Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses magical surrealism throughout his works to explore interpersonal relationships, societal structures, and norms and to analyze the intermingling of human nature and constructed rules.
One Hundred Years Of Solitude delves into familial relations within the realm of family life as well as the implications beyond familial bounds. Macondo, a “city built of mirrors,” is the outer layer of containment that forces the Buendia family to a constricted life; they are destined for a prophecy that is a reflection of themselves and doing.
Throughout the novel, any personal self-reflection is either superficial, lost in the turmoil of events, or too-little, too-late. Describing Macondo as a city of mirrors also ties into the incestuous ways of the Buendia family; the relations and events that unfold throughout the generations are all flipped pictures and replications of the same genes, which Marquez highlights with repetitious names.
Throughout history incest has been a common occurrence, and in some cultures still is. Some motives for incest have been to preserve family lines and contain genomic ‘purity’ within a family name. Interestingly, this does not seem to be the case for the Buendia family. Rather, for some members of the family, incest is feared (particularly by Ursula Iguaran). Despite this, the line between family love and sexual love and lust is blurry throughout the novel, and lost entirely with occurrences of incest. In a similar manner, the line between honesty and conformity is blurry for character as well, which ultimately contributes to the downfall of the family. Some characters revere structure and tradition, while others are more free-form and rambunctious in nature. The only individual who seems able to manage the two and adjust the balance is Ursula, all with the goal of maintaining harmony within the family. Ultimately, despite her honest efforts, the prophecy that was catalyzed by Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia’s marriage and consummation is only further sealed by fate as the Buendia family gets stuck in containment.