100 Years of Red

            While reading the first part of One Hundred Years of Solitude, I could not help but draw a few parallels between this novel and My Name is Red, by Orhan Pamuk. For instance, both novels incorporate struggles between two separate but present lifestyles. However, in One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, at least in the first half of the book, does not pit religions against each other, as much as give the reader a peek into a simultaneous lifestyle that differs from that of the residents of Macondo.

            Clearly, tying someone to a tree is not an acceptable method of handling mental illness or deterioration, like the residents do to Jose Arcadio Buendia when he breaks all of the equipment in the laboratory and other rooms. Father Nicanor Reyna tries to prove to him that God exists while Jose Arcadio Buendia is tied to the tree, but even in his nonsensical rants, Buendia is not convinced of his existence until he sees the image in a daguerreotype. Jose Arcadio Buendia represents a very scientific frame of mind and perspective. Father Nicanor is symbolic of religion, and the positivity of God’s existence, even without proof one can see in front of them. These conflicting viewpoints often create great tension in a community and can cause severe issues, such as wars between groups or countries. Ursula mentions thanking God at a few points in the novel, but the general consensus is that the town does not need a priest and a church in the sense that he is building it.

            Orhan Pamuk centers his novel, My Name is Red, around two groups of people; those who were ready to change with the times and could be considered progressive, and those who wanted to keep art and their lives the way they were at that time. While this results in a pair of gruesome murders, One Hundred Years of Solitude, has not yet come to that point. Only time will tell what the second half brings.