Kalei Lehua Bobbermin
Death disrupts and consumes the lives of the people of Macondo. Garcia Marquez, perhaps one of the most popular Boom novelist during the 1960’s, examines the different types of deaths that occur within his book, One Hundred Years of Solitude. There are three types of deaths within Marquez’s novel; non-death, when death is not happening; natural death, when someone dies by being shot down; and unnatural death, when someone dies differently than that of a natural death. Death in Macondo differs from the everyday approaches, as “natural death” to them means it was a violent death, whereas natural/normal death usually is ruled as an instance of being deceased due to natural causes, a death that had no internal or external cause, but rather a death in relation to being elderly. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez defines and presents natural deaths, non-deaths, and unnatural deaths, through the lives and deaths of the Macondo people to exemplify death’s normality.
Natural death is established by General Moncada and exemplified through the natural deaths that the characters face within the text. General Moncada speaks with Colonel Aureliano Buendia: “But what worries me is not your shooting me, because after all, for people like us it’s a natural death” (Marquez 158-159). General Moncada explains that natural death, at least for the people of Macondo, is to be shot and killed. For this type of death to be considered natural, or more clearly, normal, it is through General Moncada’s explanation that defines the normalcy of being shot and killed as the natural way of dying. For clarification, “normal” is being defined as “Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected” (Normal n1) and “natural” being defined as “Consistent with nature; normal, expected” (Natural n2) according to the Oxford English Dictionary. It is through the definitions of “natural” and “normal” that I am focusing on when analyzing General Moncada’s explanation of “a natural death” (Marquez 159) because these definitions determine how the passage is read. These particular definitions of both natural and normal demonstrate the relationship between the two and how the people of Macondo have been gunned down so often that it has become their society’s normal and accepted as the only natural way to die. Though people of today, myself included, declare that normal/natural way to die is to die of natural causes, for example dying in one’s sleep at an old age, the natural way to die is declared differently in the text due to their definition of normal, which differentiates in different communities. General Moncada’s definition of natural death is shown in the text through the death of Arcadio and the massacre that takes place within Macondo. Arcadio’s death demonstrates a natural death because, as General Moncada explains, he dies by being gunned down. “Arcadio was shot against the wall of the cemetery… [Rebeca] barely able to react and wave good-bye to Arcadio. Arcadio answered her the same way. At that instant the smoking mouths of the rifles were aimed at him…. The captain gave the order to fire” (Marquez 118-120). Arcadio was killed by the firing squad, dying the natural death that General Moncada describes. The description of Arcadio’s death, signifies death’s normality within life. Arcadio knew it was coming, but his act of dying presents how death is not always quick, which is present through the moment Arcadio shares with Rebeca. In doing so, Arcadio’s death is even more so normalized because it presents how the human mind reacts to death when knowing that it is happening; he illustrates the cognitive processing that occurs when a person is faced with death and coming to terms with their physical end. The rhetoric within the novel bears witness to Arcadio’s death in a nonchalant manner due to the redefined normalcy of his death when shot down by the firing squad. The rhetoric of normalcy is established in the Macondo community, where being gunned down is “natural” because it is the honorable way to die, thus the only way to die by natural causes and any other way would is deemed otherwise. Again, to go further into how normal The people of Macondo, and in regards to the death of Arcadio, the people have been taught to die fighting and therefore it is the only natural death that they should hope for. With Arcadio’s death exemplifying a slow and painful end, Marquez normalizes death and further defines natural death when he explains the massacre of the town.
The massacre that takes place continues to narrow a definition of a natural death. When the massacre happens the dead bodies are compared to the bananas that put the people of Macondo in this predicament, and with the act of being gunned down defining what it means to take on a natural death, those who died during the massacre undergo a natural death, thus providing evidence of the abnormal becoming the normal, enhancing the normalcy of death. Jose Arcadio Segundo is looking at the dead bodies: “…he saw the man corpses, woman corpses, child corpses who would be thrown into the sea like rejected bananas” (Marquez 307). To continue this analysis of what is normal and the comprehension of normalcy in the town, the relationship between corpses and bananas is significant to natural death and normalcy as it occurs in Macondo. The comparison of corpses and bananas is similar to that of rotten bodies and rotten fruit; if fruit goes bad then it is disposed of, just as if a person dies their body is then disposed of, and in this case “thrown into the sea” (Marquez 307). The connection between the Macondo people and the bananas is that they originate from Macondo, they grew up there, they ripened into adulthood, and when they are destined to be harvested while in their prime to experience the natural death. In addition, the agriculture of bananas, a human process of harvesting bananas, and as the bananas are similar to that of the people, the people are soon harvested by the companies that control them, resulting in the massacre.
Much like this massacre was started by the harvesters who refused to work, therefore, like the rotten bananas, the people of Macondo became rejected bananas and needed to be disposed of, in which case lead them to a natural death as foretold by General Moncada, but it is Jose Arcadio Segundo who witnesses the bodies as bananas. Bananas, a fruit found in nature, and one that naturally grows in their town, is the primary fruit that the townspeople were involved with, provides evidence of a natural death. Not only were the men, women, and children killed by gunfire, but it is the comparison of a natural fruit, especially the one that was fought over, demonstrates the normalization of death presented in Marquez’s novel. The normal, and in this case natural connection, begins with the natural reaching the normal. In relation to Marquez’s novel, the societal norm of Macondo is to accept death, and as explained before the natural way to die is to be gunned down. This normality presents itself in the natural death, extending into natural fruit, which further defines this massacre as a natural event and the people died of natural causes. And again, to draw back on the comparison of people and bananas, bananas themselves were selected because it was the livelihood of the Macondo people. When the people of Macondo revolt, they are essentially the spoiled fruit of the bunch that needs to be tossed out and the massacre is how they became rejected bananas. As rotten fruit is disposed of to prevent the spread of contamination, and the massacre of Macondo was done to dispose of the people who were contaminated with the idea that they were being wronged. As the massacre – the rejected bananas – consists of those who revolt against their employer, the banana company, these rejected bananas need to be tossed so the idea of a revolt does not spread to other towns who are controlled by the banana company. As General Moncada addresses natural death, this massacre and death compared to a natural fruit proves evident that death in itself is normal, a natural death is done by bullets. The normality of death is further explained when it comes to instances of non-death and unnatural deaths that occur in the text.
Non-death is defined through observations made by the characters and their actions. In the beginning, the little town of Macondo has yet to be touched by death or the outside world, everyone was at peace and Jose Arcadio Buendia makes note of it. “‘We are so peaceful that none of us has died even of a natural death,” he said. “You can see that we still don’t have any cemetery’” (Marquez 56). Jose Arcadio Buendia establishes in the text that Macondo does not have death and explains the town’s lack of a cemetery. Natural death doesn’t exist because death is not happening in the town of Macondo, though, by mentioning death, non-death is taking place. Because death does not exist, a non-death, the town disassociates itself from the understanding of death. This concept of non-death also occurs when Colonel Aureliano Buendia shoots himself in the chest. Colonel Aureliano Buendia attempts to kill himself to die a natural death, but instead survives the ordeal and is frustrated that he remained alive: “…in the afternoon took his pistol and shot himself in the iodine circle that his personal physician had painted on his chest… “If I still had the authority,” he told the doctor, “I’d have you shot out of hand…for having made a fool of me” (Marquez 178). Colonel Aureliano Buendia is frustrated that he didn’t die, experiencing a non-death instead which he fails to obtain a natural death. This frustration and sense of failure stems from what it means to die a natural death, a death that is fit for someone of his stature – one who is high ranking member of the Macondo community – and therefore he does not shoot the doctor because if he were to shoot the physician then they would receive the natural death while leaving himself with a non-death. Aureliano is frustrated that he didn’t die, and thus it’s not “natural” for him to remain alive, whereas to have died would have been more “natural” to him. These two types of deaths, non-death and natural death, prove evident that Marquez goes a step further and establishes a third type of death, one that must take place to demonstrate death’s normality, an unnatural death.
Unnatural death is demonstrated through the characters that do not die in the way that the books establishes as a natural death. The unnatural deaths of Jose Arcadio and Remedios the Beauty exemplify and normalize death through their mysterious endings. Aureliano Jose finds Jose Arcadio dead: “…she found Jose Arcadio lying facedown on the ground on top of the leggings he had just taken off, and she saw the starting point of the thread of blood that had already stopped flowing out of his right ear” (Marquez 132). Jose Arcadio’s death is considered unnatural because he dies differently than that of a natural death, and more specifically a he dies in a way that is difficult for the people of Macondo to understand. For instance, his death was abrupt and unexpected, unlike the natural deaths that have taken place are ones that involve the firing squad. The only evidence is the trace of blood coming from his ear without any “wound on his [Jose Arcadio’s] body nor could they locate the weapon” (Marquez 132), and the people of the town try to preserve his body as “they scrubbed him so much that the arabesques of his tattooing began to fade” (Marquez 132-133). Due to his abrupt death, the people of the town do not know how to respond, and due to the lack of a wound or weapon, this provides evidence that an unnatural death has taken place. Furthermore, his death proves to be an unnatural death through the obscure reactions of those who were taking care of Jose Arcadio’s body. His unnatural death leads to unnatural reactions within the town as it pertains to the body. It is only through Jose Arcadio’s unexpected death that these unnatural reactions of attempts to preserve and clean his corpse is the result of his death being unnatural. The unnatural aspects of his death is what also normalizes how death is not always expected, providing evidence that the text presents the normalization of death through the people of Macondo. Although Jose Arcadio’s death goes unwitnessed and sudden, it is a clear example of an unnatural death, which is also shown through the mystical death of Remedios the Beauty.
The definition of an unnatural death is further demonstrated when it comes to the death of Remedios the Beauty. Remedios the Beauty is interpreted as dying through scripted context, and dies an unnatural death. Remedios dies mysteriously:
…Amaranta noticed that Remedios the Beauty was covered all over by an intense paleness. “Don’t you feel well?” she asked her. Remedios the Beauty, who was clutching the sheet by the other end, gave a pitying smile. “Quite the opposite,” she said, “I never felt better.” She had just finished saying it when Fernanda felt a delicate wind of light pull the sheets out of her hands and open them up wide. Amaranta felt a mysterious trembling in the lace on her peticoats and she tried to grasp the sheet so that she would not fall down at the instant in which Remedios the Beauty began to rise. Ursula, almost blind at the time, was the only person who was sufficiently calm to identify the nature of that determined wind and she let the sheets to the mercy of the light as she watched Remedios the Beauty waving good-bye in the midst of the flapping sheets that rose up with her, abandoning with her the environment of beetles and dahlias and passing through the air…they were lost forever with her in the upper atmosphere where not even the highest-flying birds of memory could reach her” (Marquez 236).
Remedios the Beauty mysteriously dies physically and her death is done from the interpretation of her witness, Ursula, it is abrupt and the usage of mystical words of how she is rising and “passing through the air” is what provides evidence of her unnatural death. As Remedios the Beauty is transcending above and beyond reach is her dying an unnatural death. This unnatural death is demonstrated through the references of nature “the environment of beetles and dahlias… highest-flying birds of memory,” these aspects reflecting life as nature and the disconnection between her unable to be touched provides evidence of how her disassociation from the natural world physically pushes her into death. Utilizing magical/mystical elements to describe her death demonstrates, not only that it is an unnatural death, but the mystery of how death is perceived by the lack of knowledge behind what happens while dying or afterwards normalizes death. The abrupt and vaguely explained deaths of Jose Arcadio and Remedios the Beauty illustrates how the normalization of death is realized by their unnatural deaths.
The idea of non-death, natural death, and unnatural death are defined throughout the novel and prove to normalize death through the people of Macondo. Marquez establishing the normalization and multitude of death, as it appears in the novel, is significant within the text because it proves that death, whether it occurs or not, is defined and described through loss and hardship that people experience by literal or mystical means. The significance of how these deaths are illustrated in Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude is its applicability to everyday life in society; when death and its multiple meanings is drawn into question, it alters how death and life are interpreted and manipulated by the living. Marquez proves how the living are the only ones left to interpret the normality and multi-definitional deaths due to their role as witness(es). Marquez’s work is captivating the idea that there are many sides to every story, but the ones who witness death are the ones who interpret the dead person’s last chapter.
Works Cited
Márquez Gabriel García, and Gregory Rabassa. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006.
“Normal n1.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2019. http://www.oed.com.lib-proxy.fullerton.edu/view/Entry/128269?redirectedFrom=normal#eid. Accessed 15 February 2019.
“Natural n2.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2019. http://www.oed.com.lib-proxy.fullerton.edu/view/Entry/125333?rskey=S95t7T&result=3#eid. Accessed 15 February 2019.
Biography
Kalei Lehua Bobbermin is a current graduate student at California State University, Fullerton. She is the Academic Workshop Coordinator for the Acacia Group and Vice President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Club. Her dream for the future is to teach an English course in American Sign Language (ASL).
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