Gabriel García Márquez

          Gabriel García Márquez is a truly extraordinary author because he is able to create fantastical yet seemingly feasible environments and characters through the genre of magical realism. His work has many distinguishing characteristics, but one of the most evident is the passage of time. This theme recurs throughout his work, especially in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. It allows the reader to both understand the complex, nonlinear plots as well as the interesting characters that Márquez fabricates.

 

           One Hundred Years of Solitude chronicles the saga of the Buendía family in a fictional town called Macondo, and Márquez’s frequent use of the passage of time allows the reader to envision how the family changes and evolves over time. The novel features six generations of the family, which endures through strife and many bizarre events. However, one constant that allows the reader to comprehend the family’s place in the isolated town of Macondo is the repetition of names. For example, when Amaranta Úrsula gives birth to her son, “through her tears Amaranta Úrsula could see that he was one of those great Buendías, strong and willful like the José Arcadios, with the open and clairvoyant eyes of the Aurelianos, and predisposed to begin the race again from the beginning and cleanse it of its pernicious vices and solitary calling, for he was the only one in a century who had been engendered with love. ‘He’s a real cannibal,’ she said. ‘We’ll name him Rodrigo.’ ‘No,’ her husband countered. ‘We’ll name him Aureliano and he’ll win thirty-two wars.’” (Márquez 411-412) . Names are meant to give one an identity, and by repeating them throughout generations, the Buendía family is never truly able to escape its troubled past. Rather, the younger generations are doomed to repeat the failures of their ancestors, which can be seen as later generations attempt to recount their failures as successes. Even though Gaston (Amaranta Úrsula’s husband) seems to think that naming the child one of the family names will continue its legacy, this event symbolizes how the family is doomed to misery and desolation, rather than being remembered for the accomplishments of its members. Later, when the novel concludes, the passage of time is evident when the characters realize what tumultuous events have occurred during the titular “one hundred years of solitude” that Macondo has endured. One of the many Aurelianos walks through the streets, trying “to reconstruct in his imagination the annihilated splendor of the old banana-company town, whose dry swimming pool was filled to the brim with rotting men's and women's shoes, and in the houses of which, destroyed by rye grass, he found the skeleton of a German shepherd dog still tied to a ring by a steel chain and a telephone that was ringing, ringing, ringing" (Márquez 384). By recalling vestiges of events during the one hundred years, Marquez once again emphasizes how events like the massacre of the banana plantation workers cannot be forgotten. In addition, the skeleton of the German shepherd shows how a beloved pet, once a part of a family, was left to die, but similarly, is remembered, as its skeleton remains chained to the place in which it lived. Throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude, Márquez uses the theme of the passage of time to help the reader recall the horrific events of the past and how they will endure.

 

           In addition, the passage of time is also used throughout Love in the Time of Cholera to help the reader understand the complicated relationship between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. Márquez chronicles their long but eventually happy love story through the course of fifty-three years, seven months, and eleven days and nights. By doing this, he is able to further the true power of their relationship and how they are meant to be with each other despite the numerous obstacles that they face. The novel chronicles the time from when Florentino and Fermina first send their feverish love letters, to when they exist in the same society but are estranged from each other. Throughout this narrative, the use of the passage of time seems to heighten the angst that Florentino Ariza feels and make the reader feel a similar feeling of suspense. As a result, the reader wants to know the end result of the conflict and the events leading up to its resolution, so they will be intrigued by the unconventional narration that Márquez uses. At the end of the novel, the captain of the ship on which they are traveling has to raise the flag of cholera (signifying to passing ships that the ship is under quarantine and cannot make port), condemning them to travel the river forever. He then“ looked at Fermina Daza and saw on her eyelashes the first glimmer of wintry frost. Then he looked at Florentino Ariza, his invincible power, his intrepid love, and he was overwhelmed by the belated suspicion that it is life, more than death, that has no limits. ‘And how long do you think we can keep up this goddamn coming and going?’ he asked. Florentino Ariza had kept his answer ready for fifty-three years, seven months, and eleven days and nights. ‘Forever,’ he said” (Márquez 348). By concluding the novel by affirming that Florentino will continue his life with Fermina, despite all its previous interruptions, Márquez uses the passage of time to show how their relationship is not limited by time-just as it withstood the decades of separation, it can endure forever. The passage of time and its role in exposing the true meaning of the novel’s complex plot is evident throughout Love in the Time of Cholera.

 

          In conclusion, the passage of time is used throughout One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera to to help the reader understand the complex, nonlinear plots that Márquez fabricates. It is able to chronicle both the saga of the Buendía family and Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza and help the reader understand the magical realism used in both novels.