Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Babiliona's Embodiment of Colonialism (This is Will)
Marquez uses many characters throughout the book to epitomize the changes brought about to Macondo from the Gringos, but one character that stands out in my mind is Babiliona. The butterflies that follow him around are in stark contrast with the mechanic grease that embalms his body, and I think Marquez drew the contrast purposefully. On page 285 Marquez writes: "His name was Mauricio Babiliona. He had been born and raised in Macondo and he was an apprentice mechanic in the banana company garage". Mauricio's nativity, in my mind, is represented by the almost magical yellow butterflies that follow him, but the reality of the Gringo's dominance within Macondo is represented through the grease from his mechanical work. Not only does this suggest that Macondo is more natural, but it also portrays the Gringo's work as dirty- indeed Marquez goes on to write about the different ways in which Babiliona's appearance is dirtied by his work for the banana company. As we say in math, //
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It is almost like Babilonia is killed because of his work at the banana company which as Will said, "dirtied him up." He really did seem like a pretty innocent person as the butterflies seemed to symbolize. He eventually dies a pretty rough death as he is stabbed outside when he is trying to visit Meme. I feel like Mauricio was really a good person with good intentions, but the banana company made him look like a bad person to others as it "dirtied him up" and led to his killing.
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