Varieties of The Fantastic in Fiction

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a story in which realism and magical events happen to the family Buendia. The story follows seven generations of the Buendia family, the founders of Macondo, and their origins as well as their troubles. The story spans over the generations with a large number of characters, most that like many Hispanic families share names. The story which at times is hard to follow due to the changing perspectives and timelines, has many themes and symbolism imbedded in the narrative. One theme which stood out to me was cyclical time and the elitism of the Buendia family.

One of the themes that stuck out to me the most about the family Buendia is the way in which their lives seem to be predetermined. The use of cyclical time allows for the readers to have the sense that for the family the past, present, and future are inseparable.  The use of the cyclical time also emphasizes the recurring behaviors that are ultimately the destruction of the Buendia family. This cyclical time can also be seen in the way that the characters repeat names, and adopt the some of the personality traits of their predecessors. These personality traits also show how their lives stay in a cyclical time as their traits perpetuate the issues they encounter, for instance the passed trait of being impulsive which often leads the characters to their deaths. Furthermore, even their acts of incest perpetuate this cyclical time as the traits will continue to passed until the cycle ends and a child is born with a pig tails, because in order for the cycle to stop there must be a stop to their inbreeding.

Furthermore, another theme that is tied to the cyclical time is the elitism of the Buendia family. The Buendia family are people that have money, power, and statues in their small town as they are founders. Their problems are all cyclical because they are self perpetuated. One of the main issues that arise in the Buendia family is the fear that one of their children will become a monstrous child with a pigtail, which is would be their punishment for their acts of incest. However, the incest is not only the effect of the Buendia being an elite family, but the effect of their love to themselves and their roots. The family is so in love with themselves that they inbreed to continue their bloodline. This same love is what blinds the family to their wrongs and their mistakes, and in turn they never learn to move past their mistakes making them repeat cycles in their lives. Furthermore, as seen the family has personality traits that they pass down to one another, much like their names which is another indicator of their elitism and self love, but those traits which have been the downfall of their predecessors never are told. This comes to show that the Buendia family like many other elites avoid the things that shine a negative light on the family and their predescesors.