The Buendía Curse: Incest, Prophecy, and the Fall of Macondo

The Buendía Family Saga: Key Plot Points and Prophecies

The narrative of the Buendía family is marked by tragedy, unrequited love, and the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. Key events include:

• Aureliano José's Fate: Aureliano José committed suicide because his love for his aunt, Amaranta, was not reciprocated.
• Pilar Ternera and Santa Sofía: Pilar Ternera and Santa Sofía were central figures in the early generations.
• Remedios the Beauty: Remedios the Beauty ascended to the heavens in the backyard.
• The Priest Ambition: Despite saying he would go to the seminary to become a priest, the character never attended.

Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes

Aureliano Segundo and Petra Cotes were lovers who lived together for a time in Petra Cotes' house. Their relationship caused the animals to reproduce rapidly. Together, they became wasteful in their use of money, but despite this, Aureliano loved her more than his wife.

The Colonel's Decision and Aureliano José's Departure

Amaranta, his aunt, realized that the relationship she had with Aureliano José was beyond an innocent game and was transforming into a dangerous, hopeless affair. She decided to nip the relationship in the bud. Aureliano José subsequently went to sleep at the barracks until one night his father, the Colonel, arrived and decided to lead him to a war that had been prepared without telling anyone.

The Colonel also began to suspect his daughter's relationship with Mauricio Babilonia.

The Final Incest: Aureliano Babilonia and Amaranta Úrsula

Aureliano Segundo worked to raise money and send Amaranta Úrsula to study in Brussels. She was gone for many years, returning one day without warning. Her arrival revolutionized the entire house and the life of Aureliano Babilonia. However, she formed a couple with Gastón. Aureliano, heartbroken, began frequenting brothels and a necromancer, who gave him illusions of love. Yet, Aureliano confessed his true passion for Amaranta Úrsula to Gastón.

Gastón, who was planning his airline project, increasingly distanced himself from Úrsula. Later, while Amaranta Úrsula was bathing, Aureliano entered for the first time. The unbridled passion between Amaranta Úrsula and Aureliano consumed them little by little, transforming into a beautiful love that would yield the bitter fruit of their destruction.

Tormented by the certainty that they were related, Aureliano took a trip to the parish house to search the archives, which were oozing and moth-eaten, for some clue regarding their filiation.

The Prophecy Fulfilled

A son was born—a male—but when they turned him over, they saw that he had the tail of a pig. The baby was eaten by ants. With that fact, Aureliano finally deciphered the parchments of Melquíades and realized that Amaranta Úrsula was not his sister, but his aunt (or rather, his relative from a previous generation).

The Deciphering of Melquíades' Manuscripts

Aureliano then recalled the wording of the manuscripts of Melquíades: "The first of the family is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants."

While Macondo began to be destroyed by the wind, it was written that the city of mirrors would disappear from the face of the earth at the moment when Aureliano Babilonia deciphered the last page of the parchments. The main message of these parchments was contained in this sentence:

"Races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth."