Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ begins with Colonel Aureliano Buendia facing the firing squad and thinking about the time when his father took him to see ice for the first time. From here, we get a complete picture of his parents’ life, who leave their hometown to find Macondo and set their roots in a place that will be turned upside down over the course of a hundred years. As we meet one after the other member of the Buendia family and become privy to their deepest secrets and darkest desires, we are led into the story by an omniscient narrator who doesn’t just know about the past and the present but also the future. Interestingly, the identity of the narrator is revealed halfway through the first season of the series. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
The Narrator of One Hundred Years of Solitude is One of Its Most Mysterious Characters
In the opening scene of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ we see a book in Sanskrit in a decrepit and abandoned Buendia house. The book doesn’t come into the picture until decades later, when Melquiades, the mysterious gypsy, comes back to Macondo after being presumed dead for several years. By this time, a lot of turbulence has already taken place in the Buendia family. When Melquiades returns, the entire Macondo is in the throes of the insomnia plague that has affected their minds such that they have forgotten everything. It is he who treats the whole village and saves them from imminent doom. Even as he becomes so intimate with the family that he starts living with them, we don’t really know anything about the man himself.
As Melquiades gets older, he takes on the task of writing a book, revealing its contents to no one. Interestingly, it is written in Sanskrit, and it makes sense that someone like Melquiades would know the language, not only because he has traveled wide and far but also because he seems to be more ancient than he looks. Melquiades dies soon after the book is finished, and he doesn’t tell anyone what he wrote in it or how to read it. As more pressing matters take over the family, the book is forgotten, and there it remains for the next few decades. This book eventually turns out to be the family history of the Buendias, written from the founding of Macondo to the time it finally crumbles to dust. With respect to the first season, the book has things that haven’t even happened yet and won’t happen for at least another few decades. In this context, the book doesn’t just talk about the past but also the future.
It remains unclear how Melquiades knew so much about the future, but it fits well with the entire mystery around him. How did he come back to life after dying the first time around? How did he know how to cure the fatal insomnia plague? Why did he ask to burn mercury for three days after his death? Each question is just as answerable as the other and does nothing but feed into the mystery of the all-knowing old man. Considering that Melquiades wrote the book, it is natural to assume that he is the narrator. However, there is another candidate who fits this position, and that person hasn’t been born yet, according to the timeline of the Netflix series.
At the end of the book by Gabriel García Márquez, on which the show is based, the book is translated and read by the last Buendia, named Aureliano. He is the seventh generation of the Buendia family, and by this time, the entire family has fallen to death, and Macondo has completely lost its former glory. He is the only one who gets to read the book and discover what Melquiades foretold about his family and him. So, he could be interpreted as the narrator, bringing his family and their history to life with the act of reading the book out loud.
Read More: One Hundred Years of Solitude: Is Macondo a Real Place in Colombia?
