Discussing Amaranta in One Hundred Years of Solitude
Amaranta is one of the most pivotal figures in One Hundred Years of Solitude due to her self-imposed repression, which ultimately prevents her from having children with Colonel Aureliano Buendía or her nephew Aureliano José—thus preserving the bloodline of the Buendía family across two generations.
Originally, Amaranta was full of life. She and her sister, Rebecca, fell in love with the same man, but Amaranta, unwilling to be the loser, cursed Rebecca and vowed to prevent her marriage to Pietro. Throughout three love affairs, Amaranta always pulled back at the edge of falling into the whirlpool of love. She was conflicted, growing up under the curse of her name, “Amaranta,” raised with the fear instilled by her mother that “incestuous marriages produce children with pig tails.” Amaranta’s painful memories—such as the tragic death of Remedios—made it hard for her to escape her past. She was tortured by fear and chose to repress herself to spare her family and herself further heartache. Perhaps in Amaranta’s mind, only by punishing herself and quietly enduring pain could she bring peace to the Buendía family.
However, until the end of her life, Amaranta never truly understood the deep love she felt for her family. Like Colonel Aureliano Buendía, she numbed herself with fear, living in solitude to avoid a tragic end. Some may argue that Amaranta had romantic feelings for Aureliano, but I believe that, because of her fear, Amaranta’s feelings toward him and Rebecca were similar. These emotions were buried deep inside her, blurred between love and hate. Her extreme restraint caused those feelings to dissipate before they even had a chance to emerge.
Unlike the cold indifference of Colonel Aureliano Buendía, Amaranta, as Ursula said, possessed “infinite love.” She loved Rebecca so deeply that she made her beautiful burial garments, “no one could have done better, even out of deep love.” She also loved Colonel Aureliano Buendía, remembering the boots he hadn’t worn when he lay in the coffin. If Ursula’s love for the Buendía family was selfless, boundless, and unwavering, Amaranta’s love was one of repression. She had to suppress her feelings, allowing reason to overcome her chaotic desires. In her solitude, she maintained the family’s bloodline.
Amaranta, like the other Buendías, was a contradiction, full of complexities. She, too, had a wild nature—a mad mind open to love and the human spirit. There’s something deeply attractive in her—a tragic, multi-layered beauty. Much like how we, often covered in prejudice and societal expectations, become numb in our repression, Amaranta’s fear comes from the tortured soul. Like her, we often can’t blame our fears, and have no choice but to suppress our reckless impulses before they emerge. It’s this complexity, this contradictory yet relatable tragedy, that moves me.
#OneHundredYearsOfSolitude #Amaranta #GabrielGarciaMarquez #Literature #Entertainment #Books #FamilyDrama #LatinAmericanLiterature #BookDiscussion #LoveAndFear #LiteratureLovers #LiteratureAnalysis
