names was far from arbitrary. Many of the members
of subsequent generations for the Buendia family share their names
with this generation. These members also show at least some
significant qualities of their namesakes. I felt that Marquez did
this very purposefully, especially given the numerous other ways in
which the family tends to loop back on itself. One such way is the
interaction with Pilar Ternera. While not necessarily sexual, almost
every Buendia has contact with the mysterious woman at some point in
his or her life. These common factors show the roots provided by the
second Buendia generation.
3.
The third generation of the Buendia family is rather small,
consisting of only Aureliano Jose and Arcadio, both sons of Pilar
Ternera. Personally, I found this generation rather boring. Apart
from the despotic rule of Arcadio, nothing of much interest befalls
these two. Of far more fascination is the fourth generation.
Remedios the beauty, for example, enchants the entirety of Macondo
with her siren-like beauty. I felt that her quirky air added to her
otherworldly nature. To me, Remedios was something of a phantom. She
seemed to me to be not entirely of this world, as if she was partially
outside of our plane of existence. Her subsequent ascension only
served to convince me further of this point. In fact, Remedios the
Beauty reminded me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in
which an entity incarnates itself and is born immaculately from a
woman for the sole purpose of learning firsthand about humanity. It
seems plausible to me that Remedios the Beauty might be some kind of
similar creature. Next in this line are the twins, Aureliano Segundo
and Jose Arcadio Segundo. Aureliano Segundo, if that was his actual
name, shows his heritage in his decadent lifestyle. By the point of
his maturity, I had begun to see the novel as a telenovella, a Spanish
soap opera. Aureliano's juggling of women was one of the things in
the book that strengthened this position. The rabid mating of his
animals seemed to be a reflection of his own life, growing more and
more out of control as his life became more and more lavish. I felt a
humorous irony at the fact that such an individual was married to
Fernanda, raised to be regal and stoic. Fernanda's control of the
Buendia household was in the starkest contrast to Aureliano's festive
days. Jose Arcadio Segundo, on the other hand, leads a rather
uneventful and passive life up until he leads the strike of the
workers at the banana company. Jose Arcadio Segundo seems to me the
archetypal tactician- quiet, pensive, and scholarly. I believe that
his work in translating the parchments is what spurred the nephew of
Jose Arcadio Segundo to ultimately discern their meaning.
4.
The fifth generation of Buendias represented change to me. For one
thing, both Renada Remedios and Amaranta Ursula possess at least
somewhat unique names. For another all three members of this
generation find a way to rebel against their upbringing. Meme chooses
to go off and become the free and wild creature that Fernanda always
dreaded the girl might become. Jose Arcadio manages to find the
secret stash of gold coins and squanders them. Amaranta Ursula
represents the final degradation of the family, bringing to light the
late Ursula's worst fear. The children scatter off into the world,
some by choice, some not. Eventually, Amaranta Ursula returns and
begins her relationship with Aureliano Babilonia. I felt that this
relationship represented the end of the family. As they carried
themselves onward, Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano ransack the house,
already quite in ruins, and even seem to lose some of their sanity
along the way. In the end, their revelry comes to an end exactly
along with Macondo.
5.
The sixth Buendia Generation is the loneliest of them all, consisting
solely of Aureliano Babilonia. Aureliano, in my opinion, is the
incarnation of the death of Macondo, as the rest of his family has
been the incarnation of its life. By his point in the story, no one
save for Pilar Ternera even remembers the Buendia family. I believe
this to be foreshadowing the destruction of the town. As he continues
studying the parchments, their meaning becomes somewhat clearer for
the first time in one hundred years. In the end, the parchments have
been a symbol of Macondo's fate ever since Melquiades first inscribed
them. As the book closes, I feel a strange mixture of emotions. For
one, I'm happy that I managed to get through this text; it did not
hold my interest well. On the other hand, I'm a bit disappointed by
the ending. The final page-and-a-half seemed to tie the book up in a
very rushed manner. After the long, slow plodding to the end, the
final pages were very out of place. As I look back on the book as a
whole, something interesting dawns on me. The Buendia family is not
entirely linearly. Or, perhaps a better phrase, is that Macondo
doesn't seem to follow the same laws as the rest of the world. Things
that should be fleeting last an eternity, insignificance becomes
meaning, even time seems to flow strangely. Ursula once remarks that
time seems to be repeating itself, as though Macondo is trapped in a
loop. Given the similar names and natures of the Buendia family, I'm
inclined to agree with that sentiment. In the end the only way to
break the cycle was the town's destruction. Who can say? Perhaps the
deviance of Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula brought the hurricane upon
them.