We have deemed this loss of time and type of isolation elements of the fantastic. However, I would argue that Gabriel García Márquez has managed to tell us the story of not only Colombia’s history but the history of many Central and South American countries. Of which were contempt living as they were before tourism, business, and conquistadors decided they could “help.”
Therefore, the idea of foreigners bringing in things such as an English encyclopedia that could infringe on their culture, or the railroad that led to the banana plantation can have devastating and deadly consequences. Many might believe that an English encyclopedia could be used for nothing more than education, but for many, it is the tool provided by outsiders so that they may acclimate and adjust themselves for the foreigners. These countries have been interrupted, and wars started because they end up fighting to survive, to regain what has been taken from them.
This idea of being stuck so far in the past is the reality for many third-world or “developing” countries that do not have access to technologies and resources that the United States does. Nevertheless, the past of one country may be the future of another, and it just takes them a little while longer to get there.
Gabriel García Márquez has written One Hundred Years of Solitude, as some argue, an easier pill to swallow about the truths of Colombia and other countries.
This is something that never even crossed my mind while reading. Someone else mentioned in their post that many events in the novel mirror events from Marquez’s own life, so it makes sense that this novel could also have been inspired by the history of Marquez’s native Colombia.