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ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

• How does the author view the Western World and what

seems to be the underlying message?

  One Hundred Years of Solitude is narrated from a third-person

omniscient point of view which allows the reader to expect a

higher level of objectivity comparing to the first-person narrative

mode. However, being the author’s “magnum opus” or

masterpiece, the novel is not simply a book for leisure reading but

it is more commonly accepted as political propaganda or a

criticism of the West. It appears in this piece of work, the attitude

of the writer towards the Western World is noticeable though it is

not openly put forward to the readers which make the topic

captivating because it is somewhat “open” but it is “not”, thus

attracting curious readers into exploring it. This essay hopefully

will give readers a clearer picture of how the author himself views

the Western World and how it helps in transmitting his underlying

message.

From the very beginning, to a greater or lesser extent, the

author already shows his attitude when modernity starts entering

the long-isolated Macondo. Before the “new inventions” enter the

village, Macondo is a peaceful little village with “twenty adobe

houses, built on a bank of a river of clear water…” (pg.1) which

makes readers think of a scene in a “Disney cartoon movie”.

However, as soon as the gypsies enter the town with their

“magic”, the lives of the people start changing. The changes

definitely bring modernity to the town, as well as giving both

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positive effects and negative effects. However, the negative side

seems to be more dominant, it is displayed clearly through Jose

Arcadio Buendia. He wants the new technical instruments so

desperately he trades everything for it just to realize in the end,

he has made a big mistake. Locking himself inside of the

alchemist lab with the dream of conquering knowledge, Jose

Arcadio Buendia eventually becomes crazy one day and is tied to

a tree for the rest of his life. This is quite clearly the author’s

intention; to a degree it shows the writer’s attitude towards the

inventions. One has to be cautious with the new inventions

otherwise it might bring you doom, that seems to be the author’s

“warning” right from the beginning of the book with the example

of Jose Arcadio Buendia. And later on, when religion and politics

enter Macondo, the whole town becomes corrupted with civil war

between the Liberals and Conservatives. The civil war not only

brings more deaths to the town, it strips away the innocence of the town because Macondo is now involved in politics and as we

commonly view, politics is very often unavoidably linked to

pretense, deception as all best politicians are well-known as the

best liars. In spite of the fact the author does not put his opinion

straightforward, showing that these new changes leading to the

corruption of the town suggests the author has a very pessimistic

view of the transformations that came to the town.

To add even more to this, Marquez writes that the people of 

Macondo are not comfortable with the cinema (which comes from

the new Western people) because the technology here is full of 

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unreality and illusions but they talk to the ghosts of Jose Arcadio

Buendia and Melquiades as if it is normal so which seems to be a

paradox. The message that the author wants to transmit to the

audience is now reasonably clear: he believes the South

Americans in general and his fellow Colombians in particular are

better off by themselves, they are more comfortable with the

supernatural and the mythic, their ordinary lives, on the other

hand, they have a hard time to adapt to the new changes that the

Westerners bring in. Furthermore, what the Western people are

bringing in does not help the South Americans at all, if not

annihilating them.

Though in the beginning of the essay it is mentioned the

author’s attitude towards the Western World but so far

modernizations and industrialization have been the highlights

which might seem “out of the topic”. However, as a matter of 

fact, they link together because all the technological advances

such as magnifying glass, the gypsies’ “magic”, railways and

trains, cinemas and concepts such as liberals and conservatives

all come from the Western World. So the Western World is

indirectly exerting bad influences on the innocent town of 

Macondo. Yet, there would not be the whole story if Sir Francis

Drake did not attack Riohacha in the beginning and he was anEnglish man so once again the Westerner was the one who

brought in troubles. This confirms their direct involvement which

creates the problems right from the start. In the latter part of the

story, when the railways are built with the white Americans

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coming along the trains, who start to operate the banana

plantations, the fate of the town is truly sealed. They enslave the

people and kill the people so the effects of these changes are

very clearly displayed. Once again, despite the fact the author did

not put forward his opinions openly about all of these events that

brings about the downfall of the town but the way how he

narrates the story and amplify the destructive effects to the town

shows to a great extent how he views the transformations of the

town.

Yes, every new change no matter to what extent will bring

both positive and negative effects to the people but if the

negative side dominating over the positive side, it indicates that

there is something wrong and it looks as if this is what the author

wants to tell the whole world through his book. Everyone loves

their country and they would not want anyone to hurt their

motherland and their people. Garcia Marquez does not only speak

for the South Americans, he speaks for everyone who is

oppressed by the stronger. If we cannot break the yokes by

ourselves, we will end up being wiped out like all the citizens of 

Macondo.