Las Políticas De Cien Años De Soledad (En Inglés)

Discuss the politics of Cien años de soledad

“ I am a Latin American, and considering all that is going on in Latin America, it would be a crime not to be interested in politics. If I came a part of the world that didn’t have Latin America’s enormous political, economic and social problems, I could ignore politics.” The given quotation by the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez(1927-) provides a clear demonstration that politics represents a key ingredient in all his works. In his most famous work, Cien años de soledad, the political message that resonates throughout the work cannot be denied. The mythical world of Macondo in which the novel is set, serves as a representation of Marquez’s own country of Colombia and Latin America as a whole. In a political sense, thetitle of the novel can be seen to represent the one hundred year period of history in Latin American between the mid 19th and 20th century. Furthermore, the events that occur in Macondo, alongside the use of satire, exaggeration and magic realism all conspire to transmit Márquez’s own views concerning capitalism, imperialism and also his wider ideological sentiments. However, Cien años de soledad doesnot merely offer a political viewpoint based upon historical events, but through his portrayal of memory in the novel Márquez criticises the attitude of Latin Americans towards politics and reveals profound messages concerning the continent’s political system.
Márquez is known to have communist sympathies and is a close friend of Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba.This ideological standpoint resonates throughout the novel and is immediately apparent. Macondo, in its infancy, possesses clear comparisons with the Garden of Eden, and can be considered to resemble a Communist utopia. A utopia in which José Arcadio Buendía, the patriarch of the Buendía family ‘había dispuesto de tal modo la posición de las casas con tan buen sentido que ninguna casa recibía mássol que otra a la hora del calor.’ The communist sentiments are further exemplified with the description of Macondo at this point as ‘en verdad una aldea feliz.’ It is the arrival of modernity, in the shape of government officials, foreigners and money to Macondo immediately begins to erase the sense of innocence and paradise from the settlement and sparks the decline of Macondo along a path ofviolence, corruption and war that leads to its inevitable fall. The role of Remedios in the novel serves to emphasize this point, as her contrasting character serves as a reminder of the innocence and simplicity that once enchanted Macondo. In broader political terms, it is the arrival of capitalism and imperialism that provoke the destruction of Macondo, and given the fact that Macondo serves tomirror not only Colombia, but Latin America as a whole, Marquéz’s political message is apparent. Throughout the novel, Márquez’s distain of capitalism, imperialism and conservatism are apparent. Márquez says that he himself is “not rich. I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing.”
There are several key developments that contribute to the gradual andinevitable decline of Macondo. The arrival of the gypsies represents the first, Don Apolinar Moscote demonstrates the arrival of government, which is followed by a military presence and later the arrival of multinational corporations. The reaction of the people of Macondo to these developments and the tone in which Márquez describes them, serve to emphasize the political message that runs throughout thenovel. Márquez’s dislike of the capitalist system becomes apparent when Aureliano comes across a young girl who has been forced into prostitution in order to repay her debt, debt that she had acquired by accidently burning down her house. Aureliano is clearly disturbed by the event, ‘Esa noche no pudo dormir pensando en la muchacha, con una mezcla de deseo y conmiseración.’ Such an occurrence...