Same names

One aspect of the novel that I found very confusing was the use of similar names for so many characters. At first I was extremely confused as to why Marquez would make this choice. Now, after discussing the book in class, I think that Marquez uses the similar names to represent Latin American independence. In class we talked about the prevalence of incest in the book, and discussed how it could be used to represent keeping it within Latin America, and being left alone by Europeans. I think similarly, Marquez uses the similar names to represent keeping the culture of Latin America and not being influenced by Europeans. Another approach Marquez could have taken in using similar names would be to represent how the Europeans viewed the Latin Americans. The Europeans did not see the Latin Americans as up to their level and sort of viewed them as a group as opposed to individuals. This correlates with the point in the book where 17 sons are all given the same name. Marquez's use of the same few names for many people in the family is very interesting and appears to have a much deeper meaning.