One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel Garciá Márquez

♦Find examples or specific passages which would support these important themes and
motifs of the novel:

♦Solitude
♦Search for Knowledge
♦Cyclical Time/Repetition
♦Inseparability of Past, Present, and Future
♦Illegitimacy
♦Politics

♦Discuss Macondo's development over the course of the novel. Critic Harold Bloom has
called Solitude "The Book of Macondo," comparing it to the Book of Genesis in the
Bible. It has also been called a parable of civilizations, especially Greek civilization. Is
there any truth to these comparisons? And if it is a parable, what is the moral? How does
Macondo mimic a Biblical paradise at the beginning of the novel, and how does it come
to be a reflection of modern society? What does the narrator of the novel have to say
about this?

♦Compare the roles of women versus men in this novel.

♦Consider the usage of names and "personality traits" in the Buendía family. Supposedly,
Jose Arcadios should be physically imposing and sociable, while Aurelianos should be
withdrawn and solitary. How true is this in the novel, and to what narrative use does
Marquez put the pattern?

♦ The words "solitary" and "solitude" appear on nearly every page of this book. What is
the meaning of "solitude" in the novel? Discuss why the members of the Buendía family
are so alone. What does Márquez mean to say about the nature of man?

♦Analyze the banana massacre scene. Describe the narrative techniques Marquez uses for
this scene. Even though it is only a few pages long, how does the reader know that it is
the climactic scene of the book? What is Marquez saying about Latin American history
and politics?

♦What does Solitude have to say about religion? Consider the role of religion, organized
and not, in the book. Pay special attention to the following characters: Father Nicador,
Fernanda del Carpio, and Aureliano (the illegitmate son of Meme and Mauricio
Babilonia).

♦Incest is usually a remote possibility for families. For the Buendías, it is a constant
threat. Why? What is it about the Buendía family, and their solitude, that makes incest
such a danger?