Genealogy and Characterization

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In the novels One Hundred Years of Solitude and The House of the Spirits we see how both Allende and Garcia Marquez uses genealogy to develop Esteban Trueba and Jose Arcadio Buendia . The authors both use the genealogy of the characters to influence the characters in a different way. In the One Hundred Years of Solitude Garcia Marquez used Jose Arcadio Buendia’s genealogy to influence his development as a character. The same can be said with How Allende uses Trueba’s genealogy to greatly affect his development in The House of the Spirits. In the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude it can be seen that the genealogy of the Buendia’s had a great affect on their current lifestyles. Ursula’s great-great grandmother was still having nightmares of Sir Frances Drakes attack, and this is the start of the Buendia-Iguaran genealogy. It was her nightmares that led to the family to moving into Macondo, a place isolated and “showed on no map” (Garcia Marquez 13). This is also the start of their isolationist way of life. The Buendia’s past has also affected how Ursula lived because of their isolationist lifestyle she was afraid of having a child with a deformation that she “wore a system of leather straps and was closed in the front by a thick iron buckle,” (Garcia Marquez 21) and never consummated her wedding with her husband which resulted in his ridicule. The chastity pants that Ursula wears also symbolizes the isolation that the Buendia put themselves in. Garcia Marquez uses the Buendia’s genealogy to stem the family’s isolationist lifestyle. This will also have a great impact in the upbringing of Jose Arcadio Buendia as it will be the foundation to his personality and character. The years of solitude that the Buendia spent due to the decisi...

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... prevent this from happening to Alba, but due to his actions she has to suffer. This brings out some of Trueba’s less than appealing traits to the novel. Both Allende and Garcia Marquez use genealogy to develop the characters and their novel, but they use it in different aspects. Garcia Marquez uses the genealogy of the Buendia-Iguaran to create the foundation for the isolationist lifestyle that the family portrays and how that has affected Esteban Arcadio Trueba. On the other hand, Allende uses genealogy to show the impact that Esteban Trueba creates by putting too much importance on genealogy and the treatment of his family.

Works Cited

Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits. Trans. Magda Bogin. New York: Bantam

Books, 1993

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. Ed.

3rd ed.New York: Harper Perennial, 2006 Print.

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