As a period drama, One Hundred Years of Solitude is epic in scale in the way it charts the growth and eventual decline of the fictional city of Macondo and, by extension, the Buendia family as well. Within the first part of the series, consisting of eight episodes, we have reached the fourth generation of the BuendÃa family, and for viewers, it can be a daunting task to keep track of the family connections given the promiscuous tendencies of the men of the family, which have led to more children being born out of wedlock than in it. Viewers who are familiar with the source material already know that the family tree will become much more confusing in the final part with new members adding on in each generation. To avoid mixing up the family dynamics among the members of the Buendia family, let’s take a look at the legacy of Jose Arcadio Buendia as established in the series so far.
Spoilers Ahead
First Generation
Jose Arcadio Buendia
The stalwart patriarch of the Buendia family, Jose Arcadio Buendia, founded the mystical city of Macondo after seeing a dream about it. Buendia can be regarded as the quintessential visionary genius-explorer-founder figure, whose curiosity found an outlet after he became acquainted with Melquiades. Despite being a caring father and a loving husband, Buendia’s unchecked passion for scientific endeavors and knowledge ultimately drove him to lunacy and isolated him from his family, as shown by the way he spent the final part of his life being tied up in the chestnut tree. Buendia championed the spirit of freedom and equality—and laid the bedrock of Macondo upon these noble ideals. Buendia’s honorable nature and his brilliance as a pioneering figure make his final predicament as a lonely, raving man marred with existential dread and a search for higher meaning all the more tragic. But such is the fate of the genius minds, who follow the diktats of dreams and imagination until one day the shackles and limitations of the mind betray them.
Ursula Iguaran
Buendia’s cousin and wife, Ursula Iguaran, is the rock that holds the Buendia family together. A woman of indomitable spirit, strong will, and iron determination, she is the reason the Buendia family survived through tough times even when the family patriarch himself remained unmindful about the realities. Ursula’s devotion to her family at times makes her a bit of a control freak, but at the same time she is compassionate towards others, as seen in the way she raises Rebeca as her own. However, Ursula’s treatment of Arcadio also highlights that she too is a fallible human being.
Second Generation
Jose Arcadio
The firstborn of Buendia and Ursula, Jose Arcadio is a rebellious spirit who often exemplified both the positive and negative traits of his father. A man driven by bodily passion, Jose Arcadio is a survivor who is more than capable of holding his own, irrespective of the circumstances he has been put in, and is characterized by his recklessness and free spirit. However, Jose Arcadio is often prone to impulsiveness as well, as his actions after returning to Macondo suggest, and even though the mysterious situation regarding his death remains unresolved, his wayward demeanor might have been the reason for it. Jose Arcadio married Pilar, even though they were generally considered as brother and sister (not biologically), in a way following in the footsteps of his parents through engaging in an unlawful union—which emphasizes the central theme of the series: history is doomed to repeat itself. Jose Arcadio also feared responsibility, as he was never able to acknowledge Arcadio, the illegitimate son he fathered with Pilar, as his own son.
General Aureliano BuendÃa
Aureliano inherited his father’s passion for science and academics and spent most of his youth in the laboratory, creating golden fish and silverware—and his overall isolated, lonely existence matches with Buendia’s predicament in his final years. Despite being a man of reason who stood by the ideals adhered to by his father, and possessing the ability of limited clairvoyance, Aureliano suffered from a sense of uncertainty which ultimately led him to a path of violence and destruction as he became a fierce rebel leader who didn’t abstain from taking innocent lives to further his cause. Aureliano falls for Pilar and fathers Aureliano Jose, an act which once again shows how the Buendia family was caught in an inescapable cyclical pattern from which there was no escape.
Amaranta
As the daughter of Ursula and Buendia, Amaranta too suffered from terrible isolation, as her jealousy in love affairs ultimately contributed to a lonesome existence. Entangled in a futile competition with Rebeca to win the heart of Pietro, Amaranta became vengeful towards both of them after facing rejection and never quite realized that life might have much more to offer than hopelessly pursuing a man who didn’t deserve her. Amaranta didn’t find love, and became estranged from her own mother, Ursula, and her loneliness mirrors the plight of the majority of the Buendia family members.
Rebecca
Rebeca’s past remains shrouded in mystery, as do her actions and eccentric traits, like the deeper connection she shares with nature. She is a total oddball of a character when compared to the rest of the Buendia family, who end up adopting her. Unlike Arcadio, who was treated like an unwanted outsider while growing up in the Buendia mansion, Rebeca found love from the members of the family—even from Amaranta, who became engaged in a fierce rivalry with her later in their lives. Rebeca appears as a force of nature who can not be tamed or controlled and is destined to find her own way, even if it means going against what is considered to be the norm—as seen from the way she married Jose Arcadio after completely ignoring Ursula’s wishes.
Remedios Moscote
Wife of Aureliano, Remedios Moscote was a kind, innocent, gentle soul who, in the brief while she was in the Buendia family, managed to bring happiness and warmth along with her. She was considerate enough to even agree to raise Aureliano’s illegitimate son with Pilar, and was the only person in the family who had shown kindness to Arcadio.
Third Generation
Arcadio
Arcadio is the illegitimate son of Pilar and Jose Arcadio, whose life was probably the most tragic among all the members of the Buendia family. Arcadio never knew his parents, grew up in neglect as Ursula could never truly accept him as a part of the family, and even when life seemed to start getting better for a sensitive, mild-natured Arcadio, he found himself entangled in a conflict without understanding the true nature of things in the first place. Arcadio became a dictatorial general as he had no idea how to handle the power he had been given, and his decisions made him a much-hated figure in Macondo—right up to the day of his demise. The most tragic part is how Arcadio tried to make love to Pilar, not knowing that she was actually his mother—and once again, this follows the pattern of illegitimate relationships the men in the Buendia family find themselves caught in throughout their lifetime.
Aureliano Jose
Illegitimate son of Aureliano and Pilar, Aureliano Jose grows up to be a fine young teenager, and like clockwork, gets trapped into the doomed pattern by falling in love with his aunt, Amaranta—who was also the only maternal figure in his life. As she rejected his advances, a heartbroken Aureliano Jose left his family, and his future course of life will be focused on in the final part of the series.
Fourth Generation
Children of Arcadio
Arcadio and Santa Sofia became parents of twin sons, Aureliano Segundo and Jose Arcadio Segundo, and a daughter, Remedios the beauty—and they are the fourth generation of the Buendia family who are being raised by Ursula, Amaranta, and Santa Sofia. The final part of the series will chart the journey of their lives, as the fate of Macondo and the Buendia family rests upon their shoulders.
