Cyclical Time Structure in One Hundred Years of Solitude Noah David Perry 11th Grade

Cyclical Time Structure in One Hundred Years of Solitude

Narrative structures vary from novel to novel as a technique that aides in the advancement of the plot and enhances the clarification of the literary devices employed throughout the story. In the novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, both traditional, or linear, narrative time and cyclical narrative time structures work simultaneously to emphasize the recurrent destructive behaviors of the Buendía family. A linear narrative structure “follows a straight line — starting at the beginning, moving to the middle, and proceeding to the end of the story”; follows a line of movement including an ongoing plot, with a somewhat typical exposition, rising action, climax, and denouement. However, One Hundred Years of Solitude is not a novel that primarily depends on a linear narrative structure. In fact, this novel's structure is also inclusive of a cyclical narrative. The cyclical time “cycles through the story one event at a time to end back where the story originated”, and reiteratively brings the reader back to key plot occurrences as a means of highlighting the impact on the characters. In his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquez implements the technique of...