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One Hundred Years of Solitude: Why does the book jump forward and backward in time so

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much? Unless you hop in your super cool homemade

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time machine, you most likely expect time to move forward.

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Naturally, we expect stories to be told in the same manner.

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Sure, novels occasionally divert to a flashback or even a flash-forward, but most tales, like

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life, unfold in a linear fashion. A happens, then b, then c.

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So, what’s up with Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s clock in One Hundred Years of Solitude?

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Why did he choose to tell this story in such a funky way?

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Is it a sneaky tactic to keep us on our toes? The author’s way of making sure we’re

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paying attention? Sort of like a little wake-up call. Or a sadist’s

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means of exacting pain. Choosing to swing back and forth through time

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forces us to stay focused. It’s all about watching an intense tennis match.

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And therefore, we’re encouraged to stay alert and not miss any important details.

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Marquez is simply ordering us to pay attention by structuring the book this way. We have

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to reset our sense of time and timing on a regular basis.

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He’s basically challenging us to keep up with him as we follow him on this zigzagging

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journey. Or maybe it’s to confuse and disorient the

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reader. Sounds devious, but we wouldn’t put it past

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him. Maybe Marquez wants us to feel as if we’re

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walking inside a dream. Like a Salvador Dali painting, he creates

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a dreamlike atmosphere by telling the story this way.

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The dreamy concept of time whizzing around is simply there to provide us with a mood.

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Marquez puts us under a purple haze-like spell and invites us to see the story through his

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dreamy eyes. We enjoy the experience of the story coming

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together in bits and pieces, like memories. Or perhaps the title is a clue to the author’s

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intentions. Maybe Marquez is trying to make a broader

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statement with his time-bending tactic. Maybe it’s his way of saying we are all

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woven into the fabric of time. And in a way, we’re all connected.

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Maybe the story does its unique dance through time to remind us that beginnings and endings

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are not as clear-cut as we would like them to be.

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What do you think? Is this video over yet? Or maybe it has just begun…

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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