Lunes Lunacy: The Importance of Monday in One Hundred Years of Solitude Anonymous College

On one Tuesday in One Hundred Years of Solitude, José Arcadio Buendía, the Buendía family’s enigmatic patriarch, comes to the sudden realization that “it’s still Monday, like yesterday” (Márquez 77). At first, this may seem like lunacy; the characters around him all discredit his idea, and he is eventually tied to a chestnut tree after his realization drives him mad (78). However, his statement is more than it seems. The realization that it is “still Monday” even as the week continues to progress speaks to the broader theme of the cyclical and ultimately stagnant nature of time in the novel (77). Throughout the novel, Macondo experiences much technological progress, globalization, and population growth, but eventually the town succumbs to collapse and returns to a pre-civilization state. Even as the plot and events move forward, characters seem to repeat themselves, as the constant stream of ‘José Arcadios’ and ‘Aurelianos’ confuse and distort what would be considered a logical or ordered progression of time. Even as time brings progress and change, it eventually erases them, bringing about yet again the beginning of a cycle. Monday represents the beginning of these cycles. It is the first day of creation in the Book of...