One Hundred Years of Solutide

Since the beginning of time, man has clung to the notion that

there exists some external force that determines his destiny. In

Grecian times, the epic poet Hesoid wrote of a triumvirate of

mythological Fates that supposedly gave "to men at birth evil and

good to have". In other words, these three granted man his destiny.

Clotho "spun the thread of life", Lacheis distributed the lots, and

Atropos with his "abhorred shears" would "cut the thread at

death"(Hamilton-43). All efforts to avoid the Fates were in vain. In

every case their sentence would eventually be delivered. And it

appears that once the Fates' ballot had been cast, the characters in

Greek myths had no chance for redemption. One must wonder if man, like

the Greeks portrayed, has any real choice in determining how he lives.

That issue of choice arises when comparing Gabriel Marquez's One

Hundred Years of Solitude and Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes. The

men in Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes and Gabriel Garcia

Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude forever seem to be repeating

the lives of their male ancestors. These cycles reveal that man as a

being, just like the mythological heros, has no true choice in the

ultimate course his life will take. The male characters' personal

development is overshadowed by the identity of their ancestors.

Clotho, it appears, has recycled some of her spinning thread. The new

male generations, superficially, are perceived to be woven of like

design. Kikuji Mitani and the male Buendia's face communities that

remember their ancestors. As a result, their unique communities

inadvertently compare the actions of the sons to their respective

fathers', having recognized the apparent similarities. Eclipsed by his

father's aura, within his village, Kikuji's identity has no separate

definition. To most townsfolk, like those at Chikako's tea ceremony,

Kikuji exists as "Old Mr. Mitani's son"(16). He and his father are

therefore viewed as essentially the same person. Kikuji can take no

action to change the village's preformed perception.

In contrast, The Aurelianos and Jose Arcadios have been set into a

self that their name, not their upbringing, dictate. Ursula, after

many years drew some conclusions about "the insistent repetition of

names"(106) within the Buendia family. While the eldest Jose Arcadio

Buendia was slightly crazy, his raw maleness is transferred to all the

Jose Arcadio's that follow. They tended to be "impulsive and

enterprising" though "marked with a tragic sign"(186). On the other

hand, the Aurelianos, corresponding to the open-eyed Colonel, seem to

be "indifferent"(15) and "withdrawn"(186) yet sparked with a "fearless

curiosity"(15). The Aurelianos' tendency towards solitude that shut

the Colonel away in his later years, would generations later, give his

distant descendant Aureliano Babilonia the stamina to decipher

Melquiades scriptures(422). Together, this perfunctory family

tradition seemed to influence the course these men's live's would take

in the same way that Kikuji's perception by his community lopped him

into the path of his father. And just as Kikuji could not change the

villages preformed opinions, the named Buendia males can have no hand

in changing their given characters.

The men's selection of lovers, in turn, continues to perpetuate

their cycle of behavior shared with their relatives. Despite warnings,

Kikuji Mitani and the Buendia men engage in hazardous sexual activity

that harbors grave consequences. Lacheis' lots, in this case, are

inevitable. Choice and independent action are impossible for these men

since Lacheis has distributed the familial key to their female

attractions. There is an eerie twist in Kikuji's Mitani's love affairs

with his father's mistress and her daughter. His first encounter with

Mrs. Ota leaves Kikuji suspicious of the affair where agewise, "Mrs.

Ota was at least forty-five , some twenty years older than

Kikuji"(28). However, despite the generation gap, during their

encounter Kikuji had felt that he "had a woman younger than he in his

arms"(28). Mrs. Ota had substituted Kikuji as his father, thus forcing

Kikuji to follow in his fathers footsteps. Kikuji is not oblivious to

the strange path his love life seems to be taking, yet he does nothing

to