One Hundred Yerar O Sol?tude Essay, Research Paper

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS

SETTING

The setting of One Hundred Years of Solitude is the fictional town

of Macondo, Columbia, which is much like Garc?a M?rquez?s

own hometown of Aracataca. The time is span is unclear at times,

but it is roughly from the early-mid 19th century to the mid-20th

century. Macondo is isolated, rural, and surrounded by jungle.

Table of Contents

CHARACTERS

Major Characters

?rsula Iguar?n

The Buend?a matriarch who keeps the story of the pig?s tail alive

in the family; as she ages, she shrinks, until she looks like a doll

and people have forgotten she is still even alive.

Jos? Arcadio Buend?a

The Buend?a patriarch who marries his cousin but is prevented

from consummating the marriage for months because of fears

surrounding the story of the pig?s tail; discovers Macondo and

kills Prudencio Aguilar.

Melqu?ades

The mysterious gypsy who is the friend of Jos? Arcadio Buend?a;

returns periodically to Macondo, even when he is thought dead.

His parchment turns out to be the story of the Buend?as written in

Sanskrit.

Colonel Aureliano Buend?a

The first person born in Macondo, and as such can be seen as in

some way characteristic of the city and the novel; is clairvoyant

and prophetic.

Jos? Arcadio (II)

Son of Jos? Arcadio and ?rsula; saves his brother, Colonel

Aureliano Buend?a from the firing squad but dies violently

himself.

Pilar Ternera

The motherly mistress of Jos? Arcadio (II) and Colonel Aureliano

Buend?a; with the former she has Jos? Arcadio (III) and with the

latter she has Aureliano Jos?.

Rebeca Buend?a

Adopted daughter of Jos? Arcadio Buend?a and ?rsula and

becomes the wife of Jos? Arcadio Segundo; is also a second

cousin of ?rsula which causes ?rsula to oppose the marriage out

of fear of the incest curse.