Fate, Purpose, and Magical Realism: Message and Genre in Garcia Marquez's Novel Anonymous 12th Grade

Fate is shown to be a common concept throughout ancient and modern works. From Oedipus Rex to Walt Disney’s Brave, the power of fate is highly recognized within our culture; whether it is accepted or not is another story though. Through the use of remembrance, repetition, and the concept of fate, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is able to tell the story of the creation and destruction of the town of Macondo as it struggles through trials of historical, biblical and fantastical nature. One Hundred Years of Solitude is a novel of magical realism in which the inhabitants of Macondo follow paths that have been taken before and reach the same conclusions, implying that their fates have been set since the beginning of the town’s creation. Aureliano even reads a prophecy of the town’s destruction and as time progresses, the people and locations play out their assigned roles and fade away, drifting on up to heaven or being led away by a ghost.

The purpose of One Hundred Years of Solitude is to show that the future can be already pre determined, but will still be a mystery to those experiencing it. The world can“exist in a state of flux; they assign purpose and meaning to some lives while, simultaneously, draining the same from other lives”...