Week 6 - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Part One - Nicholas Latimer - On time, mirrors, and foreshadow

Reading Marquez over this reading holiday was a treat compared to previous literature we've been assigned. I’m not thorough with it just yet, but have enjoyed reflecting on the writing, and seeing what others have to say about the themes and style of the book. I have spoiled the text a little bit for myself, and have a general idea of what comes out of the longer and more repetitive lifespan read halfway through the book, and can see why its reviewed as a piece of literature equally symbolic as a religious text. 

I would like to take the first week of One Hundred Years Of Solitude to appreciate and discuss the ideas of time, seemingly cyclical and never-ending, as well as the beings that get to experience it (ie. us readers as well as the characters inside the story). The story kicks off recounting Jose’s fascination with gypsy technology, and seems never to learn the cycle he falls into. Little do we know, that is only a glimpse at what Marquez has in store for us.

Firstly, I don’t mind the irregularity. I actually like jumping back and forth as a story unfolds, because I feel challenged to keep up and focused with the moments that sprinkle throughout the characters' lifetime and come together to recount a magical yet empathic story of one family - so telling of the many generations who would follow them.  To answer Jon’s question in this weeks lecture, I feel at ease while reading, perhaps at a distance from the hectic life that is unraveling, with support of the almost comedic undertone Marquez has managed throughout the family's journey, and when memories are recounted I drift into a state of nostalgia as if being told a tale of my great great grandfather who lived a crazy life. Does that make any sense?

Returning to the idea of time, seemingly never-ending in the passage of this story, whereby life repeats, history repeats, and most importantly here, family is plagued to replicate itself across future generations. Whether foreshadowing or symbolically, Jose dreams his ‘city of mirrors’, which reflects humanity. Thinking about this I imagine a maze of mirrors, which if you have ever tried to complete one yourself - you know how easy it is to become trapped, not knowing where to go, stuck in your surroundings. I think it is funny as we then watch the generations of children in Macando find themselves symbolically stuck in a maze of this society - forcing them to fit in by repeating the culture and habits of their family. Ironically, Marquez reminds us of this by the naming of each family member, pre-deteremining their personality and effect on the world. Here we see an exaggeration of how family literally replicates itself, passing down traditions and culture, molding a personality - forcing society to repeat itself by replicating the people who participate in the world. Perhaps this is why it is so easy to call our bad habits ‘human nature’. Marquez sees this, and allows us to conceptualize this self-propelling cycle of humanity by wathcing it play out in what should have been a euphoric village for this family. Of course, many other factors influenced this family's world, but something is to be said of this image that is painted so clearly, almost comedically for us. 

There is a fair deal of symbolic foreshadowing that comes up in the opening of the text, some more obvious, and some that may be a bit of a stretch. But to set up my writing for next week, I am curious what you have seen/not seen, in terms of foreshadowed themes of solitude in the first part of the story?


Comments

  1. JonFebruary 27, 2023 at 3:21 PM

    "time, seemingly cyclical and never-ending"

    Indeed. But it does end, as you will see...

    "the almost comedic undertone"

    I think this is a good point, but easy to miss... Much of this book is funny. (Both funny peculiar and funny ha-ha.) In fact, when (in the second half) something genuinely tragic and awful happens, it almost seems out of place in what we might otherwise think is this charming little village with all its odd characters.

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    Replies
    1. JonFebruary 27, 2023 at 3:23 PM

      By the way, I think you're miscounting... aren't we on week 7 now?!

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  2. DaisyMarch 1, 2023 at 8:37 AM

    Hi Nicholas! I enjoyed reading your post. I think that the opening of the book certainly gives us a taste as to whats to come, and to have something to look forward to as a reader. I thought it was ironic that at the beginning of the story, there was mention that the world was still to new for everything to have words, and later on, they were infected with the insomnia plague which caused some to lose their memory and they labeled all their items to ensure they wouldn't forget.

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