The Influence of the Past in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Beloved"

The characters of both One Hundred Years of Solitude and Beloved are unable to make progress in their lives because of their inability to free themselves from the past. In One Hundred Years of Solitude, characters are cursed to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors. However, in Beloved, characters are haunted by their own past.

Both Sethe and Paul D from Beloved are unable to progress because of their failure to move beyond the horrors of their pasts. After his traumatizing experiences at Sweet Home and at the prison camp, Paul D locks away his feelings and memories in a "tin tobacco box" which has "rusted" itself shut over time. By alienating himself from his emotions, Paul D believes he can preserve himself from further psychological damage. However, in order to secure this protection, Paul D sacrifices his ability to feel for himself and others. In this way, his painful past is preventing him from forming attachments in the present. Instead, he is living his life fenced in, unable to go outside certain boundaries, such as loving Sethe, because he feels it may release the horrible memories of the past that he has struggled so hard to hide away. Further, because of the torture he has suffered as a slave, Paul D believes it is dangerous to love something too much, because slaves have those they love taken away from them by white people. He tells Sethe that "her love [for her children] is too thick" as she attempts to explain why she tried to kill them.

Sethe, too, struggles to make progress in her life because of the abuse she has suffered and the abuses she has committed. Before running away and gaining freedom, Sethe lived her life as a slave and was forced to endure much physical and emotional trauma, including being raped by Schoolteacher's nephews and being whipped by Schoolteacher, himself. Sethe recalls that before these traumatic events, "she had milk enough for all." In other words, she was capable of being very nurturing and loving. Later, when Schoolteacher comes to take her back as a slave, Sethe tries to murder her children because she doesn't want them to suffer the abuse she had to endure. Sethe kills one of her daughters, and wounds both her sons, all because she is so disturbed by, and unable to forget her past. At the end of the book, a white person comes to the house to talk to Sethe's daughter, Denver. Sethe again goes temporarily insane because this event triggers memories of the abuses she suffered as a slave, and she attempts to kill Mr. Bodwin with an ice pick. The fact that Sethe resorts to violence both at the beginning and end of the story shows that Sethe was unable to move past her painful history in order to better the life of her family. Sethe becomes haunted by the killing of her own daughter with a saw. Her memories of this cruel act infuse her everyday life, and eventually she becomes so guilt stricken over her act of infanticide that this memory enslaves her. In "trying to make up for the handsaw," Sethe quickly succumbs to Beloved's (her daughter's reincarnation) demands. She becomes so consumed in apologizing to Beloved for her death that she almost starves and she allows the house to fall into decay.

Many characters from One Hundred Years of Solitude are unable to make progress in their lives because they are unable to escape making the same mistakes as their ancestors. For example, Colonel Aureliano Buendia and his brother, Jose Arcadio sleep with a brothel worker, Pilar Ternera. One generation later, Aureliano Buendia's son also tries to sleep with her. The next generation, two brothers again unknowingly sleep with the same woman; both Jose Arcadio Segundo and Aureliano Sugundo share a bed with Petra Cotes. Noticing how actions keep repeating, Pilar Ternera makes the statement that the Buendia family is a "meshing of gears of unalterable repetitions" that would spin on into eternity were it not for "the progressive wearing down of the axel" from their repeated mistakes. Also, down through the generations, many of the women of the Buendia household become obsessed with trying to clean and decorate the house. First, Ursula does this; then, Fernanda and Santa Sofia de la Piedad; then, Amaranta Ursula. This activity is a metaphor for their efforts to reshape their lives to start fresh. However, the house continues to fall into disarray, with weeds, ants, and mold slowly taking over, suggesting that they cannot successfully more forward. Near the beginning of the story, Jose Arcadio Buendia becomes obsessed with Melquiades's workshop. One generation later, so does Jose Arcadio Segundo. One generation after that, Aureliano Babilonia also becomes obsessed with the workshop. These two characters repeat the mistake made by Jose Arcadio Buendia, and as a result become so enchanted by the workshop that they never leave and become lost in solitude, just like Jose Arcadio Buendia did. In addition, characters also make the repeated mistake of being involved in incestuous relationships. In the first generation of the book, the matriarch of the Buendias, Ursula, and the patriarch of the Bunedias, Jose Arcadio Bunedia, who are related to eachother, get married and have children. Then, in the last generation of the Buendia family, Amaranta Ursula and Aureliano Babilona have an incestuous relationship, leading to the birth of a child with a pig's tail, and the demise of Macondo. The family's tendency to commit incest and to sleep with the same women throughout the generations, results from their imprisonment in their solitude, which prevents them from reaching out and moving beyond themselves and engaging with the world around them.

In conclusion, both Tony Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez explore the pervasive influence of the past on the lives of their characters. In this way, they demonstrate that people and societies who do not remember the past, learn from it, and integrate its lessons into the present are doomed to fail.