In the epic novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes about the Buendia family of the mythical Macondo. Over the generations, the Buendias are plagued by incestuous relationships; in the end, they only succeed in isolating themselves from society and forming unnatural bonds created by incest. The novel's incestuous relationships allow the characters to "recreate" themselves, plunging the family deeper into isolation. So, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is not a book about incest. Rather, incest is used both as a catalyst and a means of exploring the novel's themes of memory and forgetting, circular time and violence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Incestuous Relationships as a Representation of Character Traits and the Repetitiveness of Character Actions Incest has been a major theme of the novel since its beginnings, when Macondo was founded. When Ursula marries her relative José Arcadio, she refuses to consummate the marriage, fearing she will give birth to a baby with a pigtail. When Prudencio Aguilar says that José Arcadio is incapable of getting his wife pregnant, José Arcadio murders him, only to be chased by his ghost; the fleeing couple forms the town of Macondo. Although José Arcadio and Ursula did not have the fate of giving birth to a baby with a pigtail, Ursula continues to remember the threats caused by incest, often reminding her family not to commit this sin. She remains the moral compass of her family until her death and is the only one who remembers the past as more than a series of nostalgic memories. Yet its power and influence are limited. She cannot prevent her son Jos Arcadio from becoming a gypsy or a prostitute; nor can she dissuade her grandson Arcadio from becoming Macondo's most despotic ruler or the colonel from executing a man who deserved clemency. Powerless to stem the losses and tragedies that beset the family, she cannot help them avoid the fate that was reserved for them when Macondo was founded. Incest forges important bonds between characters from present and past generations, further alienating them from society. For example, Auareliano and his aunt Amaranta have a sexual relationship, which is only interrupted by Amaranta's conscience. Two generations later, Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula, different individuals but sharing the same names and many character traits, have a child together. Locked in a fierce passion, they forget the outside world while the town of Macondo withers away. The theme of memory loss, rooted in incest, is also linked to the notion of circular time. By forgetting their past, the Buendia repeat the mistakes of their ancestors and are unable to move forward in time. For example, when Arcadio returns after becoming a gypsy, he overlooks the fact that he is related to Rebecca and marries her. Because no one connects the present to the past, the family allows this to happen. A significant metaphor for this inability is the “spinning wheel.” As Marquez writes, "There was no mystery at the heart of a Buendia that was impenetrable to [Pilar Ternera] because a century of maps and experience had taught her that family history was a machine of inevitable repetitions, a spinning wheel that would have continued to spread into eternity without the progressive and irremediable wearing of the axel (Marquez 402). The wheel, representing circular time and repetition, turns throughout the novel. Yet, as Marquez writes, “the first in the line is tied to a tree and the last is eaten by the..