100 Years of Solitude Chap 1-5, Question1

1) Jose Arcadio, the eldest son, I found to be an interesting character in the first five chapters. In my opinion, he represents “coming of age,” incest, and ignorance through this actions.

-Arcadio is completely infatuated by the provocative fortuneteller who is attracted to him because of his “parts.” I believe that Arcadio is around 14years old at this time (as chapter 1 indicates), thus he is in the midst of puberty and Pilar Ternera’s intimate touch is his first, he craves her affection and follows the scent of her armpits. All of these emotions and actions are common in boys as they come of age, and become aware of their testosterone driven instincts. His emotions are a mixture of fear/pleasure/guilt/desire, as young children feel when they become sexually aware; Arcadio is fighting his innate sexual desires towards Pilar. “But Jose Arcadio kept looking for her all night long, for the smell of smoke that she had under her armpits and that he got caught under his skin. He wanted to be with her all the time, he wanted her to be his mother, for them to never leave the granary, and for her to say ‘Lordy!’ to him,”(pages 25-26).

-The classic “Oedipal complex” and idea of sons desiring their mothers above all other women is also represented in these chapters. Incestual relations and consequent genetic malformations is the ultimate fear of Ursula, Jose’s mother, so it is ironic that he fantasizes over incestual acts. When he is having sex with Pilar in complete darkness, he imagines that it is his mother. “…And where he tried to remember her face and found before him the face of Ursula, confusedly aware that he was doing something that for a very long time he had wanted to do but that he had imagined could ever really be done, not knowing what he was doing…and the bewildered anxiety to flee and at the same time stay forever in that exasperated silence and fearful solitude,”(page 27).

-The coming of age is very evident, when Arcadio describes how Pilar has changed him, despite her laugh that frightens away the doves; “…the invisible power that taught him how to breathe from within and control his heartbeats, and that had permitted him to understand why men are afraid of death,”(page 28.) This reminds me of the knights in tales of chivalry, who idolize women as their driving force in life and all their battles.

-When Jose Arcadio falls in love with a gypsy and runs away with her after impregnating Pilar, it is indicative of his ignorance to his family obligation and duty as a father. This is also a reflection of his father’s neglection of his familial responsibilities, that Ursula struggles her whole life to compromise for. Jose Arcadio chases his lustful desires in women, while his father chases scientific experiments and magic in nature.