I know there really isn’t a main character and that’s the point; that the Buendia family as a whole or Macondo itself is the protagonist. But, if you had to choose one character as the unofficial protagonist, who would it be?
I would say Ursula. She is such a strong matriarch, from the start of the book, and is the glue that holds the family together. I feel like she is the heart of the novel because, although I love it from start to finish, something is really missing once she passes. It’s like the beginning of the end.
She also plays a crucial role in a few major events or changes in the town. She outlives all her children and many of her descendants. And I love the fact that her greatest fear – that one of the children will be born with a pig’s tail – is the downfall of the family. It’s such great foreshadowing.
by wayman-stewart
14 Comments
Aureliano
Colonel Aureliano Buendia
I agree with you, but I’m also going to add that the house itself is a character on it’s own, and it was Ursula who found the will, the strength, and the money, to bring it back from the brink of death, over and over again. The house, with her efforts, was what allowed for all the other characters to keep coming back and interacting with each other, which, as you said, led to the unfortunate pig tail.
Probably some combination of Aureliano and Jose Arcadio.
But joking aside, I think it’s Colonel Aureliano Buendia. The fact that the book opens with him makes me think of him as the main character.
Úrsula Iguarán. She is, as you call it “the glue”. I always see her as the memory of Macondo, and when she died she took that away.
Macondo, the town itself.
The mother is there pretty much the whole time.
The rain.
The ants
It doesn’t come around until the past paragraph, but Karma.
The town of Macondo is the main character
> Who would you say is the main character of 100 Years of Solitude
Prose.
I think that there isn’t one. That was my impression. Maybe the town? Time? Not a person.
The town