Correlations between One Hundred Years of Solitude and the Bible

! It is with great ease to be able to read Gabriel Garcia Marquezʼ novel One

Hundred Years of Solitude and relate it to the Bible. Many scenarios in the novel

correspond to the stories we learn in religion class. In fact, many critics believe the

Bibleʼs plot provides a foundation for the novel. Lois Parkinson Zamora has said “Like

Revelation, One Hundred Years of Solitude sums up the Bible” (Bloom 51). Through

Remedios the Beauty, the foolish description of Fernanda del Carpio, modernization

resulting in solitude and disbelief, and the Garden of Eden Gabriel Garcia Marquez

creates a correlation between the Bible and One Hundred Years of Solitude. It is not the

correlations between these books that make for an interesting discussion, however. The

interesting aspect is to consider why Garcia Marquez thought it necessary to create

such correlations. As the correlations between the two books are dissected many

questions develop. Does the plot of the Bible serve only to provide humor, a satire, or is

there more behind the correlation? Do all these correlations point to bigger questions?

In this paper the simple correlations will be discussed and how it results in a fictional

satire. Further correlations will then be analyzed to such a degree that will help us

understand Garcia Marquezʼ true intent.

! In the very beginning of One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

speaks of a place so young every creature lacked a name. This correlates to the

Garden of Eden, where the power of naming everything and creating a world that fit into

his ideology was given to Adam. “And out of the ground the Lord God formed every

beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he

wou...

... middle of paper ...

...y one man. One Hundred Years of Solitude was developed to

break apart the Biblical idea of redemption by ridiculing important figures who create the

foundation of Christian beliefs. Maybe one day the people of Macondo will get a second

opportunity at life but for now

Bibliography

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. The Solitude of Latin America.” The Nobel Foundation. Nobel

Lecture. 8 Dec. 1982. 4 April 2014. laureates/1982/marquez-lecture-e.html>. Márquez, Gabriel García. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper & Row,

1970. Print.

Russell, Elsie. “On the Arcadian Theme.” Net in Arcadia: The Virtual Museum of

Contemporary Classicism. 2 June 1995. 29 March 2014. < etpnt.htm>. The Holy Bible Containing the Old Testament and the New. Cambridge: Printed by John

Field ..., 1668. Print.