Colonel Aureliano Left Macondo example essay topic

One Hundred Years of Solitude Topic#1 Throughout the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, there are various responsibilities meted out to both men and women. In fact, an important theme of this novel is the continuity in the relationship between men and women in regards to both sharing some form of control over the community. However, in terms of definitive power, often a balance between genders is not found, and rather we are shown Macondo as a world most often shaped, and dominated by either a single commanding Matriarch or Patriarch. It is also interesting to note that while most frequently we are only presented with a solitary authoritative figure of a particular gender, when Macondo is at its most prosperous it is controlled not by a single figure but rather a symbiotic partnership between a male and a female.

At the onset of the novel we are given Jose Arcadio Buendia as the founder of the town. Clearly as founder and discoverer of Macondo he is the leader of the community. He would give instructions to the community on everything ranging from planting to how to raise children. He was hard-working and generally reliable. It was greatly due to his diligence that the people of Macondo were so happy.

However, as his insatiable lust for knowledge grew he began to ignore the needs of Macondo. At one point he even wanted to abandon his Eden in Macondo and lead the community elsewhere simply for discovery. His wife Ursula, unlike the Eve of genesis, did not agree with his search for knowledge but instead usurped his authority and made sure this idea never came to fruition. Ursula showed that while her husband may have been the "leader" of the town, she had just as much power as he. This is clear when she not only, .".. predisposed the women of the village against the flightiness of their husbands... ". (p. 14, Marquez) but also when she declared to Jose, "We will not leave", (p. 14, Marquez). For the time following, with everyone still in Macondo, the town continued to grow and prosper.

Following this period of shared control and stability, we see the emergence of the national government in Macondo and with this the rise of Colonel Aureliano Buendia and the liberal rebellion in Macondo. After Colonel Aureliano left Macondo to fight in the civil war he appointed Arcadio to look after the town and to keep it well. Instead as soon as Arcadio gained power he became a cruel dictator obsessed with power. He begins to almost immediately impose harsh laws with no mercy. This was Marquez's way of showing the danger in having an authoritative regime even one with well meaning origins. This problem was one which would plague Latin America for much of its history.

Arcadio's rule got so bad that Ursula had to step up and take actually take authority. This event which led to this power shift was when Arcadio attempted to have Don Apolinor Moscone, Ursula physically beat him into a corner and "From that point on she was the one who ruled the town". (p. 116, Marquez) As soon as she had control she immediately suspended Arcadio's decrees and brought Macondo back to normalcy. The next change of leadership was after the liberals lost the war and Macondo was placed under the leadership of Mayor Jose Raquel Moncada. Moncada was a conservative but also a fair and compassionate man and under his leadership Macondo once again flourished.

The reason that Macondo was able to prosper so well under his authority was not only due to his integrity but also the fact that he had gained the respect of the town and most importantly the respect of the newly reinvigorated Ursula who still held an extremely high esteem in Macondo. As before this period of peace and prosperity was simply not meant to last. When Colonel Aureliano returned to Macondo he immediately took control of the town under his absolute authority. He returned a hardened and cautious man confined to his solitude. On his return he did not even trust his own mother and did not even allow her to come within ten feet of him and thus her role in Macondo was greatly diminished.

Colonel Aureliano even showed a lack of regard for anyone with a differing opinion regardless of status in the community. This becomes apparent when former Mayor Moncada is sentenced to death by Colonel Aureliano's forces. Before Moncada is sentenced Ursula tried to convince Aureliano to show mercy on Moncada, however, maintaining his authority he ignored her requests. Following this Ursula assembled all of the women who had been the founders of the town to speak on Moncada's behalf.

Before the court-martial Ursula speaking with the strength of a figure who has been silently in control of Macondo since it's founding said, .".. as long as God gives us life we will still be mothers and no matter how revolutionary you may be, we have the right to pull down your pants and give you a whipping at the first sign of disrespect". (p. 173, Marquez) The court with Aureliano's permission executed Moncada ignoring the vehement requests of the town's matriarchs. This only showed the lack of status Aureliano's rule gave to the women of the community. When this happens we began to see more misfortune falling upon the Buendia's and Macondo itself. Throughout the rest of the novel we see more shifts in power between various men and women, such as Ursula regaining control after Colonel Aureliano attempts to commit suicide and the rise of the ultra-religious domestic regime of Fernanda Del Carpio but never again does Macondo regain its former peace and happiness. In fact, as Ursula grows older and weaker we see the same happening in Macondo. Marquez in this way tells with his characters tells us what was happening in Latin America.

If we are to look at the men of Macondo as the government, and the women of Macondo as the domestic opinion we see the failures and successes of post-independence Latin America. When there is a partnership we see prosperity and peace, however, when one imposes his / her will on the other we see misery and despair. We also see how just in Latin American history that this became a viscous cycle with no lasting agreement. Ursula the protagonist and concurrent matriarch of the community, while never the "technical" leader of the town, she must maintain an important role in the community for prosperity to follow.

Marquez uses her as metaphorical example to illustrate the importance of keeping the people domestically empowered and "alive" in order for "Macondo" or any nation to survive.