Progress and Innocence in One Hundred Year of Solitude

2165 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Magic realism in hundred year solitude

Progress and Innocence in One Hundred Year of Solitude One Hundred Year of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez projects itself among the most famous and ambitious works in the history of literature. Epic in scope, Marquez weaves autobiography, allegory and historical allusion to create a surprisingly coherent story line about his forebears, his descendants and ours. It has been said that there are only about 18 or so themes that describe the human condition. This quote was made in reference to Shakespeare, and posited that all of the books and movies that we digest and assimilate can be shown to have their roots in these canonical themes. In Cien Anos, Marquez addresses several of these themes in the subtle and interlocking ways that they deserve. This paper will concentrate on two interrelated themes: progress and innocence. In its exploration of these concerns, this novel provides no less than a rendering of the trajectory of human evolution. Loss of innocence is a time-worn theme in the literature of every culture. It traditionally takes the form of some type of epiphany visited upon an unsophisticated character as she grows up and encounters the larger world. The focus of this theme is normally personal, in the point of view of an individual, or the omnipotent third person account of the reaction of an individual. While this aspect can be found in the novel, it additionally explores the loss of innocence of a family, people or race, called estirpe in the original edition. In the Western sensibility, the march of progress is normally deemed positive and inevitable. In recent Western history, from the Middle Ages forward, successive improvements in the spread of knowledge, dissemination of culture, and the av... ... middle of paper ... ...s of Solitude." In McGuirk and Cardwell, 65-79. Griffin, Clive. "The Humour of One Hundred Years of Solitude." In McGuirk and Cardwell, 81-94. James, Regina. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Revolutions in Wonderland. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1981. McGuirk, Bernard and Richard Cardwell, edd. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: New Readings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987). Martin, Gerald. "On 'magical' and social realism in Garcia Marquez." In McGuirk and Cardwell, 95-116. Williams, Raymond L. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Boston: Twayne, 1984. Williamson, Edwin. "Magical Realism and the Theme of Incest in One Hundred Years of Solitude." In McGuirk and Cardwell. 45-63. Wood, Michael. "Review of One Hundred Years of Solitude." In Critical Essays on Gabriel Garcia Marquez. McMurray, George R., ed. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1987.

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Rhetorical Devices In The Thing Hings They Carried

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The

    Read More

  • “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia- Marque

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    Christopher, J. (2011, July). The Life and Influence of Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2014, from http://voices.yahoo.com/the-life-influence-gabriel-garcia-marquez-8776677.html

    Read More

  • Chemical Control Agents Used Against the Gypsy Moth

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    There seems to be a low level of concern regarding human B.t.k. exposure, although B.t.k. formulations have caused eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritations, especially in ground workers. Some claims reveal that a majority of these workers were not equipped with ...

    Read More

  • Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Have a Loss of Innocence

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Loss of Innocence is a classic theme in literature. Protagonists are forced into situations where they must sacrifice their goodness/what they believe. It is a theme that runs through both “ Young Goodman Brown” and “ The Most Dangerous Game”, though each of them happen in a different way.

    Read More

  • Oscilloscope Essay

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    Last but not least, for Ritika,Preeti and Prem (2013), they are using Freeduino board and solder the component on that board. They are using compiler Arduino 1.0 for uploading the codes to the board, MAX 232 Line Driver, ATmega328 and other components. The reason for they are using Freeduino is that Freeduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software and Freeduino projects can be standalone or they can communicate with software running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Matlab, Processing, MaxMS ). The wave plot also can be in form of sine and square wave form.

    Read More

  • The Latino Culture in America

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paz, Octavio. "Pachucos and Other Extremes" in The Labyrinth of Solitude and The Other Mexico New York: Grove Press, 1985

    Read More

  • Essay C&C

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Loss of innocence can happen in many ways. Some losses are enormous and hugely impactful, like killing, while others are small and subtle like growing up. Innocence is lost in the most innocuous ways, most of which aren’t noticeable, which brings this paper to a closing question, something implied through both of these works; something to think about. Is every loss of innocence bad, or are they just stepping stones on the path to becoming an adult?

    Read More

  • The Mongol Invasions Of The Mongols

    2846 Words  | 6 Pages

    Between the year 1180-1220, Mongolia went through a drop in the average yearly temperature, which means that the increasing phase for grass was lessened. Less grass meant a real danger to the Mongols' animals, and, since the animals were truley the basis of the Mongols' pastoral-nomadic life, and this ecological threat might have prompted them to move out of Mongolia.

    Read More

  • The Loss of Innocence in Alberto Alvaro Rios’ “The Secret Lion”

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, Rios illustrates a young boy perplexed by a new-found maturity. As the maturation from childhood to adolescence begins, he is facing unfamiliar feelings about the opposite sex. An example of this is apparent as Rios explains that the boy cannot talk to girls anymore; at least “not the same way we used to” (Rios 453). Since his emotions have new depth and maturity, the young boy realizes the nature of his friendships has changed. Innocence is further lost as the girls who are former friends, “weren’t the same girls we used to know” (453). The boy has matured from his casual, youthful interactions, and is now seeing the girls in a new light. Another example of his maturity manifests sexually as he reflects about the girls, “and all the things we wanted to do with them” (454). Although he is unsure how to act upon his thoughts, the innocence is none the less tainted by his desires for mature relations with the young girls. The maturity and sexual maturity bring forth a storm of emotions that prove to be both exhilarating and confusing for the young boy.

    Read More

  • Magic Realism in Marquez´s Un Señor Muy Viejo con Alas Enormes

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Swanson, Philip. "The Critical Reception of Garciá Márquez." The Cambridge Companion to Gabriel Garciá Márquez. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. 25-40. Print.

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence

    1482 Words  | 3 Pages

    Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct. It is also bounded by different religious beliefs. Still, no matter which culture or religion is at hand, there is always more than one way to lose one’s innocence, and every member of that particular culture or religion experiences a loss of innocence at least once in their lives. In addition, the individual’s loss of innocence will impair him or her emotionally and/or physically.

    Read More

  • A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Style: The typical Magical- Realistic story of García Márquez placed in a familiar environment where supernatural things take place as if they were everyday occurrences. Main use of long and simple sentences with quite a lot of detail. "There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away and sense of grandeur he might have had" (589).

    Read More

  • Poema Del Cante Jondo: Popular or Elitist?

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poetical works of Federico García Lorca, C. Maurer (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1991)

    Read More

  • One Hundred Years of Solitude: Linear and Circular Time

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cien Anos de Soledad Style in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude is closely linked to myth. Marquez chooses magic realism over the literal, thereby placing the novel's emphasis on the surreal. To complement this style, time in One Hundred Years of Solitude is also mythical, simultaneously incorporating circular and linear structure (McMurray 76).

    Read More

  • Use of Magical Realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...on, which General Petronio San Roman was a hero of. The dialogue throughout the book stays believable, even though the reports were unordinary the characters responded as if they were ordinary. Such as the narrator saying that he believed that Pedro was awake for months. It is this reality-based core with real people and places, a recognizable setting and believable conversation that enables Marquez to twist in the magical details giving this novel the genre of magical realism.

    Read More

More about Progress and Innocence in One Hundred Year of Solitude

Open Document