I. The Buendía Family tree
First generation:
|
|
|
|
| José Arcadio
m Rebeca Montiel (no children) with Pilar Ternera begets |
Col. Aureliano
m Remedios Moscote (no children) with Pilar Ternera begets |
Amaranta
|
|
Arcadio José
with Santa Sofía de la Piedad begets |
17 Aurelianos
(no known chidren) |
|
Remedios José Arcadio II
Aureliano II
the Beauty m Fernanda del Carpio |
II. General Overview (1)
This novel can be read as a:
1. political and cultural history of Colombia and Latin America
2. chronicle of a town
3. story of the inhabitants of a town
4. history of a founding family
5. individual struggle to shape one's destiny
It presents:
1. a human enigma--how can we understand the meaning of our own lives
while we are still living (creating) it? and
2. García Márquez's interpretation of the problem of
Latin America--"that solitude is both the condition and the cause of failure
of social action in Latin America"
III. Division of the linear plot (2)
The linear plot is the story of the town and the family. It consists
of four main segments:
1. Foundation of Macondo (chapters 1-4)
2. Macondo, society and the war years (chapters 5-9)
3. Years of American intervention (chapters 10-15)
4. Metafictional (self-reflexive) section (chapters 16-29)
IV. The metaplot (3)
The metaplot is "the writing and the eventual deciphering of
the manuscripts by the various family members". It "implies a meditation
on the nature of the medium in which the work presents itself." It
"forces readers into an awareness of writing and of the process of making
a text as it simultaneously challenges them to an understanding of themselves."
"Historical writing is a recording of the past and implies self-understanding
through the remembering of that past. Myths, by contrast, allow self-understanding
through the telling of tales that seek to explain who we are."
V. What to watch out for as you read
1. Images--There are sections which evoke universal experiences or
memories. Which sections? which memories?
2. Time--How is time used and referred to? When are we given a definite
time or count of time? When is time (the lineal plot) presented in a circular
manner? What events, acts, phrases are repeated?
3. Reversal of ideas--When does he use expressions that seem to be
the opposite of what we normally say?
4. Solitude--When is the idea of solitude expressed? When do the characters
feel solitude?
5. Characters--The Aurelianos are supposed to be a certain way, and
the Arcadios another. What are the supposed characteristics of the Aurelianos
and the Arcadios? What are the women like? How do the men and the women
differ?
6. The magical--Keep track of magical (supernatural, strange, unusual)
occurrences. How do the characters react to the magical? What is your reaction
to their reaction? Do you marvel more at the actual magical occurrence
or at the reaction of the character to the magical occurrence?
*****************
1. ME Valdes & MJ Valdes, Approaches to Teaching García
Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (New York: The Modern Language
Association of America, 1990), pp. ix-x.
2. Isabel Alvarez Borland, "History, Myth and Metafiction," in Approaches
to Teaching García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
(NY: MLA of America, 1990) pp. 89-96.
3. Alvarez Borland, pp. 90-91, 94-96.
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