Magic Realism as a Historical Filler

Magic Realism is often considered to be a distinctly Latin American point of culture. When I read parts of One Hundred Years of Solitude in Spanish class last year, I understood this movement's uniqueness, but couldn't fully grasp why other regions hadn't picked up on on this compelling genre until I was able to understand the book as a representation of Latin American culture and history.

After hearing and reading more about the culture from which this movement sprung, it is understandable that supernormality could fill in some of the gaps. These gaps would be the moments in Latin American history that are so inconceivable that they are hard to accept as real. For instance, the Banana Massacre being just about swept under the rug seems unfathomable, so much so that some magical intervention seems a reasonable explanation. Márquez artfully taps into these murky moments of history, and fills them in with a spark of the supernatural, making them seem just as, is even more, plausible than the reality.