Summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

One of the works of world classics that we studied at school is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a Colombian writer who created his works in the style of magical realism. The novel was published in 1967. In order to publish it, the writer had to collect money, as they say, from the whole world. The novel meets reality and fiction. The author raises the issue of human relations, the topic of incest and deep loneliness. So, a summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Romance in brief

Summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude": almost all the events that are described in the novel take place in a town called Macondo (a fictional city). But for all the unreality of the city, the whole story is filled with very real events that took place in Colombia. The town was founded by Buendia José Arcadio, who was purposeful, impulsive anda strong-willed person, a leader by nature. He was very interested in the secrets of the universe, which were revealed to him by visiting gypsies, among whom Melquiades stands out in particular. Over time, the city begins to grow, and the Colombian government takes an interest in the settlement and sends a new mayor. Buendia José Arcadio lures the sent alcados to his side, thus leaving the city to himself.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude": summary and further developments

The country is struck by a civil war, which is drawn into the population of Macondo. The son of Jose Arcadio - Colonel Buendia Aureliano - gathers volunteers in the city and goes with them to fight against the conservative regime prevailing in the country. While the colonel takes an active part in the war, his nephew (also Arcadio, like the founder of the city) takes the reins of government into his own hands. But at the same time, he becomes a rather cruel dictator. So cruel that eight months later, when the city was taken over by the Conservatives, he would be shot without much hesitation or regret.

Summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude". War and after

The war drags on for decades, dying down and flaring up again. The colonel, who is tired of the eternal state of war, decides to conclude a peace treaty with opponents. After signing the "world" agreement, he returns to his native "penates", where at the same time a banana company arrives with a large number of foreigners and migrants. Cityfinally begins to prosper, and the new ruler Aureliano Segundo begins to grow rich rapidly, raising cattle. Cattle simply multiply rapidly, even magically, as the author hints, thanks to the connection of the ruler with his mistress. Some time later, a workers' strike takes place, the army shoots the strikers and, having loaded the bodies into wagons, dumps them into the depths of the sea. This event was called the banana massacre.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude", Marquez. End

novel

After the strike over the city begins a long rain that lasted almost five years. During this time, the penultimate representative of the Buendia family, Aureliano Babylonia, is born. At the end of the rain, at the age of one hundred and twenty, the wife of the founder of the city, Ursula, dies. After that, the city becomes abandoned. Cattle will not be born, buildings are destroyed and simply overgrown.

Babylonia is alone, studying the parchments left behind by Melquíades, but then abandons them for a while because of an affair with her aunt. During childbirth, she dies, and the son, born with a pig's tail, is eaten by ants. Aureliano deciphers the parchments, and a tornado has come to the city. When the decryption ends, the city disappears from the face of the earth.

In closing

Here it is, a summary of "One Hundred Years of Solitude". In fact, each character of the novel remains lonely until the end of his life, not receiving satisfaction and positive results from his actions, and cruelty, greed and connections with a touch of incest onlyexacerbate the already not very he althy emotional and moral character of people.