preview

One Hundred Years Of Solitude Masculinity Essay

Better Essays
Open Document

Sanchaiyata Majumdar
Interrogating ‘masculinity’ in female characters of Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
Masculinity is a common theme in Latin American literature. The same is true about the works of Garcia Marquez. Machismo and patriarchy are subthemes of several of his creations, including his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
However, theorists such as J. Hearn and A. Petersen have argued that the concept of masculinity is blurred. According to them it tends to not only over-simplify the characters of men but also imposes on them few behavioral attributes which men are expected to conform to. Also, it generalizes the male and female differences depending upon biological, cultural, and economical scales and ignores the active role of women in society.
Conversely, although there is a strong sense of masculinity in Marquez’s men, yet on closer look one would see that male characters of Marquez are actually ‘victims’ of hegemonic masculinity who behave keeping with the norms set by society on them. Interestingly, on the other hand, Marquez actually challenges the traditional concepts associated with maleness by showing characteristics of masculinity in female characters. At times his female characters show extreme sense of violence, …show more content…

Not only this, in order to make the readers realize of her emotional solidity, the evidence of which is filled throughout the novel, the author writes that she is, “active, small, severe, that woman of unbreakable nerves.” (9) Here he suggests the initiation of a

Get Access