In Gabriel Garcia Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, the fictional town of Macondo provides a stage on which the speaker uses the regression of a society to show the disastrous consequences of capitalism on a non-industrialized society. Ursula Buenda's predominant matriarchal character is that of a catalyst who introduces and accelerates the spread of capitalism through her entrepreneurial ventures. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Although Ursula Buendia is responsible for the founding of Macondo, she is also a symbol for its well-being and monetary strength. At the beginning of the novel RSula is characterized as thrifty, frugal and "endowed with a great capacity for work" (9), and in this period Macondo is presented as "a village [is] more tidy and industrious" (10) than any . Thanks to the hard work and brilliant planning of her husband, José Arcadio Buenda, all the people of the town "could reach the river and draw water with the same effort" (9) and the streets are aligned in such a way "that no house took sunnier than another during the hot hours of the day" (9). The tone created by this picturesque setting creates the feeling of a unique society in which all people strive not for personal progress, but for equality of conditions. A new chapter opens for Macondo as the industrialization of the village begins. RSula, the once ideal mother, becomes "busy with [her] promising candy animal business" (41) and slowly begins to withdraw from her children's lives, leaving them to be raised by native helpers. It is her "delightful little... cockerels,... pink fish... and yellow ponies" (49) that spread the dangerous disease of insomnia, which is symbolic of how money and other capitalist gains can make one forget that which is important in life. A capitalist society is theoretically driven by need, rather than necessity, just as Ursula was born. Social Darwinism theory holds that society evolves in stages, where the lower stage is a capitalism that eventually evolves into the utopian communist society, but RSula's desires and capitalist desires for fulfillment cause Macondo to regress instead of evolving. Macondo goes from the perfect pure communist society to a capitalist society where equality no longer exists. RSula further demonstrates this idea when she "[takes out] the money she had accumulated" (59) and devotes herself to expanding the Buenda family home. The Buenda house becomes "not only the largest house in the city, ... but the ... [most beautiful]" (60). This creates a contrast with the original utopian Macondo, where "no house got more [or less] sun than another" (9). The Macondo of the past was a communist society so pure as it had no government and the inhabitants lived in a harmonious state of nature. In Macondo there was no crime, but along with modernization and the economic explosion the need for a government emerged. As Ursula begins purchasing expensive and useless "Viennese furniture [and] Bohemian crystal" (650), a new magistrate arrives in town. Even during José Arcadio Buenda's opposition to the "judges,... because... nothing needs to be judged" (61) Don Apolinar Moscote established what would become a conservative regime. The newly installed conservative magistrate begins to run the government corruptly with false elections. The government operates so corruptly that the prospect of “war” threatens (105). The growing conflict between liberals and conservatives symbolizes more than just altercations between political rivals. The recurring motif of liberalism versus conservatism symbolizes a struggle between theold and the new. The old liberal, communist lifestyle is quickly challenged by the new, conservative, capitalist one, where frivolous excesses such as "tablecloths from Holland" (65).are rampant. The final phase of industrialization begins to take root, and the founders' "mud-brick homes [are] replaced by brick buildings with wooden shutters" (209). Macondo is then suddenly «[shaken] by a whistle» (239) . The “scary” train (239) “must have brought many ambiguities… and unpleasant moments… to Macondo” (239). Along with the train came the infamous Banana Company. The capitalist greed and corruption of the "shitty gringos" (257) are reminiscent of the greed and corruption of the conservative government. However, unlike the government, it takes an act of God, and not a war, to eliminate the problem plaguing the village. "Mr. Brown unleash[es] the storm" (338) and causes it to "[i]t [rain] four years, eleven months, and two days" (338) in Macondo. The speaker's use of the flood is symbolic in many ways. The use of water that destroys all sources of economic and monetary prosperity is similar to a baptism, which cleanses the sins of corruption and greed and cleanses the city from its sources. The damage caused by the advance of capitalism in Macondo was on a social level and the damage caused by the flood was equally harmful on an economic level. The flood swept away all the excesses of Macondo society, and it also swept away all economic life, giving it the chance to return to its roots. The days of "papering the house...with paper money" (208) are over, and Macondo is given the opportunity to start over. After the rains end, Ursula declares that "[a] person cannot live in negligence like this" (360) and Macondo slowly begins to emerge from her despair, Petra restarts her lottery, the Buenda house is repaired, and the morale of the city ​​rises. However, when Ursula died, the few remaining businesses were a "nearby grocery store" (401), the "Catalan bookshop" (413), and the city "brothel" (417). The character of Amaranta Ursula returns to Macondo and mirrors the role of the deceased Ursula. She decides “that [it] is possible to save the community” (408). Amaranta Ursula set about restoring the Macondo she knew, through "the restoration of the house" (406). The problem with this restoration is that Amaranta Ursula is part of the fifth generation of the Buenda lineage. Instead of returning Macondo to the first and second generation communist version, he went on to restore the Banana Company Macondo in which it grew up. Instead of saving the village and the Buenda family, the town moves further towards social and economic collapse, as illustrated when the late Aureliano Buendia was reduced to accepting a "weekly sum" (411) from Amaranta Ursula. Although Aureliano "[wanders] aimlessly through the city, seeking an entrance to the past" (444) none is found, society advances too far into a state of no return and "Macondo [is] swept away by the wind and exiled from the memory of men" (448). Remember: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The final sentence has a profound effect on the reader. One might say that being "exiled" (448) to a life of solitude is bad enough, but the reader wonders what heinous act Ursula and the other residents of Macondo must have committed to be "exiled from the memory of men" (448 ). . The overall tone of the book, especially examining the specific collapse of Macondo's entire infrastructure, causes the reader to empathize with the village and ask questions about its demise. Was there divine interference in society's regression? The allusions used throughout the book, 1970.