One Hundred Years of Solitude

There is always something left to love 

- Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"Magical realism - what a genre," I thought while reading the Wikipedia biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel laureate and author of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It combines elements of the fantastic with otherwise unsugarcoated reality. The magical parts are like spice that makes the story more vivid and delicious. I discovered the book through a chat on a dating app. The date that followed didn't go well, but the encounter was worth it. The book made me reflect on my own experience of solitude and how it is different from loneliness. Also recognising that love does not exist in isolation. It is shaped by other emotions, experiences, desires, upbringings and cultural norms. As a result, it comes distorted, with capacity to heal and hurt at the same time.

There is a fine difference between loneliness and solitude. In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued a report that drew attention to an epidemic that affects 1 out of 2 American adults. Half of us are lonely. The report discusses the link between social connection and how it influences biology, psychology and human behaviour. 

The physical health consequences of poor or insufficient connection include a 29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia for older adults. Additionally, lacking social connection increases risk of premature death by more than 60%.

In other words, loneliness sucks. But not all of it. Loneliness of choice, solitude, can have positive effects on mental health and well-being. A report from the Nature looked in details on the topic, but in short:

We may need both - time alone and time with others - in order to experience the full range of well-being benefits.

This might not come as big aha moment. For most of introverts, the need to spend time by their own is an obvious choice. As everything in life, it's all about balance. Like too much honey won't kill you straight, but may cause obesity, diabetes and plethora of cardiovascular diseases. Whether we excessively spend time in solitude (social isolation) or excessively socialize (state of aloneliness, i.e. not enough time to be on your own) can lead to same effects. 

Therefore the theme of solitude in the novel comes as a dual-edge sword. On one end, it can lead to introspection and deeper understanding, which is well reflected through the character of Ursula, the matriarch of the Buendia family. On the other end, it leads to isolation and decline, as in the case of Colonel Aureliano Buendia, who becomes increasingly isolated due to his obsessive pursuit of power and his inability to connect with others on a personal level. Ursula reexamines her life and comes to the decision that Colonel never loved anyone, because of his pride. This connection between pride and how it hinders love wasn't obvious to me until I read the novel. I hypothesize that happens when pride borders on arrogance or narcissism (a sense of superiority, like 'oh, I'm so much better'), it makes it hard for those people to form meaningful relationships and empathize. 

Another consequence of isolation is stagnation. Due to Macondo’s seclusion from the outside world, the town initially developed in relative peace, allowing its inhabitants to build a thriving community. However, as time passed and the rest of the world progressed, Macondo became increasingly backwardish. It was trapped in a cycle of repetitive history, and it was not able to adapt to new circumstances when Banana company set up the business. This stagnation is also reflected in the Buendía family's home. When the doors and windows were open, visitors came frequently, business thrived, and the household prospered. But when the doors were closed, the once vibrant home, used to be filled with the energy of new ideas and connections, fell into decline.

That stagnation reflects the overall theme of fate and the inability to overcome one's own history. The story covers seven generations of the Buendía family. Several of my friends who read the book complained that most of the characters share the same names. I believe this repetition was intentional. Although the novel tells the history of seven generations, it reads like the story of one person stuck in their own way of living and doing. Different characters in the family represent various aspects of the human personality, showing how these traits manifest when a particular side becomes dominant. For example, Fernanda represented the rigidity of traditionalism and the dangers of extreme piety. She was obsessed with maintaining an aristocratic vibe that she grew up with. That strictness isolated her from the rest of the family, sucked out life from once warm and welcoming home, leading to a cold and distant household. 

There is also a huge colonial theme of the novel, how certain events were misrepresented in history books by the government, but I won't go into that (chat with me on it over tea). One Hundred Years of Solitude is a monumental work of literature that made me reflect on how I spend time alone and with others. With its beautiful imagery, juicy analogies and powerful symbolism I came to realization of my own present bias - how current choices might shape my secluded life years ahead. Lastly, I will leave you with a few of my favourite quotes from the novel:

Promise me that if you find that it's a bad hour for you there that you'll think of your mother.

Death really did not matter to him but life did, and therefore the sensation he felt when they gave their decision was not a feeling of fear but of nostalgia.

“Tell me something, old friend: why are you fighting?"

What other reason could there be?" Colonel Gerineldo Marquez answered. "For the great Liberal party."

You're lucky because you know why," he answered. "As far as I'm concerned, I've come to realize only just now that I'm fighting because of pride."

That's bad," Colonel Gerineldo Marquez said.

Colonel Aureliano Buendia was amused at his alarm. "Naturally," he said. "But in any case, it's better than not knowing why you're fighting." He looked him in the eyes and added with a smile:

Or fighting, like you, for something that doesn't have any meaning for anyone.”

In that Macondo forgotten even by the birds, where the dust and the heat had become so strong that it was difficult to breathe, secluded by solitude and love and by the solitude of love in a house where it was almost impossible to sleep because of the noise of the red ants, Aureliano, and Amaranta Úrsula were the only happy beings, and the most happy on the face of the earth.