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