The "Idyllic" Colony

In the novel, "100 Years of Solitude," the Buendias, along with a group of several other families, travel in search of a new homeland. The homeland that would soon be known as Macando. As we discussed in class and as Marquez intended the new settlement gives off a biblical Utopia type world at the beginning with a "seemingly" perfect system for running the small town with no conflicts. The group headed by the Buendias have come across a tract of land that they form their community with and are not the least bit plagued by any sort of conflict (at the beginning). In fact, it is a rather long time before the town even builds a cemetery because of the lack of death.

Does colonization actually lend its self to beginnings of perfection in reality? Over the course of history, especially in the Americas, colonization has to lead to mass suffering and tribulations on the part of the colonizers. In fact, it seems to be just the opposite process, where the community starts off in distress and most of the time cannot bring itself back up to a point of stability or a point where the new born does not outweigh the dying.

For example, take the colony at Jamestown. The Virginia company sent colonizers there in the early 17th century and immediately regretted the decision to settle in hopes of finding gold and suitable farm land. Within several days of setting up camp, the group was attacked by a native group of Indians. In an attempt as protection, a fort was set up, but constant raids proved too much for the colony to handle. With an already weak supply of everything including men, the ragtag group of survivors puts their focus on producing for the company. Disease and famine decimated the already beat down group. Even with several years of attempts by the company and crown to save and flourish the town, Jamestown ultimately ended up almost completely becoming farmland for neighboring settlements.

Similar cases of disease, famine, and hostility from natives can be found all throughout central and South America. Rarely did anyone group ever find the "promised land" or simply find land that did not pose an immediate threat to the lively hood of the colonizers.

Columbian/American Leadership

Columbian populist presidential candidate, Iván Duque, has recently made waves as the youngest president elected in Columbian history. American populist presidential candidate, Donald Trump has made waves as the oldest president elected in American history. Besides their record-breaking ages, the two leaders have several key features in common when it comes to policy and timing.

Both individuals are new to the political chess game. Both with controversial policies. Both fighting even more controversial opponents.

President Duque and President Trump have both pushed the agenda of economic renewal without relent. Duque has the goal of relieving Columbia of the long-term conflicts of guerillas and dictators that have brought the reliability of the nations economy and financial system down. Trump with the goal of relieving America of the ever-growing burden of subsidies and poor trade/protection deals.

Duque's opponent was an ex-member of the guerrilla group M-19, Gustavo Petro. Petro has for years been a major voice in Columbian politics, not only serving as mayor of Bogotá but also as past presidential candidate. Trump's opponent, former first lady Hilary Clinton, who has strong support from the heavy left in America, but has had scandal after scandal after scandal thrown in the public eye. Clinton like Petro has been long standing in American politics with large amounts of influence. However, whose trust by the American people goes down and down by the day.

It is quite intriguing how two nations very different from one another can have so much in common with the most important features of the very nation. The situation begs the question as to why both countries have gone down the same political route. From a broad view Columbia and the US couldn't be more different, but with a closer look, they seem to face problems (however different) that hurt the very fabric of their nation. People are tired. Tired of the constant battle for stability both on a macro and micro scale. This stability and renewal that both candidates have promised have appeared as a step towards peace and growth not only within the nation but within the daily lives of the citizens. Fascinating to say the least.

One Hundred Years: The Support Behind the Novel

Upon reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as well as doing research for the projects due Tuesday, I have discovered this book, along with Don Quixote, is the equivalent in Latin America to reading the Bible and it’s a pretty big deal if you HAVEN’T read it. It is evident why, as it reflects all aspects of Columbian culture concerning religion, war, politics, and more.

However, in the article assigned for homework this past Monday night, it was revealed that the writing and publication of this book was not a smooth ride for Marquez or his family. And after going through school studying a major he had no interest in, continuing on in his travels not making the best impressions along the way (most notably New York and Columbia), everything was laid out on the line for this book.

I thought it was the most extraordinary thing that as Marquez isolated himself for 18 months to write this novel and put his family in debt, the whole town had so much hope in his writing skill that they helped support the family. They extended credit, forgave loans, and more. The town could have easily turned their heads but they didn’t. Because of that, a great masterpiece was written.

This is such an encouraging story of how this book came to be and it truly amazes me the family went through so much for this one piece of literature with the possibility of it completely failing in sales. Marquez’s description and reflection of the real events in Columbia that inspired his writing evoked many feelings in the community that aided him, while also being applicable to certain cultural aspects of the world today. It is truly an inspiring, timeless novel.

(references from https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/12/gabriel-garcia-marquez-one-hundred-years-of-solitude-history and http://www.variomagazine.com/content.asp?id=4 )

The Banana Massacre: The Tragedy That is All Too Real

Early on in reading One Hundred Years of Solitude, I realized that the book featured a healthy mix of fiction and non-fiction. I found this stylistic approach to be unlike any other book I have ever read and quickly found myself enjoying the process of attempting to distinguish between fact, fiction, or some mix of the two. "Is Macondo a real city," "Were the gypsies real people," "Was there actually a war in Colombia between the Liberals and the Conservatives?" These were some of the many questions I asked myself, and, with the aid of the internet, arriving at an answer was quite simple. When I reached the section of the novel about the Banana Company Massacre, I didn't even have to reach out to Google to discover if this tragedy was real: there was absolutely no way public officials would mow down thousands of innocent citizens. I read through the rest of the novel shocked that Marquez could even conjure up such a terrible image but relieved that such a terrible event never actually unfolded. Right? Wrong. 

Within the first week of English class, I quickly discovered that the Banana Massacre was, in fact, completely real; the simple mentioning of it in the Marquez reading prompted me to do so some more  outside research on it. What I discovered was completely tragic: in 1928 in Cienaga, Colombia, workers of the United Fruit Company, fed up with their awful working conditions, went on strike. The strike eventually got so out of hand that army personnel were sent in to take care of the strikers-- only they did a little more than "take care" of them. Although the actual number of casualties remains unknown, it is estimated that somewhere from 47 to 2,000 people were murdered in cold blood by machine guns.  

Discovering that this tragedy actually took place was absolutely shocking. Writing this, I am still appalled by the complete brutality displayed by the Colombian Government and the United Fruit Company.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Massacre

The Buendias: The Conquerors who got Conquered

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude is an elaborate book in which he weaves a large number of themes and motifs throughout; but, one of the most interesting and complex elements is that the Buendias are simultaneously both the conquerors and the conquered. At the start of the novel when Macondo was first founded, they were the counquesters. They found not only a new land, but a new world. Ursula and Jose Arcadio Buendia were compared to Adam and Eve and the creation story, who upon their creation discovered a new world. Both couples set out on discoveries and named all the new oddities around them. They were both part of idyllic utopias, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the Buendias is the pure socialist haven of Macondo. These parallels can also be seen as having connections to the spanish conquistadors who first invaded modern day colombia. Like Adam and Eve and the Buendias, they though they were discovering a “New World” where they could make a paradise of their own, and discovering new things that had never been seen before. There were even rumors of utopias such as El Dorado or the fountain of youth waiting in this idyllic land. But, this was no new world, it had long been inhabited by the natives, and all things had already been discovered and been given names. Similarly, the land where Macondo was born can assumed to be long ago already discovered by natives, and all things already named. They were not necessarily an Adam and Eve, founders of a new humanity, but simply invaders claiming a “new world” that had became old long ago. Like the conquistadors, they had natives working below them in their households as servants. Yet, the roles soon become reversed, starting with the arrival of Moscote. He was a representative of the government, who the residents of Macondo had never interacted with before, and tried to impose a seemingly foreign power on them that they had no respect for or knowledge of. Moscote eventually brought in troops and threatened violence in order to enforce his power. Jose Arcadio Buendia eventually made peace with and compromised with Moscote, but let him to stay, a move which allowed Moscote to enforce the government’s power onto Macondo later on and eventually corrupt the utopia that was Macondo. In this scenario, the Buendias and Macondo were the conquested. Again like the spanish conquistadors, the colombian government invaded Macondo using violence, imposed their power on the native residents through ways unknown to them such as official decrees on paper, and eventually took over and corrupted their society. This happens again later on with the American banana company, who when they come in they treat their workers horribly. They have unsafe working conditions, their housing and health care is abysmal, are paid wages of next to nothing, and are eventually shot down in a massacre. There is a parallel here to the spanish conquistadors, who enslaved the natives under the guise of helping and providing for them under the encomienda system and eventually killed them off, but there is also a much more blatant parallel to American Imperialism. The massacre that took place in the book was directly based on one in Colombia that occurred when Marquez was five. Either way, it represents invasion and oppression by a foreign power.

So, why were the Buendias and Macondo shown to be both the conquerors and the conquered? It is to represent the history that colombia has with conquest and the cycles in has gone through. The Buendias and Macondo overall represent the spaniards. They first came over to Colombia as conquistadors, convinced they had found a new world in which to make a Utopia. They ripped the land away from the natives who were their long before them and enslaved them. But, years go by, they find their own unique identity and culture in this land, and practically become natives themselves. This is when they come under attack of foreign powers via imperialism, especially american imperialism.Western countries come over looking to make a profit through different companies. Workers are practically enslaved and are abused. The conquerors have become conquered and the cycle start again. Marquez was clear that 100 Years of Solitude was not a story about Colombia, but a history, and this is one of the many examples of how he showed Colombia’s history in his novel.         

American intervention in foreign culture continues beyond Marquez.

After reading 100 Years of Solitude and discussing the material as a group, it becomes even more blatant to me than when I originally read Marquez's novel that U.S. intervention in global politics has led a history of exploitation, hegemonic power, and struggle for developing countries to reach a clear national identity.

Marquez supports this claim in making the Banana Massacre play a role in his novel. He explains the dread and terror workers in Macondo, and comparatively, workers in Colombia had to endure in the 20th century when the United States, for the betterment of our economy, intervened by establishing plantations in Latin American countries. On these plantations, workers were exploited and clearly disrespected in their places of work. The Banana Massacre occurred, where workers on strike were murdered by not participating in their work, therefore respectably, refusing exploitation. 

It is significant that even after a piece of literature like 100 Years of Solitude is written by such a profound author as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the public is persistent in turning the other cheek. The idea that people are mistreated so significantly seems so foreign to us in modern day, since it is no longer as present in our own "backyard" of Latin America. Instead, this exploitation, continued by U.S. companies and corporations, occurs overseas in countries like China, India, and Vietnam, where the American public eye can more easily be blinded. People work for next to nothing in conditions that are less than unstable. Children lose their lives daily in mines and machinery. 

I hope by now, the general public, specifically in America, is sick of history repeating itself. For that reason, the education of Americans should be prioritized so that the reality and truth of American imperialism may be revealed. It is not a thing of the past. 

Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez Did What?!

I'm no Fidel Castro expert, but to my knowledge, his government brutally suppressed and incarcerated political enemies and dissenters. Furthermore, while he held power, civil and political rights were significantly repressed. I am also aware that healthcare and literacy improved in Castro's Cuba; nevertheless, as an supporter of free speech and expression, I believe some of his actions were unjust.

After reading a brief description of Fidel Castro and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's relationship in our homework, I decided that I would have to dig deeper. I was not disappointed. I bet you didn't know that Castro edited many works composed by a Nobel Prize-winning author (Marquez, of course) or that he was a seafood connoiseur.

(My source was an article written by Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/fidel-castro-gabriel-garcia-marquez-a7474596.html)

Marquez and Castro might not have seen eye-to-eye on political issues, but according to author Panichelli-Batalla, their relationship flourished as a result of "their common interest in literature."
It's intriguing to me that two people who came from very different backgrounds and who had vastly different perspectives of the world could find common ground by use of literature. We've seen other evidence of the power of language throughout history; it can drive people apart or unite them.

Castro actually noticed a factual error one of Marquez's books, and from then on, Castro fact-checked many of Marquez's books before they were published (according to Marquez). Don't you wish the President of Cuba could read your English papers before you turned them in to Ms. King?

According to author Panichelli-Batalla, Marquez impacted some of Castro's political decisions. Marquez likely played a role in the freeing of prominent political prisoners Padilla, Norberto Fuentes, and Armando Valladares. That's wild!

What do you think of Castro and Marquez's unconventional friendship? It spanned four decades...

Best Buddies Fidel Castro (right) and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (middle) smile(?) for the camera