Compare sections of Gould’s Book of Fish and 100 Years of Solitude
Introduction
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of 100 Years of Solitude, is a novelist of Columbia origin. He is also a screenwriter, short-story writer and a journalist. He is a decorated author and considered a very significant author of the twentieth century. Hs literary works have been recognized with various awards; one of them being the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1972 and the Nobel Prize in Literature ten years later. The author left law school to pursue a self-directed career and education in journalism. In his lifetime, he has not been inhibited in criticizing both foreign and Columbian politics. The author is best known for some of his literary works including One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera and Autumn of the Patriarch.
The novel One Hundred Years of Solitude narrates of a multi-generational story. It spans over seven generations of the family. The story features the Buendia Family and their patriarch who founds a town; Macondo. The story is non-linear and is narrated in five different time frames. The novel employs a magical realist style and the use of thematic substances. As such, the novel represented the literary boom in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. The novel uses different themes to articulate its issues. One of these themes is the fluidity of time. The aspect of timelessness in the novel is one major theme.
Richard Flanagan, the author of Gould’s Book of Fish is a writer of Tasmanian origin in Australia. He has authored non-fiction works, films and novels. The Gould’s Book of Fish is a fictional account of the life of the once convicted William Gould. It is set in Macquarie Harbor among other places in Van Diemen’s Land. Unlike other novels, the novel utilizes real paintings by William Gould. The author of the novel uses the reproduced paintings of the fishes as inspiration for characters chapter headings. The book has twelve chapters and is widely decorated as a piece of literary work. The book has been shortlisted for six awards and won four of them. The most flattering is the Commonwealth Writers Prize.
In order to compare the section of the text, this paper will offer an opinion on the style of the books predicting parts of themselves. The paper will also agree and prove through evidence from the text to show that by predicting parts of themselves, the temporality or sense of time in the books is affected. Finally, the paper will offer a comparison on the way in which the books prophesize parts of themselves. This will be achieved on the framework of a central thesis that the comparison of the texts in the two books shows that through the use of prophecy, the novels explore the fluidity of time even in the scaffold of mortal existence by offering us previews of future happenings.
Discussion
The reservations held by Aureliano when this was revealed by the priest makes me doubt the truth in the supposition that he lost the battles contrary to what was prophesied. The same is also evident in the Gould’s Book of Fish when through Gould’s reading about himself reading, we find out that his predicament was actually the embodiment of an earlier prophecy. Way before it happens; the author inventively lets the reader know what will happen in the future. Collectively, the styles of prophecy in the two books are intended to capture the interest of the reader. While reading the sections of the book, one is captivated by the thrill of anticipating the fulfilling of the prophecies (Garcia 415).
Effect of the prophecies on the temporality or sense of time in the novels
The use of prophecies in the two books has an adverse effect on the temporality or sense of time in the two books. It is important to understand the nature of a prophecy in that it foretells happenings that will take place in future. A prophecy brings the future to the present. A prophecy interrupts the order of time by putting scheduling activities ahead of time. The two books utilize prophecy as a style and consequently, the sense of time in the book is affected. For instance, the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude explores very many ideas that concern time. The author in the story could have allowed the reader to see the events in their linear progression. However, the author allows different and numerous interpretations of time. This has an effect on the sense of time.
The temporality of time is affected by the use of prophecies in the two novels. For instance, even in the scaffold of mortal existence, the author explores eternity and timelessness. Time has a certain order which cannot be disrupted in the normal sense. Time allows events to follow a certain chronology. However, prophecies in the book affect the chronology of events by bringing some events up ahead of time. Even before we read of the prophecy at birth, we are made to know by the priest through his conversation with Aureliano (Garcia 415). This is the same in the Gould’s Book of Fish where a major instance of the temporality of time is exhibited. Throughout the text, Gould struggles with the memory he has especially because he has no history to account for the memories.
The anguish by the lack of historical information to account for the memories is evidence of the effect of the prophecies. He is so perturbed by this inconsistency and the aloofness and lack of emotion by Twopenny Sal‘s, especially on the matter makes Gould very disconcerted. It is only when he reads from the books he grabs from Twopenny Sal hands that he is aware that his life is entrapped in a book. It is when he realizes that he is the embodiment of a character whose future has already been foretold. The reservations Gould had about his memory that he could not account for with history gives us a sneak preview of what he is yet to learn. The disruption of time does not auger well with him as evidenced by his disconcerted demeanor before he learns of the prophecy (Flanagan 335).
Similarities in the ways the books prophesizes part of themselves
The two books prophesize various parts of themselves in very similar ways. The uncanny nature of the similarities between the ways in which the two authors prophesize various parts of their books is congruent to the similarities of their styles of writing. The characters in the two novels learn of the prophecies that affect their lives from other individuals. In the novel 100 Years of Solitude, Aureliano is forced by his disconcertment to search the archives for information on his identity. It is only after he searches the archives of the parish for a while that the priest tells him what he knows about his identity (Garcia 414). Similarly, Gould finds out the prophecy that describes his past and future from a book that Twopenny Sal was ripping apart. The prophecy that shaped part of his life was narrated in the book (Flanagan 335).
Another similarity in the ways the books prophesize parts of their text is in the willingness of other characters to divulge the contents of the prophecy. In the novel 100 Years of Solitude, the priest is more than willing to inform the Aureliano of the prophecy. This is after he watches him frantically such for his identity in the church parish. The Priest could also tell of the anxiety and uncertainty Aureliano suffered when trying to locate his kinship. It was with compassion that the priest looked at him and divulged of the prophecy (Garcia 415). In the novel The Book of Fishes, Gould snatches the book from which he learnt of the prophecies about his life from Twopenny Sal’s hands. From the readings, Gould was surprised that Twopenny did not put up a resistance. It was as if she was too willing to let go of the book. This shows the torment that those that new of the prophecies went through and their willingness to be relieved of their burdens (Flanagan 335).
Additionally, both books prophesied different parts of themselves in ways that the characters had to undergo anguish to learn of the prophecies. In both books, we witness the mental anguish that Gould and Aureliano undergo before they learn of the prophecies. Before Gould grabs the book from Twopenny, the text reveals of his disconcertment with the lack of emotion by Sal towards his predicament (Flanagan 335). The learning of the prophecy does not calm him. Instead, he goes into a state of frenzy evidenced by ripping up the pages before tossing them into the flames. Aureliano on the other hand frantically runs into the parish to look for birth certificate in order to rest his worries. This is also seen when in the parish flipping through the archives.
Conclusion
Magical realism and prophecy is a style that embodies different interpretations of time. The style is effective and captivating and increasingly captures the attention of the reader. It is also an appropriate style for extensive texts because the create mini-situations for readers to follow up on throughout the length of the text. Through prediction, the readers also progressively understand the unfolding of the plot as the predictions offer motives for different activities and actions. The two novels utilize the style effectively to articulate various issues.
