Essay About Kikuji Mitani And Fathers Aura

One Hundred Years of Solutide
One Hundred Years of Solutide
Since the beginning of time, man has clung to the notion that
there exists some external force that determines his destiny. In
Grecian times, the epic poet Hesoid wrote of a triumvirate of
mythological Fates that supposedly gave “to men at birth evil and
good to have”. In other words, these three granted man his destiny.
Clotho “spun the thread of life”, Lacheis distributed the lots, and
Atropos with his “abhorred shears” would “cut the thread at
death”(Hamilton-43). All efforts to avoid the Fates were in vain. In
every case their sentence would eventually be delivered. And it
appears that once the Fates ballot had been cast, the characters in
Greek myths had no chance for redemption. One must wonder if man, like
the Greeks portrayed, has any real choice in determining how he lives.
That issue of choice arises when comparing Gabriel Marquezs One
Hundred Years of Solitude and Yasunari Kawabatas Thousand Cranes. The
men in Yasunari Kawabatas Thousand Cranes and Gabriel Garcia
Marquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude forever seem to be repeating
the lives of their male ancestors. These cycles reveal that man as a
being, just like the mythological heros, has no true choice in the
ultimate course his life will take. The male characters personal
development is overshadowed by the identity of their ancestors.
Clotho, it appears, has recycled some of her spinning thread. The new
male generations, superficially, are perceived to be woven of like
design. Kikuji Mitani and the male Buendias face communities that
remember their ancestors. As a result, their unique communities
inadvertently compare the actions of the sons to their respective
fathers, having recognized the apparent similarities. Eclipsed by his
fathers aura, within his village, Kikujis identity has no separate
definition. To most townsfolk, like those at Chikakos tea ceremony,
Kikuji exists as “Old Mr. Mitanis son”(16). He and his father are
therefore viewed as essentially the same person. Kikuji can take no
action to change the villages preformed perception.
In contrast, The Aurelianos and Jose Arcadios have been set into a
self that their name, not their upbringing, dictate. Ursula, after
many years drew some conclusions about “the insistent repetition of
names”(106) within the Buendia family. While the eldest Jose Arcadio
Buendia was slightly crazy, his raw maleness is transferred to all the
Jose Arcadios that follow. They tended to be “impulsive and
enterprising” though “marked with a tragic sign”(186). On the other
hand, the Aurelianos, corresponding to the open-eyed Colonel, seem to
be “indifferent”(15) and “withdrawn”(186) yet sparked with a “fearless
curiosity”(15). The Aurelianos tendency towards solitude that shut
the Colonel away in his later years, would generations later, give his
distant descendant Aureliano Babilonia the stamina to decipher
Melquiades scriptures(422). Together, this perfunctory family
tradition seemed to influence the course these mens lives would take
in the same way that Kikujis perception