One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Published on April 3, 2025

I just finished reading the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. This book, a classic of literature, I enjoyed greatly. The more I advanced in my reading, the more I felt captivated by the story and characters, until reaching the end where I was completely stunned.

It's the story of the Buendía family over a hundred years in the fictional village of Macondo, Colombia. We follow the characters from generation to generation. Children bear identical names from one generation to the next, which makes the story harder to follow, but each person bearing the same name shares a similar character, creating a certain repetition.

Each character is isolated and feels alone, although the family is large and lives together. Life reflects the character of men and women, as well as society in general. It shows that loneliness is not new, but it can be a shared experience.

The book having been written almost sixty years ago, it doesn't carry this "we are all equal" or "woke" vision that we find today. This allows for a perspective on individuals different from what a contemporary novel would propose. Here's what struck me in this novel.

The Men

Having an Objective

The men are obsessed with an individual quest. Whether deciphering parchments, conducting scientific experiments, going to war, or making little fish, they all have a personal mission. They throw themselves into it headfirst, to the point of forgetting everything else. José Arcadio Buendía, the patriarch and founder of Macondo, devotes his life to searching for the philosopher's stone, or his son Colonel Aureliano who launches into an endless revolutionary war leading 32 uprisings.

They are all like this. I think that man, unlike woman, needs a quest, a reason to live. It's something we observe almost exclusively in men. We all know a man who gives his all to his work or who embarks on a disproportionate goal, like completing an Iron Man or renovating an entire house.

Obsession with a Woman and Senseless Choices

The second interesting point about men in the novel is their obsession with a woman. They all make senseless choices for love. They lose reason and control when they're in love, ready to change everything for her. For example, the first son José Arcadio leaves his family without warning to go with the gypsies after finding love with a gypsy woman. He returns to Macondo and falls madly in love with Rebeca, his adoptive sister. He abandons all moral sense and defies conventions by marrying her, to the point of exiling himself with her outside the village.

Interesting point: they are both madly in love with a woman, but also, at other moments in the novel, have sexual relations with other women, sometimes without any feeling, even leading to children. A total dissociation between their love and their sexuality. It's a common fact in culture, including current, but which I don't understand how it's possible.

Úrsula, the mother and founder of Macondo, observes this pattern repeat in her children and grandchildren. The same goes for their personal quest. She tries to prevent them from making these senseless decisions, but as time passes and generations succeed, she realizes it's a lost cause, that she can never stop them.

This is the main theme of the novel: generations follow, but mistakes remain the same, as if these behaviors were inscribed in our DNA, an obligatory stage of our life.

I find this interesting, because it's a reality I also observe. Men seem to need two pillars in their life: a personal quest and a (sexual) relationship with a woman to whom they are devoted. It may be reductive, but I believe it's deeply rooted in us.

The Women

Egocentrism

In the novel, women are egocentric. Certainly, men are obsessed with their quests, but they at least show some interest in their wife and children. Women, however, are centered on themselves to a much higher degree, with the exception of Úrsula, who is a figure apart, living almost throughout the entire novel. They focus only on their own feelings, insensitive to those of others.

Jealousy

Women are extremely jealous of each other. They feel no jealousy toward men, a behavior totally absent in the latter in the novel. Their jealousy is so strong they're ready to commit acts to see other women fail or suffer. Some even rejoice at a rival's death. As with men, Úrsula tries in vain to prevent them for everyone's good. But as time passes and generations succeed, she understands it's in their nature.

No Hobbies

Women seem to have no hobbies in the novel. They're interested in nothing, have no projects or ambitions. Even those who studied didn't really want to. I find this strange, but it reflects the image I have of today's women. A novel from another era shows that men's and women's behaviors were identical to those of today. It's something we can no longer say nowadays without risking being seen as misogynistic. Yet the facts are there, and we learn them by force. Reading a novel from another era allows us to understand that we're not alone in observing this phenomenon.

Bipolarity

Women in the novel are bipolar. They desire one thing and, the next day, want its opposite. They feel intense emotions, then the reverse the following day. Out of jealousy, they're capable of anything. They can be madly in love with a man, considering him ideal and ready to do anything for him. But as soon as a man deemed better appears, the first disappears from their thoughts as if he had never existed, with no more feelings for him. His death would be indifferent to them; he becomes insignificant. It's a behavior I've observed several times in women, but which I've never seen in men.

The Masculine Archetype

The concept of the Giga Chad is not new. The tall, tattooed, adventurous sailor is a hit with Macondo women, as is the rich man and airplane pilot. These preferences are rooted in us.

Appreciated Violence

Finally, the most troubling point: women seem to appreciate being forced, to the point of rape. I find this very strange, but it comes up several times in the novel, although written by a man. We find this theme in female authors like Ayn Rand, with rape scenes in her novels, or in the Dark Romance community, very popular on social media. If the author depicts these scenes repeatedly, it's not by chance; he must have wanted to illustrate this ambivalent behavior in women. Seen from a masculine perspective, this remains very bewildering.

As with men, I found this representation of women interesting. It allows us to recognize character traits and relate them to our own observations.

Other Notable Facts

Life's Vicissitudes

Sometimes, everything can change overnight. Life is uncertain. This may seem clichéd, but I find it striking. Several times, men die stupidly by "chance." I think of the novel's end, when Arcadio is killed by the four children, or when the last of the seventeen sought Aurelianos returns home. Unrecognizable with his homeless appearance, he's rejected by his brothers and killed by two policemen who had recognized him. Everything can tip over in an instant. The novel is full of examples, like the train's arrival that revolutionizes the village.

Propaganda

The passage about the strike in the banana plantation is one of the most striking. The government sends the national army, kills 3,000 strikers, and throws their bodies into the sea. This event is quickly erased by massive propaganda orchestrated by the power. In a few years, citizens have completely forgotten it and even doubt its reality. This reminded me of the propaganda suffered during Covid: the population quickly forgot and doesn't realize how much it was manipulated by the government.

Time Erodes Memories

Time makes us forget everything, to the point of doubting. It's quite sad, but everything fades with time. At the novel's end, no one believes in Colonel Aureliano Buendía's exploits anymore. Dead for a long time, he sinks into oblivion, and people even doubt his existence, relegating him to legend status. The same goes for the banana plantation: after the operators' departure, a few years suffice for everything to be erased, to the point that inhabitants doubt it ever existed.

At 31, I already feel this. Events from 5 or 10 years ago no longer matter to society. We must stay relevant, because our prowess quickly loses all value.

Children and Descendants

What allowed the Buendía family story to perpetuate wasn't their sometimes exceptional deeds, but the successive generations that transmitted their story. For characters without children, their memory stopped dead, immediately sinking into oblivion. At the novel's end, when the last descendant of the Buendía family dies, devoured by ants, everything goes out. It's as if the great Buendía family had never existed.

This is a precious lesson. How many people born before 1800 do we know? Apart from a few figures like Napoleon, no name comes to us. And yet, that was only 200 years ago. Everything disappears much faster than we imagine. The only lasting trace we can leave is the transmission of our genes. In an era when fertility rates are dropping, it's essential to think about this if we want to avoid ending up like the Buendías.

Conclusion

I found this book exceptional. Through all its adventures, it offers important lessons, unique to each reader. I'm convinced that others will have a totally different interpretation of this masterpiece. That's what distinguishes a classic from an ordinary book: each reading is unique and brings a new perspective.