Friday, September 6, 2019
magical realism and 100 years
In 100 Years of Solitude I believe that there is a clear link between the biblical reference of the garden of Eden and the fall of man. In the begining of biblical history, man and woman lived in a utopia. They lived with nature and there was pain or suffering at all. This is extremely similar to Macondo. When the Buendias first found Macondo, it was nothing short of a Utopia. We also see the magical realism within the town and the living side by side with nature, especially the birds. There is a normalization of magic in beginning, similarly to Eden. Humans were banished from the garden when they partook from the tree of knowledge. Through this they were able to see the difference between good and evil. In the book, as the people of Macondo were exposed to more and more knowledge they began to lose the utopian type civilization where they reside. As the town learns more and more they begin to totally lose all magic in the town. And like the exodus from Eden, after knowledge became known, humans and the people of Macondo were faced with death. At the end of the book we see Macondo be wiped off the face of the Earth, similarly to Eden.
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The Analogy of the Garden of Eden can be extended further because Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life (see Genesis Chapter 3 verses 22 and 23) and Macondo was destroyed because no person is allowed to know the full history of the Bueanida Family and Macondo.
I agree that there is a clear linkage between the way Macondo is presented throughout the novel and the Garden of Eden, including the fall of man. At first, outside influences, such as the Gypsies’ inventions and later the newer technologies, such as railroads and brick houses, seem to be mesmerizing and very helpful to the local population. This is analogous to the snake using cunning language to try and tempt Adam and Eve into embracing the fruit from the Tree of Life, which is described to them as making them all-powerful and all-knowing, just like God. However, just as more outside influence, such as the Civil War reaching Macondo or American influence over Colombia affecting lives of Macondo’s citizens, comes to town, Macondo begins to diminish and is eventually reduced to just a few families living in subpar conditions. This is again analogous to Adam and Eve’s decision to eat the fruit from the tree, an action which caused God to expel them from the Garden of Eden and bring about original sin into the world, as they had betrayed his only command.
Thus, the novel, in a way, narrates a story that runs in parallel to the fall of man, as described in Genesis. Moreover, as we watched in the video in class, many analysts have commented on this idea before. As stated by William Kennedy in a New York Times Book Review, this is, “the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.” Although this statement from Kennedy may seem far stretched, Kennedy makes it a point here that One Hundred Years of Solitude corresponds to ideas presented in Genesis and possibly that in order to fully understand the Genesis, one must read this novel, as it contextualizes it in terms of the Latin American experience.
I think that if the Genesis analogy were to be taken further, then we could conclude that Marquez thinks that outsiders are the source of the evil in Latin America. If Macondo pre-magistrate is Eden, then it stands to reason that Latin America pre-Europeans is also an Edenic equivalent in Marquez's mind. The introducer of knowledge is Melquiades who represents the outside world. If Melquiades is the one who introduces knowledge and is responsible for the fall of the Buendia's and Macondo. MELQUIADES IS SATAN! Melquiades represents the outside world coming to Macondo and thus the outside world is also the source of strife and evil, at least in Marquez's mind, in Latin America.
I agree that the book makes several allusions to the book of Genesis. I always thought that Remedios the Beauty was an allusion to Eve. Remedios, like Eve, is naked, ignorant and innocent. She is unaware that her beauty is a deadly sin to the men around her. However, she never seems to reciprocate those feeling back. Another point is that she is a physical representation of innocence in Macondo. Unlike Eve, she never lost innocence but the town itself did with her sudden rapturing. While Eve was banished for her sin, Remedios is taken to heaven and Macondo is left to suffer.
On top of the similarities to the Bible, the Muisca tribe's myths also have some parallels to the beginning of the novel and creation of Macondo. Melquiades is similar both physically and in his actions to a character described in Muisca myths named Nemquerequeteba, also called Bochica. He is an emissary of the gods, racially distinct from the Muisca people. Many times throughout their recorded mythology he brings them elements of culture unknown to them from cultures far away. The creation of Macondo itself is also very similar to the myth of Hunzahua (a person). Hunzahua was the first Zaque (king) of Tunja who committed incest with his sister. They fled the city in order to escape scrutiny and condemnation have the child along the way, and end up in the Bogota river. The parallels to the book is clear; Jose Arcadio Buendia and Ursula commit incest, flee Riohacha, and create Macondo right next to a river.
Corwin, Jay. “‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, Indigenous Myth, and Meaning.” Confluencia, vol. 26, no. 2, 2011, pp. 61–71. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41351016.
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