Use Irony and Magic Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude Essay

Use Irony and Magic Realism in One snow Years of Solitude In Marquezs One degree centigrade Years of Solitude, the realistic description of impossible events is an example of both irony and magic realism. Irony is the use of words, images, and so on, to convey the opposite of their think meaning. Garcia Marquez employs irony on several levels. Sometimes a single word, such(prenominal) as a characters name, suggests something opposite to the characters personality for example, Prudencio Aguilar, who is not the least figure prudent. Sometimes a characters style of speech is ironic. For example, in the chapter on the banana workers strike, the court uses very stiff, pompous language to state something that is whacky that the banana workers do not exist, because they are technically not employees of the unanimous - an evasion of the governments responsibility that has tragic consequences. Another example is Fernandas long-winded proclamations of her apparitional devotion. Thes e are obviously expressions, not of Christian love, but of extreme opportunism and rigidity. The apparently patriotic declarations of Liberals and Conservatives alike also mother nothing to do with loyalty to the country, but are really about the narrow ambitions of the politicians. more(prenominal) subtly, what the narrator or the characters say may sometimes contradict what the reader knows to be true. There are many examples in the solemn announcements of Jose Arcadio Buendia, including his finding that ice is the great invention of our time. Much later, the apparent progress brought by the banana company to Macondo turns out not to be progress at all, but a prelude to devastation. Still more subtly, Garcia Marquez has reserved a... ...ecise figures for things. Thus, the toilsome rains that fall on Macondo-a perfectly normal, but impressive, event in northeast Colombia-are said to last precisely four years, eleven months, and two days. To a child watching it rain, it mi ght seem to last that long. Three gram workers are massacred by troops during the banana strike. Colonel Aureliano Buendia fights, and loses, precisely thirty-two wars, and so on. When we read of such amazing events told in such an objective and nave voice, we realize it is up to us, the readers, to interpret their meaning. Whoever is narrating is simply too literal-minded and simple to have trustworthy opinions. Works Cited Drabble, Margaret The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford University Press 1995 Marquez, Gabriel Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude, HarperCollins