Narrative structures vary from novel to novel as a technique that aids in the advancement of the plot and enhances the clarification of literary devices employed throughout the story. In the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, both traditional, or linear, narrative time and cyclical narrative time structures work simultaneously to emphasize the recurring destructive behaviors of the Buendía family. A linear narrative structure “follows a straight line – starting at the beginning, moving towards the middle, and proceeding to the end of the story”; follows a line of movement that includes an ongoing plot, with fairly typical exposition, rising action, a climax, and an epilogue. However, One Hundred Years of Solitude is not a novel that relies primarily on a linear narrative structure. Indeed, the structure of this novel also includes a cyclical narrative. Cyclic time "runs through the story one event at a time to return to the point where the story originated" and repeatedly brings the reader back to key events in the plot as a means of highlighting the impact on the characters. In his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Márquez implements the technique of cyclical time to increase the intensity of recurring destructive behaviors across generations of a small metaphorical village. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Garcia Marquez uses the device of repetition, through names and personalities of specific characters, in order to visualize an unusual series of random events within a cyclical loop structure. These events are perceived as distinctive and incendiary in the destruction of a normal society. In the novel there are a total of five characters who share the name José Arcadio and, as described by Ursula, one of the novel's main characters, they bring "impulsive and enterprising" characteristics associated with mischievous behavior, capable of creating problems and often leading to a negative effect on the surrounding environment (Márquez 181). Márquez's establishment of recurring names and similar personalities in the characters causes the negative outcomes that occur in the plot cycles. Márquez once again presents repetition within the novel with the inclusion of twenty-two characters called Aureliano. These men are defined as having “withdrawn but clear minds,” characteristics that contrast sharply with those of José Arcadio (Márquez 181). Márquez's reintroduction of the Aureliano characters ironically advances the plot as Aureliano attempts to return Macondo to the village's previous state, however, this instead creates a crisis and creates a further subplot that triggers a new cycle. Both the reappearances of these characters and their polar actions trigger the destructive behaviors that occur historically and repeatedly within the novel. These cyclical generations produce negative outcomes for the people of Macondo, forcing them to repeat disastrous events that will ultimately lead to their deaths. The destructive and recurring event of incest, also known in the novel as "the original sin", introduces and concludes each of them. narrative cycle. He embodies the unnatural actions that most of the characters in the novel have to endure. Incest further becomes the main cause of disastrous abnormal characteristics in the Buendia family. Because of the tragedy of an incestuous past in the Buendía family when “[an] aunt of Ursula married an uncle of José Arcadio Buendía, [and had] a son… who grew up with a cartilaginous corkscrew-shaped tail and a small tuft of hair on the tip», Ursula and José Arcadio Buendía comeexiled from their original village (Márquez 36). This action in the plot cycle was driven by the fear of Ursula's mother, who believed that braids were an inevitable consequence of incest. This incestuous event marks the beginning of the "original sin", thus starting its recurrence in the plot of the novel. Since incest takes place within the Buendía family, it serves as a catalyst for the rebirth of each new cycle, foreshadowing the imminent destruction of the characters and the village. While the event of incest marks the beginning of each cycle, the consequences of incest - the pigtail - serves as a symbol of the annihilation of a cycle that lasts only one hundred years. Throughout the incestuous events that occur in six cases among the novel's five generations of characters, none of the characters care about the outcome of a pigtailed child. Thus the cycle continues and is regenerated throughout the plot, until the end of the novel when Aureliano and Amaranta's son Ursula is born. With the birth of their child, they “turned him over on his stomach [and saw] that he had something more than other men, and they bent down to examine him… [it was] the tail of a pig.” Ursula mentions in the novel that “the tail may be cut off when the child has second teeth”; however, the couple was unaware of the family history, so the resulting action leads to the child permanently holding his tail. The aftermath of incest serves as the conclusion to the Buendía family's circular plot cycle and torment. Incest is an action that challenges social norms; thus, it is the reason why the characters seem destructive and act as facilitators towards their own demise in the novel. As the Buendía family's story doubles, the novel's characters become familiar with the absurdity of their current situations. However, such characters do not raise awareness of these irrational cyclical events. In the novel, “Ursula confirmed her impression that time went in circles” (Márquez 220). It feels “as if time has changed and [they] have returned to the beginning” (Márquez 335). Ursula is one of the few characters who notices the recurrence of strange events in her village, yet she takes no direct initiative to stop the cycle; just like other characters in the village's touching story. Likewise, José Arcadio Buendía becomes aware of the absurd, seemingly recurring, span of time as he begins to realize the repetition of days. He even states: “that it is still Monday, like yesterday… look at the sky, look at the walls, look at the begonias… today is Monday too” (Márquez 77). Note the relationship between the past and the present which has not changed. He, like Ursula, does not attempt to stop recurring events or talk more about similar events; thus, Jose Arcadio Buendía allows these events to flow through the plot and recreate misfortune upon misfortune. Characters who recognize catastrophic events, but make no conscious effort to end them; they resemble the destructive naturalistic story of the metaphorical village. The progression of the plot of One Hundred Years of Solitude relies on the regeneration of cycles within a linear narrative structure. At the end of the novel, when the Buendías are swept off the face of the earth by a hurricane, the last character, Aureliano, “wandered aimlessly through the city” (Márquez 413). As the Buendías revolve around reconstructing their family's history, Aureliano is stuck with no connection to the past. Because of his dependence on his family's history, he begins “to look for an entrance that [points] to the past” (Márquez 413). Aureliano desperately seeks a connection to his old way of life to save himself and his family's legacy. When he can't bring the events back to life:.
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