Many years later as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (Garcia Marquez 1)
After finishing the first chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude, I immediately returned to the story’s opening line; I had always known that it was a famous one, but I never knew why. With the context of the full chapter, it is easy to see why this opening line is fantastical, but until then, it keeps you guessing. We are given hints of the fantastic not long after this line—the narrator states, “The world was so recent that many things lacked names,” and yet, in the opening line, we have a reference to a firing squad—either Colonel Aureliano Buendia’s incident took place many, many, many, many years after the discovery of ice or the timeline of this world is slightly different from our own. From there, we see the gypsies and their strange inventions, Jose Arcadio Buendia and his newfound passion for alchemy, Jose Arcadio and his strange sixth sense, and, finally, the discovery of ice. This moment could possibly be viewed as non-fantastic; Macondo is an isolated village with almost no knowledge of the rest of the world, so it makes sense that Jose Arcadio Buendia would view ice as something otherworldly. However, because we have seen other hints of the fantastic in this story so far, it gives this moment a fantastical feel as well.
I didn’t think that this story could have taken place in a different timeline. I think because of the isolation of Macondo, everything to them was fantastic. If you remember, when Ursula brings the people from the other town back to the village after her seven month long disappearance, we are told that they come from “towns that received mail every month in the year and where they were familiar with the implements of good living.” (36) These people were, essentially, more advanced than Macondo because of their proximity to the outside world. They would know of ice and not think it some fantastic thing. I’m sure Macondo wasn’t the only small town that thought frozen water was a miracle.
I agree with you about your statement about the ice and the 6th sense, however, I’m not sure if I agree with your point of view on alchemy being fantastic. I took magic and witchcraft in the ancient world class and alchemy, then, was viewed as something very scientific and progressive.