HUM FPX 1150 Assessment 2 Comparative Analysis and Reflection
Capella University
HUM FPX 1150 Cultural Understanding in a Global World
Prof. Name
November,2024
Comparative Analysis and Reflection
I have chosen Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude for my comparative analysis and reflection (Marium Bushra et al., 2024). In this novel, the Buendía family is caught in a repetition cycle of history and destiny; an important theme regarding how time cannot move simply in one linear fashion but rather is cyclical. Often, the characters cannot break free from the patterns that their ancestors set for them; they tend to live with a repetition of mistakes, desires, and even names. I will be discussing how this aspect of time – cyclical in nature – reflects real-life experiences in which individuals and sometimes their families repeat the battles or behaviors of years gone by. Reflecting on this, I’ll look into how Márquez’s depiction of time encourages people to move above these cycles and create new narratives capable of giving birth to change.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a novel by Gabriel García Márquez that narrates the story of the Buendía family over generations in the fictional town of Macondo (Meltem Ezel Çırpı, 2021). The work mixes elements of magical realism with real historical events as the themes proclaim about fate, solitude, and also concerning circulatory time. Through the Buendía family, Márquez demonstrates how people get caught up by history, desire, and the expectations of the world around them, repeating the same mistakes that generations before them made. The cycle of isolation, obsession, and violence through the struggles of the family illustrate the patterns that govern lives and that they cannot avoid, like the greater human condition itself. With masterful narrative style and vivid characters, Márquez develops a deep exploration of the human experience with its interplay between free will and destiny.
Cultural Values
Cultural values thus lead to shaping the identities of the characters and to the Buendía family trajectory in One Hundred Years of Solitude (Richter, 2023). The novel reflects on and comments on the blending of indigenous, colonial, and modern influences within Latin American society. Traditions themselves play a central role in the narrative, as characters generally do not question the traditions of their families or society as they go about continuing them, thus turning their lives into repetitions and cycles. Of course, the importance of family and generational inheritance appears to be a running theme throughout the novel, in which shared values and experiences of every member of the Buendía family run like a thread yet are also haunted by the same destructive patterns. Beyond these more general, large themes, however, the influence of power and authority figures is rather strictly explored through characters like Colonel Aureliano Buendía whose involvement in civil wars mirrors the impact of political turmoil on personal and collective identity. Márquez’s treatment of cultural values revealed how people and communities were shaped by their historical pasts but were not necessarily free to move beyond the shackles of those inherited beliefs.
Cultural Perspective
This work, One Hundred Years of Solitude, is one of the grandest works in the XXth century literature, so impressive because it brings to its pages the historical events of Latin American society with magical realism, reflecting complexities of identity and family and societal norms (Sánchez Prado, 2020). In the novel, Latin America can be presented as a cycle of political instability, colonialism, and alienation. Through the Buendía family, García Márquez investigates the impact of colonialism on personal and collective identity, both of the characters’ lives being formed by Indian traditions as well as European influences. The recurring themes of solitude and repetitive history are also rather a cultural interpretation of the inability to flee the past feeling thoroughly connected to the historical cycles of oppression and revolution that characterized Latin American countries. Intertwining the mystique with reality, García Márquez presents a cultural landscape in which the supernatural and everyday coexist, illustrating a phase blurred beyond distinction by myth and reality in Latin American culture. With the impact of inherited cultural values constantly rewritten and the fight for social and political transformation, this novel has gained an incredible historical dimension by challenging readers to rethink how important historical memory is.
HUM FPX 1150 Assessment 2 Conclusion
In a word, One Hundred Years of Solitude is an enriching cultural representation and reflection of the worldview; the information it gives about the complexities of Latin American identity, history, and social dynamics is tremendous. Using the cycle of struggle that derails the Buendía family, Gabriel García Márquez draws attention to how individuals and societies are forged by inherited tradition, political instability, and patterns of history (Farhan et al., 2020). The novel, blending both magic realism and historical reflection, questions the impact of the past on the present and, at the same time, provokes a deeper understanding of the forces behind the culture and identity. After all, Márquez’s work prompts one to live out a new era beyond destructive cycles.
HUM FPX 1150 Assessment 2 Reference
Farhan, S., Akef, V., & Nasar, Z. (2020). The transformation of the inherited historical urban and architectural characteristics of Al-Najaf’s Old City and possible preservation insights. Frontiers of Architectural Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.07.005
Marium Bushra, Shaheen, N., Mehreen Andaleeb, & Mukhtar, F. J. (2024). Exploring the elements of magic realism in American literature concerning the works of Gabriel garcía márquez, particularly “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” International Journal of English Language Studies, 6(1), 78–81. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijels.2024.6.1.8
