Gabo's Message of Solitude
PAGE 5
The Politics of Marginalization
Solitude, at every level, has a specific political aspect to it in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Even the most personal of solitudes—the act of estrangement within a family—is a purposeful imposition with political roots. Politics, after all, is about power—which many members of the Buendía family have and many others do not. In addition, the inherent power of the Buendías as the founding family degrades throughout the course of their tale. People in charge of their own destinies become subjected to the will of others until their individual spirits are all but wiped away. One of the clearest examples of this power decline is Colonel Aureliano Buendía, a man who was so vigorous he spent several years at war and fathered 17 sons only to be relegated to a life without memory, without emotion, without the fruition of all the power he had once possessed.
When people are exempted from taking part in acts of power—government, business, leadership—they can fall victim to being the "outsider." Anyone who's not an active part of a power center can claim some feeling of oppression by those in charge. This is the territory of the exile, a condition that people in every culture understand in their own way.
Solitude, at every level, has a specific political aspect to it in One Hundred Years of Solitude. Even the most personal of solitudes—the act of estrangement within a family—is a purposeful imposition with political roots. Politics, after all, is about power—which many members of the Buendía family have and many others do not. In addition, the inherent power of the Buendías as the founding family degrades throughout the course of their tale. People in charge of their own destinies become subjected to the will of others until their individual spirits are all but wiped away. One of the clearest examples of this power decline is Colonel Aureliano Buendía, a man who was so vigorous he spent several years at war and fathered 17 sons only to be relegated to a life without memory, without emotion, without the fruition of all the power he had once possessed.
When people are exempted from taking part in acts of power—government, business, leadership—they can fall victim to being the "outsider." Anyone who's not an active part of a power center can claim some feeling of oppression by those in charge. This is the territory of the exile, a condition that people in every culture understand in their own way.
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