THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGY IN MACONDO AS SEEN FROM THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MAJOR CHARACTERS OF GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ’S ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

  

THE EFFECT OF TECHNOLOGY IN MACONDO

AS SEEN FROM THE CHARACTERIZATION OF

THE MAJOR CHARACTERS OF GABRIEL GARCIA

MARQUEZ’S ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

  

Indra Puspita Dewi

  Student Number : 06 4214 076

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

  

MOTTO

That is what the highest criticism really is, the record of one’s own soul - Oscar Wilde - The problem for every writer is credibility.

  Anybody can write anything so long as it’s believed.

• Gabriel García Márquez -

  New modes of realization… corresponding to the new capabilities of society.

• Herbert Marcuse -

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, I would like to give my greatest gratitude to my parents for the love and patience. Their material and immaterial support will be one of my own reasons to finish this thesis. Their passion they have made becomes my spirit. For my father who puts his trust in me to be his tough daughter; for my mother who gives her laugh and stories, I would say “Thank You”. For my two brothers (Gun and Jun) as persons who understand and give their patience waiting their sister back home, it is a blessing for me to have them. Next, I would thank Alwi Atma Ardhana who is someone I avoid to talk about this thesis but honestly he is the one who I need to talk with. Thank you for giving me understanding, care and patience along the process of this thesis.

  I would like to thank Dr. F.X. Siswadi, M.A. for the corrections and guidance during the process of the thesis. I also thank him for his patient check and re-check to the thesis. I would thank him for his patient check and re-check to the thesis. For the reader of this undergraduate thesis, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum, I would like to thank for his technical corrections and suggestions.

  A real blessing for me to have and meet these beautiful persons, all of friends who support me with their motivation, advice, sharing, laugh and stories; Media Sastra for letting me join and know more about literature; Eliata, Mauritius, Sita, Ira, Vero, Yenny, Rere, Danas for our friendship and joyful time; Puput, Nabila, Rosa, Elsa, Dea, Arina, Inkan, Dimas, Hasan, Wahyu, Kiky, Abram, Li- san, Damar, Faisal Kamandobat and om Teguh for having support me; Iklasin, Isna, Isti for their phone and messages; Nia, Yuan, and all friends in Adelia for listening this talkative girl; All people in GKM IBS Yogya for giving me spirit; Ardhana’s family for giving me their supports and place to write; The family of Kolese St.Ignatius Library and Sanata Dharma University Library for being places where I can find the books that I need; M. Ninik Sumarni and All the fellows of Sanata Dharma’s Faculty of Letters I have known and yet to know; at last but no least, my “1” room in Adelia which is a place where I always write my undergraduate thesis. Thank you.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  i TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………….

  

APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................... ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE .............................................................................. iii

MOTTO PAGE .......................................................................................... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI

  v KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS …………......

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………….…. vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………… viii

ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………… x

ABSTRAK …… …………………………………………………………… xi

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION …………………………………..…… 1

A. Background of the Study ………………………………………….. 1 B. Problem Formulation …………………………………..…............. 9 C. Objectives of the Study ……………………………………...……. 9 D. Definition of Terms ………………………………………………. 9

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ……………………...……. 11

A. Review of Related Studies …………………………………..……. 11 B. Review of Related Theories …………………………………..….. 17

  1. Theories of Characters and Characterizations …………........ 17

  a. Theories of Characters ...……………… …………........ 17

  b. Theories of Characterization ..………………..……….. 18

  2. Theories of Technology …………………………..…………. 19

  3. Theories of Alienation …………………………………….… 21

  4. Theories of on Colombian Society …………………….……. 24

  a. Pre colonial ………..………………………………….. 24

  b. Colonial ……………………………………………….. 26

  C. Theoretical Framework ….……………………………………….. 28

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY …..………………………………... 31

A. Object of the Study ……...…………………………………........... 31 B. Approach of the Study ……...……………………………………... 32 C. Method of the Study ……………………………………………..... 35

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS …..……………………………………….... 37

A. The Characterization of the Major Characters .……………..…….. 38

  1. José Arcadio Buendía ………………….……….…..……….. 39

  a. Physical Characterization ….………….……………….. 39 i). Young ………..……….…………………………. 39 ii). Small ……….………..…………………………. 40

  b. Non – physical Characterization ……………………… 40

  ii). Passionate ……….……………………………… 41 iii). Wise ……….………………………………........ 42

  2. Melquíades ……….………………………………………….. 43

  a. Physical Characterization ….…….……………………. 43 i). Old ………………………………………………. 43 b. Non – physical Characterization ……….……………… 43 i). Confident ….…………………………………… 43 ii). Energetic ……………………………………….. 44 iii). Passionate ………………………………………. 45 iv). Ambitious ….…………….……………………… 45

  B. Revealing the Effect of Technology through the Major Characters 46

  1. Pre-Colonial Period ….……………….……………………… 48

  2. Colonial Period ….……………….…………………………... 50

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION …………………………………………. 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………….………. 61

APPENDIX …………………………………………………..................... 63

  

ABSTRACT

  Indra Puspita Dewi. The Effect of Technology in Macondo as Seen from the

  

Characterization of the Major Characters of Gabriel García Márquez’s One

. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty Hundred Years of Solitude of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.

  The ability to think is what makes human beings different from animals. Men can have desire and bring it into reality. One of the results of human ability to think is creating technology. The relationship between man and the invention will always influence each other. Herbert Marcuse claims that the prevailing forms of social control are technological in a new sense.

  Based on this claim, the writer of this research decides to study Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). The most interesting thing in the novel is how Márquez applies the two major characters in the novel to represent the relationship between man and technology. Both major characters react differently toward the use of technology, so, the writer of this research is interested in exploring about the effect of technology which is depicted through the major characters in the novel: José Arcadio Buendía dan Melquíades.

  In order to get a clear image about this study, the first problem formulation will talk about both major characters’ characteristics. After getting those characteristics, the focus will move further to identify the condition and the effect of technology toward those characters in order to find the effect of technology in Macondo.

  The method applied in this study is library research. Some steps applied in this study are collecting the data, doing close reading, gaining the data necessary for the problem formulations and choosing the approach. After doing the steps above, the writer of this research reads and reveals the characteristics of both major characters and explores how the condition and the effect of technology through major characters. To explore the relationship between technology and the effect of it, Marxism approach is utilized.

  Through the analysis on the characteristics of two major characters: the changing of characteristics of José Arcadio Buendía as a person who receives technology, and the unchanging of characteristics of Melquíades as a person who introduces technology to people of Macondo were compiled. In the next analysis, the writer of this research finds out how technology plays a significant effect in Macondo and gives great influences on José Arcadio Buendía as the receiver of technology. Moreover, as an outsider, Melquíades always tries to expand his influences by visiting Macondo with gypsy people intensively. Relating to some statements, this novel tells a story about Colombian society. In the end of the story, José Arcadio Buendía cannot control himself from the outsider influences (technology). He experiences alienation. Otherwise, Melquíades is an outsider who has power and who controls José Arcadio Buendía. On the other words, the description of Macondo in this novel is a description of the condition and the effect of technology that causes alienation toward the society.

  

ABSTRAK

  Indra Puspita Dewi. The Effect of Technology in Macondo as Seen from the

  

Characterization of the Major Characters of Gabriel García Márquez’s One

. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Hundred Years of Solitude Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.

  Kemampuan berpikir yang dimiliki oleh manusia adalah hal yang membedakan manusia dari binatang. Manusia dapat berhasrat dan mewujudkan apa yang dikehendakinya. Salah satu hasil pemikiran rasio manusia yaitu penciptaan teknologi. Keterkaitan hubungan antara manusia dan hasil ciptaannya selalu saling mempengaruhi satu sama lain. Herbert Marcuse mengklaim bahwa bentuk- bentuk kontrol yang berlaku adalah teknologi dalam pengertian barunya.

  Berawal dari pernyataan tersebut, penulis ingin mengkaji One Hundred (1967) milik Gabriel García Márquez. Yang menarik dari novel

  Years of Solitude

  tersebut adalah bagaimana Márquez menggunakan kedua tokoh utama dalam novel untuk merepresentasikan hubungan manusia dan teknologi. Dua tokoh utama dalam novel memiliki reaksi yang berbeda dalam kaitannya dengan penggunaan teknologi. Dengan latar belakang tersebut, penulis tertarik untuk mendapatkan penggambaran tentang dampak teknologi yang digambarkan melalui dua tokoh utama dalam novel: yaitu José Arcadio Buendía dan Melquíades.

  Untuk mencapai hasil studi yang diinginkan, permasalahan yang pertama akan difokuskan mengenai sifat-sifat yang dimiliki oleh kedua tokoh utama. Kemudian dari temuan-temuan tersebut, penulis akan menjadikannya sebagai dasar pencarian di rumusan masalah kedua mengenai kondisi dan dampak yang dihasilkan teknologi pada kedua tokoh tersebut dalam usaha menemukan dampak teknologi di Macondo.

  Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi pustaka. Beberapa langkah yang diterapkan di studi ini adalah mengumpulkan data, melakukan pembacaan mendalam, mengambil data yang dibutuhkan untuk rumusan masalah dan memilih pendekatan yang akan digunakan. Setelah melakukan beberapa langkah diatas, penulis akan membaca dan mengungkap sifat-sifat yang dimiliki oleh kedua tokoh utama serta mengungkapkan kondisi dan dampak yang dihasilkan dari hubungan manusia dan teknologi tersebut.

  Untuk melihat bagaimana dampak teknologi dan dampak yang dihasilkannya, penulis menggunakan pendekatan Marxisme.

  Pada analisa penokohan dua tokoh utama tersebut, penulis menemukan perubahan sifat pada tokoh José Arcadio Buendía sebagai pihak yang menerima kedatangan teknologi dan tidak adanya perubahan sifat pada tokoh Melquíades sebagai pihak yang membawa teknologi. Pada analisa selanjutnya, penulis menemukan bagaimana teknologi berdampak di Macondo dan memberi pengaruh besar pada José Arcadio Buendía. Temuan lainnya adalah Melquíades sebagai pihak pendatang terus mencoba melakukan perluasan pengaruhnya, yaitu selalu rutin mengunjungi Macondo bersama kelompoknya. Berkaitan dengan beberapa pernyataan, novel ini mengisahkan kehidupan masyarakat Colombia. Pada akhir cerita pada novel, José Arcadio Buendía tidak dapat mengontrol dirinya sendiri dari pengaruh yang datang dari luar (teknologi). Ia mengalami alienasi. Sedangkan Melquíades adalah pihak penguasa yang mengontrol José Arcadio Buendía. Dengan kata lain, penggambaran Macondo pada novel ini adalah sebuah gambaran kondisi dan dampak yang dihasilkan oleh teknologi yang akhirnya menyebabkan alienasi pada masyarakat Macondo.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study The writer of this research wonders about “What is actually the relationship

  between man and technology?”. This is an interesting question since human beings cannot avoid the use of technology. There is also an assumption from the writer of this research that there are many effects made by that relationship.

  Talking about technology will also talk about man who functions as a creator and a user of technology. Man who owes the ability to think always creates something new to develop human life. By using the ability to think, man creates science and develops it to be a sophisticated technology. There is a quotation from Brown, “…There will be a progress of science which depends

  …” (Brown, 1979: 354). Based on the

  largely on the development of new theories

  quotation, human beings always try to develop their ideas to serve their needs as members of society. The efforts of developing the ideas will always develop the theories that they will use. Meaning to say, technology will be in progress, as far as human beings exist.

  One of the examples of the use of technology is showed by advanced industrial society. It is something created and used by them. One of the functions of creation of technology expresses their human mind-set, their freedom.

  …The individual would be free to exert autonomy over a life that would be his own. If the productive apparatus could be organized and directed toward the satisfaction of the vital needs, its control might well be centralized; such control would not prevent individual autonomy, but render it possible… (Marcuse, 2007: 5) Based on the quotation above, it shows that if the apparatus managed the vital needs, the function of technology should be possible to express human rights.

  Unfortunately, under the conditions of raising a standard of living, the level of human requirement will also increase, and it will influence the condition of the relationship between each other.

  …In actual fact, however, the contrary trend operates: the apparatus imposes its economic and political requirements for defense and expansion on labor time and free time, on the material and intellectual culture. By virtue of the way it has organized its technological base, contemporary industrial society tends to be totalitarian… (Marcuse, 2007: 5) From the quotation above, it shows that technology in the advanced industrial society functions as a new form of control. It is not the way expressing the freedom anymore but the way controlling people. A quotation from Marcuse in his book One-Dimensional Man below will give the reader more understanding about the existence of freedom in advanced industrial society.

  ... Independence of thought, autonomy, and the right to political opposition are being deprived of their basic critical function in a society which seems increasingly capable of satisfying the needs of the individuals through the way in which it is organized…(Marcuse, 2007: 4) Marquse’s statement above shows that the functions of individu in a society are satisfying the human needs in the beginning but losing the freedom at last. The new form of control by the apparatus makes people lose their traditional rationale. The human mind-set has been changed. It is replaced by a more productive and

  Talking about technology is also talking about the progress of science. Science is produced by human beings. The progressions of more complex things in detail, function, shape, etc are always made. Human beings have the idea which depends on their own development.

  Relating to the science and human, there are process of accepting and rejecting. In this learning process, there are terms of enculturation and acculturation. Enculturation is:

  …the learning process by which man, throughout of his life, acquires his own culture. It consists of two levels, an unconscious level and conscious level. In the adult, the process involves conscious acceptance or rejection of new forms of behavior, including new inventions or ideas… (Custodio, 1992: 279). And, Acculturation is “…consists in the processes of change in artifacts, customs,

  

and beliefs that result from the contact of societies with different cultural

traditions …” (Custodio, 1992: 280). Human beings who accept the new forms of

  behavior can make it as part of their culture. If it happens, it will influence their understanding of idea, custom, belief, norm, etc. (part of culture). The idea which is one of the elements thought of human being is affected by the development of science. This development of science called technology. The things that people used are the product of the development of science.

  Based on the explanation above, the writer of this research thinks that the relationship between man and technology is very close, and the influence between each other is strong. The way human interact and respond technology cause an opposite role. It is not man who controls technology but technology which dominates man. The writer of this research suggests that the domination of technology in advanced industrial society will alienate human being. Men who create and use technology become men who alienate themselves by using technology.

  One of the quotations from Herbert Marcuse says that “…The prevailing

forms of social control are technological in a new sense ...” (Marcuse, 2007: 11).

  From Marcuse’s statement, it assumes that technology as a new social control has great influence for human life. Human activities always use technology, indeed, it makes human cannot avoid the use of technology even a small thing. In other words, the result of this new social control relates to the men as the user and the creator of technology.

  The fact that human being cannot avoid the use of technology is caused by human needs. Man has a need to satisfy his desire. In attempt to gain it, man needs to work to satisfy his desire. The desire which is created by men is automatically continuing products of a society because the need has a function in a society, even it can satisfy them or not. Marcuse says in his book that:

  …No matter how much such needs may have become the individual's own, reproduced and fortified by the conditions of his existence; no matter how much he identifies himself with them and finds himself in their satisfaction, they continue to be what they were from the beginning—products of a society whose dominant interest demands repression… (Marcuse, 2007: 7) Based on quotation above, it is suggested that Marcuse describes a need as something that continues products of a society whether it is satisfy the producers or not. One of the representations of the need is working. It is something human beings do and it is a product of society. It demands human freedom to choose as they want. Unfortunately, there are people who cannot get the freedom of working will sustain alienation.

  …The range of choice open to the individual is not the decisive factor in determining the degree of human freedom, but what can be chosen and what is chosen by the individual. The criterion for free choice can never be an absolute one, but neither is it entirely relative. Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. Free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom if these goods and services sustain social controls over a life of toil and fear—that is, if they sustain alienation. And the spontaneous reproduction of superimposed needs by the individual does not establish autonomy; it only testifies to the efficacy of the controls… (Marcuse, 2007: 9-10) By working, human beings fill their needs. They are doing something in order to make it real. Their social, economic, and political needs are the expression of their desire which is developed as a member of society. The fact expresses their needs but it does not mean people have an absolute freedom. The power of controller develops and people only wait the time when the efficacy of the control is ready to alienate them. Based on those explanations, the writer of this research is interested to analyze how the condition of technology and the effect of it toward people in the novel.

  The object of this research is a novel entitled One Hundred Years of

  Solitude

  . Gabriel García Márquez, the Colombian writer who won the 1982 Nobel Prize for literature, is the author of this novel. One Hundred Year of Solitude is a famous one all over the world and one of the great literary works from Márquez which was first published in Argentina in 1967 and published in England and the United States in 1970.

  …García Márquez achieved unusual international success as a writer with his novel in 1967 (One Hundred Years of Solitude). The novel has been translated into a large number of languages and has sold millions of copies… It tells a tale of a town called Macondo, Buendia family, and group of gypsy.

  In this novel, there are two patriarchs, first, José Arcadio Buendía who is a leader of Macondo, second, Melquíades who is a leader of gypsy people. Here, the gypsy people have a significant effect in the progression of Macondo. They introduce technology in Macondo. Melquíades and his people always come showing their inventions every March. Since technology came, Buendia has changed from a good leader for his people into a person who is ambitious. On the other hands, Melquíades, a person who brings technology, does not show any changes but his ambition to share about technology towards people of Macondo is strong.

  Changes in the progression of Macondo are showed by the arrival of technology. Unfortunately, the end of Macondo is caused by technology itself. Technology and the effects really give a significant effect in Macondo. Those things can alienate people.

  In this novel, the writer of this research assumes that Márquez tries to describe the condition of technology and the effect of it toward people of Macondo. In the beginning of the story, Macondo is described as a beauty and peaceful place. It is similar with a place named heaven. Until the new comer comes, Macondo has been changed. Since the inventions brought by the gypsy came, it influences Buendia’s mind. It causes the beginning of Macondo’s destruction. Buendia opens the gate between Macondo and outside world.

  Similar with Macondo, Colombia is also described as a place which presents excellent productions; a peaceful place and their wealth. After outsiders come, the condition in Colombia has changed. The influences come and change the history and traditions of the native. It causes isolation of the native (Indian people) from the ruling society (the Spaniards). Moreover, it happens after the independence of Colombia around 1810. The effect of the outsiders’ arrival still happens in Colombia even Colombia had the Independence Day. The portrayal of this condition of Colombia is described by the quotation below.

  …García Márquez is openly hostile toward his country’s politics. Since 1810, Colombia has been a democracy where the Liberal and Conservative parties have vied for power, leading to spates of concentrated violence… (Bloom, 2006: 19) Another Bloom’s quotation gives a description of the arrival of the outsider.

  It gives great effects to the condition of Aracataca, part of Colombia. Through the inventions which the outsiders have introduced, people know and learn technology. From technology, people develop it in many fields, such as politic, economic, and social.

  The writer of this research suggests that certain events which happened in Macondo are similar with events which happened in Colombia. Moreover, it is assumed that One Hundred Years of Solitude is a form of criticism at that time.

  This novel gives a description of the condition that happened in America Latin, especially in Colombia. Another quotation which is showing the condition of Colombia comes from the child time of Márquez,

  …Around the time his parents settled in Aracataca, the United Fruit Company, an American company, had begun machinations with the local banana industry, much in the same way as Mr. Herbert and Mr. Brown do in the novel, opening up the previously isolated Aracataca to outside influences and exposing it to corruption… (Bloom, 2006: 20) The progression of Macondo is similar with an advanced industrial society.

  By using technology, Macondo has been changed into an unknown place. There is a great effect caused by the inventions which brought by the gypsy. Macondo is a place full of inventions that people do not know the things in the past but people who have power lead Macondo to alienate themselves. The existence of José Arcadio Buendía is the figure of the leader of Macondo which alienates his own people.

  In this novel, the author describes Macondo in details. He describes how Macondo has found at the first time and how it has changed since the influence from outsiders comes. The writer of this research thinks that the readers are led to witness to Macondo has a progress to nowhere. This condition is similar with the condition of Colombia. There are many changes happen as the effect of the influences from outsiders.

  Technology will give positive and negative effects. It depends on how men use technology wisely to avoid alienation of people’s products. It is the efficacy of the controls. The fact that Márquez is really details in showing the description makes the writer of this research chooses One Hundred Years of Solitude as the object of this study.

  B. Problem Formulation

  In making easier to analyze this topic, the writer has formulated two problems which can be stated as follows:

  1. How are the major characters of One Hundred Year of Solitude characterized?

  2. How does the characterization reveal the effect of technology in Macondo?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  Concerning the topic of this research, the two problems of analysis above will be a full-scale description of the writer of this research’s perspective. The first question aims to get the description of characterization that each of the major characters have. The main element to be discussed is the major characters’ characteristics and behaviors generally in relation to the society in Macondo. Then the second question aims to explain how the characterization reveals the effect of technology in Macondo.

  D. Definition of Term

  In order to help in continuing this research, the writer needs to declare the definition of term used in the title. In this research, the writer of this research uses one term based on the title “The Effect of Technology in Macondo as Seen from the Characterization of the Major Characters of Gabriel García Márquez’s One

  ”. Actually, the term “technology” is the significant

  Hundred Years of Solitude term and it needs to explain more about the appropriate meaning.

  Technology

  Technology encompasses the entire human-made world. It is a machinery and equipment used or developed as a result of this knowledge. It refers specifically to the knowledge, processes and products of technological activity. The word originated in ancient Greece and meant the art of doing things, or the methods and techniques used to do something (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5330303/meaning-of-technology).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies As the writer explained in chapter 1, there is a close relationship between

  human beings and technology. They are the creators and the users of technology, otherwise, technology is a form of progression of human mindset. Both of them develop together as far as human beings exist. Technology functions as a media to express freedom. People also use it to fulfill their needs. Unfortunately, sometimes people cannot get their absolute freedom in the way of expressing their needs. There will be a form of control by an individual or a group who has power.

  This control makes people lose their traditional rationale because it is replaced by a more productive and rational one. The result is human mindset has been changed.

  In this research, the writer uses the novel which won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. One Hundred Years of Solitude has been translated in many languages. It has been discussed in many variant studies all over the world. There are a few researchers working on this novel with some discourses employed in different studies.

  The criticism of Gabriel García Márquez’ One Hundred Years of Solitude accomplishes the difficult task of considering whether it is his innovations of Magical Realism or his criticisms of Latin American society and politics. In order research discusses: Magical Realism, Postcolonialism and Márquez’ own life. Those three topics are chosen because the topics are closed to the description of Gabriel García Márquez as the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

  In an essay title “One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García

  

Márquez ” (2007), Steven Boldy discusses Magical Realism on the novel. In this

  essay, the writer describes Magical Realism through the example of Remedios ascending to heaven and Fernanda’s annoyance at losing her sheets in the ascension, etc. The discussion about the topic is supported by his statement. The quotation below shows that reality and imagination are described in a frame of

  One Hundred Years of Solitude.

  …Two very disparate models for his prose which García Márquez often

  mentions in just about the same breath reflect the novel’s tight interweaving of different dimensions: the national and the cosmopolitan, the local and the universal, the historical and the mythical. … (Boldy, 2007: 96).

  Another discussion about Magical Realism, the interview between Stone and Márquez explains that the actual events exist in the novel but Márquez used to do an exaggeration as the trick of his trade from his grandmother. The discussion of this topic is showed by the quotation below:

  …GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ: The banana fever is modeled closely on reality. Of course, I’ve used literary tricks on things which have not been proved historically. For example, the massacre in the square is completely true but while I wrote it on the basis of testimony and documents, it was never known exactly how many people were killed. I used the figure three thousand, which is obviously an exaggeration… (Stone and Márquez, 2006: 88)

  The quotation shows Márquez avoids the use of exact data even he uses the background history of the massacre in 1928 in his novel. Reality and imagination are two different in one frame. This thing is Márquez’s Magical Realism which is famous all over the world.

  Second topic discussion is Postcolonialism. An undergraduate thesis entitled

  

Issues on Postcolonialism Seen in the Characterization in García Márquez’s One

Hundred Years of Solitude discusses about the articulation of postcolonial issues

  through three characterizations endowed in the novel.

  …The writer chooses this work because she perceives the novel as the author’s mean to bring forward the issues of Postcolonialism that the colonized Third World nations experience. The writer observes that the work is articulating the Postcolonial issues that are being engendered through the author’s significant characterization of the three particular characters endowed in the novel… (Pasca, 2007: 1) The characters which Pasca used in her research are Jose Arcadio Buendia from the first generation, Colonel Aureliano Buendia from the second generation and Jose Arcadio Segundo from the fourth generation. Those characterizations are convinced as the way of Márquez to mock the European’s assumption that the colonized or the indigenous people are lazy, barbaric and sensual indigenous peoples. It used to against the stereotyping and consequently the oppressor in order to instigate the awareness of resisting the mainstream Western literature through the assertion of characterization. This assertion is considered by the Western halves as the stereotypes of the colonized peoples. On other words, Pasca comments more on European’s assumption toward indigenous people. “…The

  

stereotyping that the author uses are the indolence, the irrationality, and the

sensuality reflected by the actions that the three characters achieve within their

course of character developments …” (Pasca, 2007: 2-4).

  Other discussions, García Márquez’ own life is a famous one when researchers talk about One Hundred Year of Solitude. The writer of this research has found two articles in Bloom’s Guides: Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One that related to the topic. Those are James Higgins’s

  Hundred Year of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez: Cien años de soledad in Landmarks in Modern Latin

American Fiction Philip Swanson, ed. and Kathleen McNerney’s Understanding

  . Bloom gives a comment in his book on part of

  Gabriel Garcia Marquez

  annotated bibliography as an excellent summary of One Hundred Years of which relates the novel to Márquez’s own life. Moreover on McNerney’s

  Solitude

  book, Bloom says that “…McNerney’s survey includes a good overview of

  

Marquez’s relationship with Colombia, and also a thorough discussion on the

incorporation of past and contemporary works into the text of One Hundred

Years …” (Bloom, 2006: 117 - 118).

  Another comment on the novel, in One Hundred Years of Solitude by

  

Gabriel García Márquez (2007), Boldy states that Márquez reproduces used the

  event which happened in his hometown. On the other words, it shows how Márquez really closed to the creation of One Hundred years of Solitude. The detail of plot and setting are similar to his experiences. The quotation below portrays how Macondo is part of Márquez’ own life.

  …The actual massacre took place at Ciénaga railway station in 1928, and knowledge of it was virtually erased from public knowledge and memory. Márquez reproduces real names of soldiers and words of the official decree. José Arcadio Segundo was involved in organizing a strike and witnessed the killings. He was taken as dead with hundreds of corpses to be dumped into the sea but escaped to discover that the inhabitants of Macondo had mysteriously forgotten about the massacre overnight: magical realism

  Through three topics that a few researchers working on; Magical Realism, Postcolonialism and Márquez’s own life, the writer of this research has been inspired to the writer of this research’s own topic. The writer of this research thinks that those three topics are interesting; each of topics has a significant point. From the topic ’Magical Realism’, Márquez describes reality and his grand fantasy about his experiences. One of the events is about the massacre which is one of the significant events in Macondo. The massacre was erased from public knowledge and memory. This event happens caused by the great power that influences the people of Macondo. How the people of Macondo themselves respond to the event is a significant fact that happens in Macondo. Another, topic ‘Postcolonialism’ showed by the alteration of situation in Macondo from the Macondo’s inhabitants lack the language into describe their world to the Macondo which has come into the age of Enlightment. Starting from gypsy people, Macondo has been changed and colonized by the other people who came to Macondo. The result is there are many effects that the colonized got from the colonizer. Last, topic ‘Márquez’ own life’ explains that the story of Macondo is a description of Márquez himself. From the story of the novel, it describes how his Colombia colonized by an American company through the United Fruit Company.

  It depicts the history of Colombia which closed to the author’s own life.

  Both topics above give an idea to the writer of this research to explore and make own topic. Moreover, the writer of this research wants to focus on the role of technology in the novel as the own topic. The reviews of those topics are useful Actually, the writer wonders what happened, what the correlation between technology and other element that is linked is and whether technology is used to be a media of author’s critic or not. In an attempt to explain it, the writer works on the major characters: José Arcadio Buendía and Melquíades.

  Here, José Arcadio Buendía and Melquíades are the two patriarchs. José Arcadio Buendía, who found and built Macondo with his wife Ursula Iguaran, has the authority in Macondo. Otherwise, Melquiades, as a leader of gypsy people, is also the most powerful figure in the novel.

  …The novel has two patriarchs, José Arcadio Buendía, who founded and built the city with his wife and cousin Úrsula Iguarán, and the gypsy Melquíades, master of the occult, who wrote the manuscript in which the whole history of Macondo was predicted: city and text, action and thought… (Bloom, 2007: 97). Both of them have the strong figure in each community, the writer uses them to represent the effect of technology in Macondo. So, the explanation about dimensions above also makes the writer of this research wonder how the representation of reality through the topic of Magical realism. The technique of writing the novel that Márquez shows the reader is unique, full of fantasy and reality. Related to postcolonialism, the writer sees technology in this novel could be a media of exploitation for people of Macondo. Last, Márquez’s own life, the writer of this research thinks that Márquez also realized that the function of ‘new science’ which exists is a political act of certain people. Based on three topic discussions, the writer analyzes the effect of technology to study more on the correlation between each other. So, the reader will be able to see how it can work on the two patriarchs and how those things effect Macondo.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theories of Characters and Characterizations

a. Theories of Characters