The Nostalgia and Madness of 100 Years

(Nikki’s post and a class with Dr. Doggett encouraged me to discuss the notion of nostalgia.)

       Nostalgia stereotypically carries a positive connotation but its etymological root is in the word nausea. Homesickness relates memory to feel physically ill. While nostalgia can mean fondly looking back, it is also a feeling of unease. In 100 Years, Ursula exemplifies these seemingly polar definitions. The bedridden Ursula, in her recounting of the family history to the children, regresses into the past to reach the details of her dynastic family.

      Colonel Aureliano Buendias exhibits in the first brief moments of the novel his connection to memory. His immediate flashback to childhood, the earliest we can recall, allows his life—which will become only a memory—to come full-circle, in the way that the novel tends to do.

      The Colonel’s nostalgia comes in the form of regret. The mistakes he’s made come back to haunt him as he sinks further into the madness of isolation. He later views the treaty he signed with the Conservatives as a sign of personal weakness. He allows, despite hearty protest, the execution of his long-time friend Moncada. His rash decision to threaten warfare resulted in the assassination of sixteen of his sons, who could be identified by the crosses on their foreheads and who were killed uniformly.

      Colonel Aur. provides an interesting case study: his lack of social interaction and his obsessive behavior show the old man’s deteriorating sanity. His serial depression and mental instability stem from the need to entirely remember the past.

      The golden fish he’d create out of hobby or habit suddenly haunt him. He cannot create anything new—all the fish have to come from something old. He melts down his old models in order to create new ones because he longs for the sincerity of the past. He has destroy the past in order to recreate it, to know it, to remember it. His dying moments are the beginning of the tale, so we already know the story will be cyclical. Throughout his adult life and as an old man, he is wracked by the clutches of nostalgia.

      Nostalgia in the novel does not only apply to the elderly, however. Jose Arcadio Buendias tries to delve back into his past by exploring Melquiades’ documents in isolation. He also falls into the trap of madness via isolation.

      Nostalgia is bittersweet. It can be kind, and it can be evil.