Railroad & the Clashing of Two Worlds

Earlier this week, we split into groups for discussion, and my group (Margot, Bruce, and I) focused a lot of attention on the building of the railroad in Macondo and the event's impact on the rise and fall of the city. Before the formation of the railroad, there was some evidence of foreign influence on Macondo through the gypsies and the banana company, but there was no direct channel connecting the modern, Western world with the simple town of Macondo. Modern ideas and commodities still felt somewhat elusive and impossible to attain. The railroad completely changed this mindset because it created a direct method of transportation between the two worlds. It connected two worlds that were never meant to clash: a simple, rural town free of death and sorrow and a complex, modern society filled with intricacies and adversity. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the modern society exploits the simple town and abandons it after it can no longer reap benefits.

Also, I think it's important to note the similarities between colonialism and the Western impact on Macondo. The concept of imperialism was based upon an economic greediness and a blatant disregard for the labor and resources of foreign lands. These motivations and mindsets are clearly displayed through the American banana plantation and point towards a time period during which the United States functioned as a sort of colonizing nation, like Britain and France in previous centuries.


P.S. I do realize that this post goes into two different topics and that I kind of go into a tangent but whatever!