A Race Plagued by Solitude for a Century Can Never Be Reborn in this World
1. Introduction
2. Characters
3. Plot Summary
4. Review
5. Conclusion
Introduction
A Hundred Years of Solitude, evaluated as one of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, expresses traditional lifestyles and contemporary realities of the Latin American region through magical imagination. It is a monumental novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, representing Latin American literature. The title itself suggests the overflowing prosperity and decline of solitude spanning a century within a single family saga, pioneering magical realism in Latin American literature. The author, Marquez, later won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Marquez was born in Colombia in 1927. During his childhood, he lived with his maternal grandparents due to his father's business, and his grandfather, a retired soldier who participated in wars, influenced Marquez's literary world as a future writer.
This novel, published in 1967, received the highest praise among the author's works. It can be considered the essence of Latin American literature, reflecting the author's soul, as he dedicated himself to writing for 8 hours a day for a whopping 18 months to create this masterpiece.
Characters
This novel tells the story of the Buendia family spanning seven generations in the fictional region of Macondo. However, the characters repeatedly use the names Jose and Aureliano, causing confusion as to whether they are the same person or different individuals. In fact, this ambiguity was intentional on the part of the author.
The Buendia family begins with Jose Arcadio Buendia and his wife, Ursula Iguaran, who give birth to three children: Jose, Aureliano, and Amaranta.
Jose fathers Aureliano with a woman named Pilar, while Aureliano fathers Aureliano Jose with the same woman. Arcadio later marries Santa Sofia and fathers twins, Remedios and Jose Arcadio II, and Aureliano Segundo, respectively.
Aureliano Segundo marries Fernanda and has three children: Jose Arcadio (II), Renata Remedios, and Amaranta. Aureliano also fathers a pig-tailed child with his aunt, Amaranta.
Plot Summary
Jose Arcadio Buendía and Ursula Iguaran, the first generation of the Buendía family, together found the city of Macondo. Jose becomes fascinated with various magical objects brought by the gypsy Melquiades and dedicates himself to studying them. Despite being cousins, Jose and Ursula marry, and despite fears of bearing a child with a pig's tail due to inbreeding, Ursula agrees to have a child at Jose's strong insistence. Their children are Jose, Aureliano, and Amaranta.
Jose falls in love with a woman named Pilar, who becomes pregnant with his child, but he leaves Macondo with the gypsies before the child is born. The child, Arcadio, is raised by his aunt, Amaranta. Later, Pilar has a relationship with Aureliano and gives birth to Aureliano Jose.
Subsequently, the central government appoints a mayor for Macondo, and Jose, the town's founder, agrees to recognize the mayor's authority through negotiation. Aureliano falls in love with Remedios, the mayor's young daughter, and they marry. However, Remedios dies shortly after their marriage, leaving behind her son, Aureliano Jose. As tensions escalate between conservative and liberal factions, civil war erupts, and Aureliano becomes a colonel in the liberal army, leading numerous uprisings across the country.
Aureliano entrusts the governance of Macondo to his nephew Arcadio, who marries a woman named Santa Sofia, introduced to him by his mother, Pilar, and they have twins, Jose and Aureliano. However, Macondo falls to an attack by the conservatives, and Arcadio is executed by them. The civil war ends in favor of the conservatives, and Aureliano narrowly escapes execution with the help of his cousin, Jose, and successfully leads another uprising to reclaim Macondo.
Afterwards, Jose dies under mysterious circumstances, and Aureliano leaves Macondo again to lead a rebellion. Aureliano Jose, Aureliano's son, returns to Macondo after fighting in battles, but he is shot and killed when he refuses to be searched by the government forces who have occupied Macondo. Aureliano leads the rebellion to capture Macondo, and disillusioned by the war, he negotiates a ceasefire with the government forces in a place called Neerlandia, ending the civil war. He attempts suicide after the ceasefire but fails, and he lives secluded in his house thereafter.
Meanwhile, Aureliano Segundo marries a woman named Fernanda and has a son named Jose and a daughter named Renata. Their great-grandmother, Ursula, sends Jose to study to become a pope and sends Renata to learn music at a convent school.
Later, a railway is laid in Macondo, and Europeans and Americans, referred to as "gringos," arrive to manage banana plantations. The indigenous people of Macondo dislike the gringos and the banana plantations. Jose Arcadio Segundo gets a job there and faces criticism from his family. Around this time, Aureliano dies, prompting Remedios, who finished studying music at a convent school, to return home, and her younger sister Amaranta is born, while the second-generation Amaranta dies.
Remedios starts a relationship with a man named Babylon and has a son named Aureliano with him. One day, Babylon is shot dead while attempting to sneak into the Buendía house, and Remedios becomes a nun and leaves home.
Meanwhile, Jose, who works on the banana plantation, leads a strike of laborers. They are ruthlessly massacred by soldiers, with Jose narrowly escaping death and going into hiding. Around this time, Ursula passes away.
Aureliano, noticing the potential in his youngest sister Ursula, sends her to study in Belgium. Some time later, both Jose and Aureliano pass away, and their mother, Sofia, also leaves Macondo. Aureliano, the illegitimate son of Renata (Remedios), is confined to the house, studying various languages. One day, their grandmother Fernanda dies. Jose returns for the funeral, and Aureliano and his nephew Aureliano (son of Amaranta) rely on each other for support. Eventually, Jose falls victim to a robber and dies.
Ursula, who had been studying in Belgium, returns to Macondo, unaware of her relationship with Aureliano. They fall in love and have a child with a pig's tail. Aureliano discovers the secret manuscript of the gypsy Melquiades, revealing the prophecy of the Buendía family's demise, bringing the story to a close.
Review
The name Aureliano appears more than six times, making it quite complicated. Already an unfamiliar Latin name, its repeated use makes it confusing to discern who is who. Moreover, as they are all related, it adds to the complexity of their relationships.
However, the author intentionally set it up this way, suggesting there's a reason for making the work so difficult to understand. This complexity in character names spanning generations reflects the intricate nature of Latin American history.
By narrowing the focus to individuals, each with their own unique traits and histories, the author perhaps aimed to portray the multitude of individuals living through history. While each person has their own characteristics, they are all part of the larger framework of a nation. Just like how we, living in Korea, are seen as Koreans on the global stage, our individual personalities and traits are not fully reflected.
From this perspective, the author may have intentionally made the characters similar to express the individuals living through history.
The title, "One Hundred Years of Solitude," is mentioned only in the final scene. This solitude can be seen as a central theme permeating the lives of the characters. Characters like Ursula and Aureliano often live struggling in solitude. However, one thing to note is that they all chose solitude for themselves. They weren't abandoned or left by someone else; they chose this path themselves.
Aureliano locks himself in his workshop after ending the civil war, while Amaranta gives up marriage and lives her life alone. The author seems to suggest in this work that solitude ultimately leads to the downfall of the community. In the scene where Aureliano interprets the gypsy's prophecy, it mentions the disappearance of Macondo and refers to solitude.
If someone had ended their solitude during the hundred years of the Buendia family, perhaps the family and Macondo would have been preserved. Ultimately, it means that to protect the family and Macondo, being together rather than lonely is the way.
This work is considered the essence of Latin American literature. Not only in Colombia but also in many Latin American countries like Mexico, this work is loved because the history of Macondo, the city depicted in the work, is a story that many Latin American countries have in common.
The internal conflicts between conservatives and liberals or the arrival of Westerners to manage farms, and the way these facts are forgotten, illustrate the modern history of Latin America well.
Moreover, the characters' traits in the work symbolize the virtues that Latin Americans hold dear. With determination, pride, and patience, Latin Americans have overcome years of hardship.
People who share similar experiences undoubtedly feel a greater sense of intimacy. Therefore, on a communal or national level, those with similar histories are more likely to feel a sense of solidarity.
By dedicating this work to Latin America, the author may have hoped to become a focal point of unity.
Conclusion
I read this book with high expectations after hearing that it won the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, I found it slightly challenging and confusing, and it didn't seem to have a gripping story or profound hidden meanings that make you contemplate life's truths. Perhaps it's because my literary knowledge is still lacking, and I don't yet have the discernment to recognize a great work.
Nevertheless, this book achieved considerable commercial success, reportedly selling over 50 million copies worldwide. Its popularity suggests that it resonated with people, perhaps due to cultural differences and its portrayal of their own history, particularly in Latin America.
Just as people from other countries may not fully empathize with works depicting our painful history during the Japanese occupation, there might be a cultural divide in appreciating certain works.
