In the earliest days Macondo, the village is an Eden of sorts. Colonel Aureliano Buendía remembers that “many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point” (1). The town held an innocence that quickly disappears once Melquíades, a gypsy, introduces science to José Arcadio Buendía, Macondo’s founder. He introduces magnets, a telescope, and a magnifying glass to José Arcadio Buendía. Melquíades helps him build an alchemy laboratory. It is through the introduction of these tools of science that José Arcadio Buendía begins to lose his mind. He reveals to his wife that, “The earth is round; like an orange,” and soon the whole town “was convinced that [he] had lost his reason...” (4-5). Once science and the quest for knowledge are introduced, the town loses its innocence. Arabs come to trade with the village. More groups of gypsies arrive to share their secrets. It is José Arcadio Buendía’s search for the philosopher’s stone that ultimately leads to his insanity. The villagers eventually “drag him to the chestnut tree in the courtyard, where they left him tied up, barking in the strange language and giving off a green froth at the mouth” (78). Buendía is speaking Latin, the language of science.
Many years later, a railroad comes to Macondo and with it comes a banana plantation and many other industries: both are symbols of modernity and progress coming to Macondo. The town is confused at first by the building of the tracks. “No one paid any attention to [the gangs] because they thought it was some new trick of the gypsies...” (222). The narrator gives a prophecy of the effect that the train will have when he says it “was to bring so many ambiguities and certainties, so many pleasant and unpleasant moments, so many changes, calamities, and feelings of nostalgia to Macondo” (222). The people, prior to this moment, were not aware of modernity and its innovations at all. The only exposure they had was through the gypsies, Melquíades, and Jose Arcadio Buendía, who went insane. They are amazed by “the pale electric bulbs fed by the plant that Aureliano Triste had brought back when the train made its second trip” and the magic of film, which they call “living images” (223). Modernity appears to be very positive. Strangers from distant lands arrive and bring with them more innovations.
A generation following the arrival of Modernity to Macondo, a strike of plantation workers, during which the plantation is burned to the ground, leads to the execution of three thousand men, women and children. Following the massacre, it begins to rain when “It had not rained for three months” and it is announced by Mr. Brown, the dictatorial manager of the plantation, that “As long as the rain lasts we’re suspending all activities” (309). It rains for nearly five years following this decree and once the skies clear, “the world lighted up...and it did not rain again for ten years. Macondo was in ruins” (330). The train no longer stops in Macondo. The banana plantation and houses of the former workers are completely abandoned: “The wooden houses, the cool terraces...seemed to have been blown away in an anticipation of the prophetic wind that years later would wipe Macondo off the face of the earth” (330-331). This prophetic wind is brought about by the last of the Buendía line and through the simplest, yet most important invention and product of human knowledge: writing.
Malquíades’ mysterious parchments are a source of frustration for many of the men in the Buendía line. Arcadio attempts to decipher them, but gives up quickly. José Arcadio Segundo, after the plantation massacre, spends the remainder of his life attempting to interpret the parchments until “the only visible in the intricate tangle of hair was the teeth striped with green slime and his motionless eyes” (335). When he finally dies, “he fell back on the parchments and died with his eyes open” (353). The parchments reveal to him the truth of the massacre that he witnesses, but which no one believes happened. With this truth, he dies. The parchment writing has a similar effect in the final destruction of the town. Melquíades appears to Aureliano Babilonia and aides him in deciphering the parchment. The parchment, he discovers, is “the history of the family, written by Melquíades, down to the most trivial details, one hundred years ahead of time” (415). However, “impatient to know his own origin, Aureliano skipped ahead” (416). It is at that point that the wind, which destroys the town, begins to strengthen and as Aureliano reads the final sentences, which proclaim the destruction of the town, it is destroyed. It is clear that Aureliano’s arrogance and selfishness in wanting the knowledge of his origin hastened the destruction of the town, it was the writing itself, which stated Macondo’s destruction.
The quest for Modernity and knowledge are unavoidable. They are an inherent part of human nature and curiosity. However, Garcia Marquez points out the importance of being aware of the potential destructive powers. It is not enough to believe that through the acquisition of knowledge and the furtherance of Modernity will solely benefit mankind. Humanity must be aware there are dire consequences for ignoring the side effects of progress.
Works Cited
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
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