El Dorado, "The Wizard of Oz", and "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

During our class presentation, we described the myth of "El Dorado" and its influence on exploration and conquest in Colombia. The myth described a city made of gold and emeralds; the idea of endless riches drove many foreign explorers to search the land, leaving destruction and colonies in their wake. Thinking about the myth, I was reminded of a familiar on-screen city; this was the famed Emerald City of "The Wizard of Oz." Emerald City attracted the characters based on their deepest desires; they thought that the city would hold all their answers. This is like how the explorers searched for El Dorado in hopes of finding a perfect utopia and all the gold they could ever want. The explorers impacted the native people and the land as they went along their journey. This may seem to be a bit of a stretch, but the characters in the "The Wizard of Oz" did also; new characters were encouraged to join along and fighting between the good and bad witch ensued. In "One Hundred Years of Solitude", Macondo was portrayed, in the beginning, as a little utopia, but problems soon arose. Emerald City too was supposed to be perfect, but the wizard turned out to be fake. Both stories involve characters' fascination with the unknown world around them and magical elements. In "One Hundred Years of Solitude", magic is blended in with ordinary occurrences. In "The Wizard of Oz", the magical elements are far less subtle, but there still is the question of what is real and what isn't real since Dorothy's adventure begins with a storm and passing out, and ends with waking up. Lastly, Dorothy's visit to Oz ends with the repetition of the phrase "there's no place like home." "One Hundred Years of Solitude" revolves around family and one household. On a larger scale, Marquez was making commentary about his home nation, about which he felt very strongly. He comments on the politics, history, family life, and the society of Colombia because he cares deeply about it; "there's no place like home" and his feelings about his nation and memories of his grandma, his family, heavily influenced his novel.