Cien Años - Part Two
There are two theories of time that are seen in all novels and films about its disruptions, such as traveling through it or following alternative branches. In one, the future is a nebulous and shifting realm of possibilities, possibilities determined by our actions in the present. In the other, the future is a fixed reality that the present inevitably becomes, there is one future and it depends upon our acting it out.
Cien Años de Soledad adheres to the second theory, but with some interesting quirks and lapses. From early on in the novel we get a strong impression that premonitions and destiny are to be taken very seriously. Each character comes into the world with his or her future already written; this can be read by certain individuals by signs in nature, fortune telling cards, and predictions from family history.
In the second part of the novel, Marquez plays with time in various ways, while still keeping the lives of his characters under the dominion of an inevitable fate. At one point, for example, the renegade present gets the details wrong and a man who is not destined to die that night is killed by one who is. Time corrects itself by sending two bullets to strike down Captain Aquiles Ricardo after his lethal shot at Aureliano Jose, yet nothing can be done for the girl who would have married the latter, the cards showing her future are left blank. With a small margin of error, there is only one future that may occur. Another example is how characters can lapse behind future scenarios that depend upon their actions. This is true in the case of Colonel Aureliano Buendia, who finds that his orders are being carried out before he even gives them.
Even though their destiny/future is fairly rigid, the characters do have ways of tinkering with it. Ursula, for her part, is against naming anyone else Jose Arcadio or Aureliano. When names carry so much importance for character, naming children differently might improve the fate of the family. It would at least make our reading experience a little easier.
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Cien Años de Soledad adheres to the second theory, but with some interesting quirks and lapses. From early on in the novel we get a strong impression that premonitions and destiny are to be taken very seriously. Each character comes into the world with his or her future already written; this can be read by certain individuals by signs in nature, fortune telling cards, and predictions from family history.
In the second part of the novel, Marquez plays with time in various ways, while still keeping the lives of his characters under the dominion of an inevitable fate. At one point, for example, the renegade present gets the details wrong and a man who is not destined to die that night is killed by one who is. Time corrects itself by sending two bullets to strike down Captain Aquiles Ricardo after his lethal shot at Aureliano Jose, yet nothing can be done for the girl who would have married the latter, the cards showing her future are left blank. With a small margin of error, there is only one future that may occur. Another example is how characters can lapse behind future scenarios that depend upon their actions. This is true in the case of Colonel Aureliano Buendia, who finds that his orders are being carried out before he even gives them.
Even though their destiny/future is fairly rigid, the characters do have ways of tinkering with it. Ursula, for her part, is against naming anyone else Jose Arcadio or Aureliano. When names carry so much importance for character, naming children differently might improve the fate of the family. It would at least make our reading experience a little easier.
span365
posted by Serena at 12:09 AM
1 Comments:
Serena,
Your observations/theories about time are interesting. Time in this book is interesting because from the first line of the book, as well as other clues throughout, we are slowly given hints about what is to come. With the bits of information that we do have, I find myself while reading, both searching and waiting for what I know is going to happen to come.
Kerry
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