Septimus in Mrs. Dalloway and Aureliano Buendia

As we discussed some in class, Aureliano Buendía began to deteriorate as the war progressed. Marquez writes that as the war became more intense, Aureliano Buendia “[gradually] was fading away into a universe of unreality” (161) and his speech gradually began to lose meaning. Aureliano Buendía’s deterioration reminds me of Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. As a “bellringer” for those that do not remember, Septimus fought in World War I for the British, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder, and ultimately committed suicide. Marquez and Woolf use Aureliano Buendía and Septimus, respectively, to show the psychological effects of war on those that fight and to criticize their society’s value on war. Both authors raise the question of whether or not the consequences of war are worth the potential positive implications of winning a war.