Literature Extended Essay The Biblical Allusions in One

18 Pages·2011·0.15 MB·English

Toni Lim
000051 - 030

Literature Extended Essay

The Biblical Allusions in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Their Significance

Toni Lim
000051 – 030
Antwerp International School

May 2007

Word Count: 3997

1
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
Abstract

In this essay, I have attempted to answer my research question – what is the significance
of the biblical allusions in Gabriel García Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude? – by
first explaining the various biblical references alluded to in the novel in detail, and then
attempting to explain why Márquez chose to include these allusions in his novel.
I found that almost all of the references were allusions to events early in the Book of
Genesis, the only exception being a weaker parallel between the loss of memory plague in
Macondo (the fictional town in which the novel is set) and the plagues of Egypt in the Book of
Exodus. I thus decided to set the context of my essay to only include events and themes alluded
to in the Book of Genesis, which were particularly strong – I believe Márquez chose to use the
Book of Genesis due to its earlier chapters' cyclical nature, as is so in his novel.
Through research and analysis, I discovered not only parallels between the general
storylines, but allusions to the Garden of Eden, the creation of the world, Adam and Eve, the
Trees of Knowledge and Life, solitude, the serpent which tempts Eve, the inheritance of sin, the
rains which destroyed mankind and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I concluded that the inclusion of biblical allusions served two purposes, besides the fact
that biblical allusions complemented Márquez's heavy use of magical realism throughout his
novel. The first was to remind society that spiritual development should not be forgotten in lieu
of economic progress, the second was to emphasise the conflict between science and religion,
and to encourage their peaceful co-existence instead.
2
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
Table of Contents

1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4
2. Setting: Macondo and the Garden of Eden ------------------------------------------------------ 4
3. The Creation of Macondo and the Creation of the World ------------------------------------- 5
4. José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Versus Adam and Eve ------------------------------------- 6
5. The Chestnut Tree and the Trees of Knowledge and Life ------------------------------------- 7
6. The Solitude of the Buendías and the Solitude of Man ---------------------------------------- 9
7. Melquíades and the Serpent ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 9
8. The Inheritance of Sin ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
9. The Rains in Macondo and the Rains That Destroyed Mankind ---------------------------- 12
10. The Destruction of Macondo and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ------------- 13
11. Why the Bible? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14
12. Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17
13. Works Cited ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18

3
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
The Biblical Allusions in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Their Significance

Although many academic sources have noted the presence of biblical allusions in
Márquez's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, I encountered few which mentioned more than
a few specific images and even fewer which attempted to explain their presence. I thus decided
to investigate what the biblical allusions in the novel were and their significance.
One aforementioned source is the renowned literary critic Harold Bloom, who once went
as far as to christen the novel “the Bible of Macondo” (Bloom 1). Indeed this moniker is an
appropriate one, when one considers the outlines of the stories both tell. The first few chapters of
Genesis regard the creation of earth, the creation of man and the eventual destruction of mankind
due to their folly. Similarly One Hundred Years of Solitude tells of the founding of Macondo by
José Arcadio Buendía and his wife Úrsula, the saga of their family as the town develops and
succumbs to corruption, and ultimately the demise of both.
As such, I shall explore how the similarities run much deeper than the storylines, and
attempt to answer why Marquez deliberately closely alluded to the bible and the aforementioned
chapters of the Book of Genesis.

Setting: Macondo and the Garden of Eden
Márquez's fictional town Macondo is situated along the bank of a river in the middle of a
(presumably South American) dense jungle surrounded by a chain of impenetrable mountains
and vast swamps. Likewise, the Garden of Eden is situated in the middle of less hospitable lands
4
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
where land has to be tilled, and a river runs through it – “and a river went out of Eden to water
the garden” (Gen. 2.10).
Also, in Macondo, no one dies until after Melquíades, the outsider gypsy who brings
knowledge to Macondo, attains too much knowledge and dies himself in the quest for
knowledge. Similarly in the Garden of Eden, man was made to be immortal – as they were
created in God's image – until Adam and Eve sinned and Adam was condemned to die – “for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3.19).
Márquez himself has described Macondo as being “not so much a place but a state of
mind” (Márquez and Mendoza 77). Likewise in literature, the Garden of Eden is often likened to
paradise, and an accepted definition of paradise is “a state of supreme happiness; bliss”
(Dictionary.com) – which is how Macondo could be described at its inception – “it was a truly
happy village” (Márquez 15). By alluding to an ideal, Marquez transcends the boundaries of a
country or continent, making his novel more accessible and applicable to all.

The Creation of Macondo and the Creation of the World
Almost from the beginning of One Hundred Years of Solitude can the first biblical
allusions be found. The novel opens with a flashback of José Arcadio Buendía's son, Colonel
Aureliano Buendía, as he is about to die by firing squad, remembering how pure and untainted
Macondo was at its inception. He describes the river along which Macondo was founded as one
of “clear water that ran along a bed of polished stones, which were white and enormous, like
prehistoric eggs” (Márquez 9). The cleanliness of white and clarity of clear water obviously
5
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
refers to the aforementioned purity, the eggs to the birth of Macondo. Similarly, when God
created the world in the Bible, he “saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good” (Gen. 1.31), referring in part to the innocence and sinlessness of the world.
The importance of names and their power is mentioned throughout One Hundred Years of
Solitude, the first at the birth of Macondo – “the world was so recent that many things lacked
names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point” (Márquez 9). Likewise, when
God created the world, he brought the animals to Adam to be named - “and whatsoever Adam
called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (Gen. 2.19).

José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Versus Adam and Eve
José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán can be thought of as the mother and father of
Macondo, in the same way that Adam and Eve, being the first man and woman, can be thought
of as the mother and father of the human race.
The allusion to Adam and Eve is immediately obvious by the similarities that can be
found – Adam and Eve have no birth parents and were created adults, just as we are introduced
to José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula when they are adults with no mention of their relations or
origins, except for Úrsula's great-grandfather. Adam also lived for about as long as Úrsula did.
José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula fled the previous town they lived in before founding
Macondo, embarrassed by José Arcadio Buendía's killing of a man whose ghost haunted them.
This alludes Adam and Eve's shame and banishment for committing the Original Sin – when
they were pure, “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Gen.
6
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
2.25), but after they had eaten from the tree they felt ashamed – “they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Gen. 3.7).
However it was José Arcadio Buendía who was driven to insanity in his search for
knowledge, and not the practical Úrsula, whereas in the Bible it was Eve who was first tempted.

The Chestnut Tree and the Trees of Knowledge and Life
The Chestnut Tree in One Hundred Years of Solitude is representative of José Arcadio
Buendía's perilous quest for knowledge, and in turn, is an allusion to the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil in the Bible. It stood in the middle of the Buendias' garden like the Tree of
Knowledge stood in the midst of the Garden of Eden. It could be said that the Chestnut Tree
consumed José Arcadio Buendía as he was chained to it until he died babbling away in Latin –
thus saying José Arcadio Buendía's quest for knowledge ultimately consumed him. Similarly
Eve's curiosity led to her eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, which condemned Adam
and mankind to mortality.
“Modern allusions to eating from the Tree of Knowledge usually carry the implication
that knowledge can be acquired only at the cost of a tragic loss of innocence” (Lass, Kiremidjian
and Goldstein 253). A perfect example of this: Melquíades' tribe had been “wiped off the face of
the earth because they had gone beyond the limits of human knowledge” (Márquez 39). Also,
José Arcadio Buendía obsessively pursued scientific enlightenment, which gradually drove him
mad, and was chained to the chestnut tree. On a larger scale, Macondo develops and encounters
all manner of foreign influence – from the gypsies' miraculous devices, to the Americans' banana
7
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
plantation. These gains in knowledge, which can be seen as eating from the Tree of Knowledge,
were accompanied by the aforementioned tragic loss of innocence.
José Arcadio Buendía was busy trying to turn metals into gold; the philosopher's egg is
mentioned as one of the items Melquíades left behind to aid José Arcadio Buendía in his quest.
The philosopher's egg is a substance of lore that can be used to turn cheap metals into gold and to
extract what is known as the elixir of life to delay death indefinitely (Crystal), much like the way
eating the fruit of the Tree of Life in the Bible would give one eternal life. José Arcadio Buendía
was “seduced by the simplicity of the formulas to double the quantity of gold” (Márquez 13) and
ended up melting his wife's savings, leading to her turning the population of Macondo against
the gypsies. However in a similar attitude that led to Eve being seduced by a serpent to eat
forbidden fruit off a tree that promised ultimate knowledge, “curiosity was greater than fear”
(Márquez 14), and the people succumbed to the spell of the gypsies and their knowledge of the
fantastical. Both ultimately led to some form of condemnation – José Arcadio Buendía became
insane and Macondo was driven to ruin, and Eve gave her husband a bite of the forbidden fruit as
well that led to them both being banished from the Garden of Eden.
Eve was specifically instructed by God not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, yet she
went against his will, and thus was punished for it; Adam was with mortality. Similarly, José
Arcadio Buendía went against the church – and eventually died – by arguing with Father Nicanor
about the existence of God when the priest came to visit him while he was tied to the chestnut
tree, trying to “break down the priest's faith with rationalist tricks” (Márquez 75), saying “homo
iste statum quartum materiae invenit” (Márquez 74), roughly meaning 'men invented religion'.
8
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
The allusion to the Tree of Knowledge essentially emphasises the destructive power of
knowledge or too much knowledge, as it is essentially how Macondo came to an end.

The Solitude of the Buendías and the Solitude of Man
As is evident from the title, a prevailing theme of this novel is the solitude of the Buendía
family and how it proves to be fatal to them. Every character's solitude motivates them to act in
ways that lead to their ruin.
This is an allusion to what God said when he created Eve – “it is not good that the man
should be alone” (Gen. 2.18), somewhat prophecising that their solitude would lead to their
demise.
After all, the final line of the novel reads “races condemned to one hundred years of
solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth” (Márquez 336). Similarly in the Bible, Noah
was commanded to bring two of every animal “to keep them alive” (Gen. 6.20) before God
flooded the earth, which implies that each animal could not survive in its solitude, as the final
line in Márquez's novel echoes.

Melquíades and the Serpent
Although Melquíades is a benign, wise and seemingly peaceful character, I believe that
he is a biblical allusion – representative of the serpent in the Bible that coerced Eve to take a bite
of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that led to her committing the Original Sin.
Úrsula would always associate Melquíades with “the smell of the devil” (Márquez 13) as
9
Toni Lim
000051 - 030
she had walked in one day when he had broken a flask of bichloride of mercury, saying “that
biting odour would stay forever in her mind linked to the memory of Melquíades” (Márquez 13).
The serpent is always thought of to be symbolic of sin and temptation and thus Satan, the devil
himself, like the way Úrsula indirectly associates Melquíades and his scientific temptations with
the devil. Melquiades lab also seems hellishly chaotic – it is described as a “mad laboratory”
with a “noise of flasks and trays and the disaster of spilled acids” (Márquez 48). Melquíades also
alludes to Darwinism when he says “we come from the water” (Marquez 66) – this is obviously
in direct opposition to the teachings of the church, reiterating Melquíades' demonic or sinful
image.
Also, it was Melquíades who first disrupted the tranquility of Macondo by bringing new
inventions from faraway lands and a greed for knowledge that eventually led to the downfall and
demise of Macondo. Objects were trailing behind his magical irons in “turbulent confusion”
(Márquez 9), the first mention of any sort of unsettledness in peaceful Macondo. José Arcadio
Buendía became so lost in the alchemy that he learned from Melquíades, that he stopped eating
properly and developed other strange behaviours, his pragmatism giving way to idealism - “those
who had known him since the foundation of Macondo were startled at how much he had changed
under Melquiades' influence” (Márquez 14). Melquíades paved the way for the corruption José
Arcadio Buendía by planting an insatiable need for knowledge in him, much like the way the
serpent corrupted Eve by coercing her into eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of
Knowledge, leading to her committing the original sin.
It is not mentioned in the Bible as to why God did not want Adam and Eve to gain
10