Time is in flux in One Hundred Years of Solitude. The future is continuously referenced throughout the novel, and the current events are written in the past tense. Because of this, we never quite have a firm stance. Garcia Marquez prepares us for this in the opening line that is both future and past. These references are never long, and often come in the same sentence as the current event. It’s an interesting writing style that Garcia Marquez utilizes; perhaps he wants to show that all things connect.
On page twelve, when Jose Arcadio Buendia and his men are looking for the sea, we get a glimpse of the future:
“The discovery of the galleon, an indication of the proximity of the sea, broke Jose Arcadio Buendia’s drive. He considered it a trick of his whimsical fate to have searched for the sea without finding it…Many years later, Colonel Aureliano Buendia crossed the region again, when it was already a regular mail route, and the only part of the ship he found was its burned-out frame in the midst of a field of poppies.”
A current action and a future event are connected. Not to mention, Colonel Aureliano is once again referenced in connection to the beginning. This is to increase the mystery surrounding him and makes us ponder his actions. Why is he crossing the region?
This again happens on page fifteen. We are engrossed in current actions and then are suddenly given a taste of the future. Jose Arcadio Buendia teaches the children what he knows:
“In the small separate room, where the walls were gradually being covered by strange maps and fabulous drawings, he taught them to read and write and do sums, and he spoke to them about the wonders of the world, not only where his learning had extended, but forcing the limits of his imagination to the extremes…Those hallucinating sessions remained printed on the memories of the boys in such a way that many years later, a second before the regular army officer gave the firing squad the command to fire, Colonel Aureliano Buendia saw once more that warm March afternoon on which his father had interrupted the lesson in physics and stood fascinated…”
Garcia Marquez uses these future moments to not only show the importance of a person, but to also reveal more details. Here we get more details of Colonel Aureliano Buendia in front of the firing squad that add on to the mystery that was introduced in the opening line.
But connecting present events to future events is not only what Garcia Marquez does. He also connects past events to the future. He does this on page twenty-four when we are being told the story of how the people of Macondo journeyed from their ancestral home to found the town:
“One night, after several months of lost wandering through the swamps, far away now from the last Indians they had met on their way, they camped on the banks of a stony river whose waters were like a torrent of frozen glass. Years later, during the second civil war, Colonel Aureliano Buendia tried to follow that same route in order to take Riohacha by surprise and after six days of traveling he understood that it was madness.”
In this way, because he weaves past, present, and future together, Garcia Marquez creates a richer story. We aren’t just the present; we are our past and future. Note again the additional details of Colonel Aureliano Buendia.
The next time we get details about Colonel Aureliano Buendia, it’s not about his actions. Garcia Marquez tells us about the man this time, and the man is not different than the Aureliano we have previously seen. As it’s written on page fifty, “He had the same languor and the same clairvoyant look that he would have years later as he faced the firing squad.” What does this future detail tell us about the current Aureliano? That his current and future self are not that different and it’s strangely comforting to know that.
Garcia Marquez uses the future to connect, to add, but also to shock. On page seventy-one, Arcadio works with Aureliano in his workshop and interacts with Melquiades:
“Arcadio got a little closer to him when he began to help Aureliano in his silverwork. Melquiades answered that effort at communication…One afternoon, however, he seemed to be illuminated by a sudden emotion. Years later, facing the firing squad, Arcadio would remember the trembling with which Melquiades made him listen to several pages of his impenetrable writing, which of course he did not understand, but which when read aloud were like encyclicals being chanted.”
Now we know Arcadio is with Colonel Aureliano Buendia in front of the firing squad. Why is he there? What did he do? We have so many questions and no answers.
People assume time is linear, that the past, present, and future never cross. Garcia Marquez takes this line and bends it. By weaving these events together, you can create a richer, deeper, more interesting story. And why not? The past is always with us and we are always thinking of the future. The writing choice Garcia Marquez makes to make time in flux is one of the reasons One Hundred Years of Solitude is such a literary classic.
Excellent post, Margie. This quality of the entire work — all of the novel’s events — existing simultaneously, as if they have always been there, is the aspect of the novel that gives it the quality of an ancient manuscript, holy book, or work of prophecy — which is, of course, exactly what… [I just can’t make myself spoil the end for anyone who hasn’t yet finished it.]
Margie, I completely agree with you in all the ways that the past, present, and future connect in this novel, they overlap with each other and continue to reference each other. Time happens to fold on itself, as well as the characters in plots of time which Gabriel García Márquez is able to pull off in a remarkable manner.
I think the concept of time in the novel is one of the most interesting and confusing things about it. The future being referenced a lot and intertwining with the other time concepts would have made for a confusing book, but the author does an exquisite job of it.