From depressions to expansions, the worlds events and happenings revolve around each other in a circle. As young children we are wooed by a serenading baboon, telling us we live in The circle of life/And it moves us all/Though despair and hope (Rice). As we grow older, we realize that the singing monkey has a few things right. Many novelists, spanning many diverse countries and times, seem to connect with a similar theme. Encounters happen between different characters at different steps of life, but each venture carries a resemblance to another. The most prominent concept is the flowing of life from bad to good and back again. In most cases, the main character acknowledges the changes but has no idea of their gravity. Works such as Animal Farm, by George Orwell, One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garca Mrquez, and The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, are perfect examples of the steady rhythm of lifes occurrences. These stories are able to bridge the gap between distant countries with the idea that lifes patterns are unceasing.
The novella Animal Farm, written by George Orwell in 1946, was written as a political roman clef. The underlying theme mimics the communist and social uproar in the Soviet Union at the time. Orwell wrote Animal Farm through his distrust of the Soviet Union. This contempt was forged in the Spanish Civil War, where he witnessed the betrayal of the non-Stalinist Left by their pro-Russian "comrades" (Weaver). Orwell learned how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries by taking part in the Spanish Civil War. Though it is an inspiring piece of work, Animal Farm never received any awards or recognition when it was first published.
This is untrue for the book One Hundred Years of Solitude, written by Gabriel Garca Mrquez in 1967. Immediately following its release, the novel was awarded the Romulo Gallegos Prize from Venezuela, and Mrquez was awarded a Nobel Prize. In 1967, the New York Times told its readers that Genesis and One Hundred Years of Solitude are the two books that should be required reading for the entire human race. The novel deals with 100 years of a familys history and the repetition of the themes in their lives. The symbolism represents a period of Columbian history which is crowded with controversy.
Another example of controversial history being written into the book is The Good Earth, written by Pearl S. Buck in 1931. The story of Wang Lung and his ambitions to become powerful imitates the social and economic troubles that were taking place in China at the time. When this book was first published, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature. Pearl S. Buck was influenced through years of on and off living in China. She was finally forced to leave in 1934 due to the Chinese Revolution. This is where Buck gets her inspiration for her many books, the most famous of which is The Good Earth.
Throughout all three of these works of fiction, the characters and the events that shape their lives seem to move in a circle where happenings carry distinct resemblances. One of the more obvious plot circles is that of Animal Farm. The story begins with the animals being repressed by the people. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever (Orwell 19). The animals revolt and decide on equality, but soon one class of animals, the pigs, begins to place themselves above the others. The other animals are oblivious to this breaching of their seven commandments, and fail to question the pigs authority. If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right (Orwell 60). Soon it is too late for any of the animals to resist the power of the pigs. Those who try are executed, and the pigs never have to suffer any consequences, only growing prosperous and lazy. It seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer except, of course, for the pigs (Orwell 118). The common animals begin constrained by people and end blissfully unaware of their new constraints set upon them by the pigs. This plot line is an example of the circle of events that come into play during this novella. It is said that the descent of betrayal shades every line of Orwells novel, incrementally completing its circle till the pigs attain a human mastery (Cannon). As the animals continue to hit the same complications that they had when they were ruled over by humans, it is easily seen that their disputes have gone in a circle.
The similarities between the beginning and end of One Hundred Years of Solitude are more subtle because they are stretched out. Jos Arcadio Buenda, the first of the Buenda line, is an idealist. He becomes friends with the gypsy Melquades and is astonished by Melquades discoveries. When the gypsies first show him ice, Jos Arcadio Buenda feels intoxicated by the evidence of the miracle (Mrquez 19). The family, however is less sure about the gypsies so-called miracles. If you have to go crazy, please go crazy all by yourself! But dont try to put your gypsy ideas into the heads of the children, (Mrquez 5) rsula yells to her husband, Jos Arcadio Buenda. Not phased by his wifes outburst, Jos Arcadio Buenda continues to dream and goes insane searching for the Philosophers stone. rsula, now the head of the family, takes control and eliminates the ideas of magic from the family. She succeeds, and four of her offspring become involved in the army and one even had hopes of becoming the pope. The Buendas become a powerful family, building on to their house and having a say in the towns government. Finally, after many years of success, the Buenda family loses their fortune after many of the younger generations leave. The family is left poor, as they were in the beginning, although no one is still alive from the first few generations. The family story goes in a circle, however, with the curiousness of Aureliano Babilonia, the illegitimate great-great-great grandson of rsula. Aureliano Babilonia continues Jos Arcadio Buendas unfinished work of translating the transcripts that Melquades gave the family. He began to decipher them aloud. It was the history of the family, written by Melquades, down to the most trivial detail, one hundred years ahead of time (Mrquez 446). Characters are struck by the conviction that time is going in a circle and events are repeating (Hill) and notice that the history of the family was a machine with unavoidable repetitions, a turning wheel (Mrquez 425).
The Good Earth also goes in a plot circle, but this time most of the characters know what is happening. Wang Lung lives with his father in a small house in the beginning of the novel. He goes to the rich House of Hwang to buy his wife O-lan. With O-lan he survives the famine that affects his land by escaping to the city and returning after the famine has ended. Wang Lung gains power through harnessing his land and bit by bit buys pieces of the now rundown House of Hwang. He begins to think more like that of a rich man than that of a farmer. He sees that his daughters have bound feet, eventually having O-lan agree. But the girls' feet I will bind-the younger girl's feet I will bind (Buck 169). Wang Lung buys a concubine and moves his family into the House of Hwang, which he has now bought. Wang Lung creates a dynasty that takes the place of the old House of Hwang and the Old Lord. As Wang Lung ages, he becomes aware of his loss of connection to the land he once loved. In his old age, Wang Lung moves back to his original house with only his Little Fool, Pear Blossom, and a few servants. He is also greatly distressed when he hears his sons plans to sell the land that Wang Lung has worked so hard to collect. His sons plan to sell the land just as the sons of Hwang sold their fathers land and cared little for it. Rest assured. The land is not to be sold. But over the old mans head they looked at each other and smiled (Buck 357). It is apparent that time marches onward (Williams), often bringing back the same trends of the generation before.
Each book, while showing how time is a continuum, also presents the troubles that the individual countries were experiencing at different times. These dilemmas all have something to do with a struggle and rise of power, connecting the themes through their diversity. Animal Farm is so obviously a pointed work of satire that many of the main characters are easily relatable to those involved in the Russian Soviet movements. The humans and Farmer Jones are seen as the capitalists and the Czar Nicholas II, respectively. The pigs are seen as the communist leaders, Snowball representing the fallen Trotsky, and Napoleon as Stalin (Lamont). Orwells poorly concealed inspiration is a wonderful showing of the turmoil that Russia experienced after the revolution.
One Hundred Years of Solitude covers a broader expanse of events, focusing on Columbia over many years. The story opens with a curious Jos Arcadio Buenda who goes out searching for the limits of his newly founded town. He finds an old suit of armor and the remains of a galleon, which is mysteriously stranded several kilometers from the sea. This encounter alludes to the original Spanish conquest of Columbia (Schelle). Years later, the most specific of these events appears in the form of the Banana Massacre of 1928. This is followed through the experiences of Macondo. The banana workers stage a revolt, but national troops are called in to stop the problem. General Carlos Cortes Vargas declares the strikers to be a "bunch of hoodlums" and authorizes the army to shoot to kill (Mrquez 310). This is aligned with the true happenings of Columbia. 32,000 natives went on a strike, demanding basic rights. The Columbian government shot down hundreds of those who went on strike, while many others simply disappeared. This event was stricken from the history books, and those who remembered it were slowly picked off (Rutten). Mrquez pulls directly from the rich history of his native country to add to the realism of his novel.
The Good Earth doesnt need to use any devices to cover up the history inside of the story. The main characters are set directly into the Chinese Revolution in 1912. When Wang Lung is suffering from the drought, he and his family move to the big city. Many men would stand on the corners of the streets, announcing that the time was ready for a revolution. if China must have a revolution and must rise against the hated foreigners, the people of China must unite and must educate themselves in these times (Pearl 107). The Chinese revolutionaries based themselves out of the bigger cities in order to better organize (Woo). These revolutionaries are the men that Wang Lung saw on the corners. When the revolution occurred, Wang Lung and his family took part in the raid on the rich mans house. This is symbolic of the change that appeared with the society, getting rid of the rich and powerful, only to adapt the past customs, as the mob stole the rich familys objects. Buck manages to place her characters right in the middle of a time of turmoil and play with the richness of environment.
The main character of each story has an ideal set into their head that forms the way they react in situations. The pigs from Animal Farm see themselves as superior to those other animals on the farm. This is evident from the very beginning of the story where Squealer says to the other animals, It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples (Orwell 42). As observers, it is not difficult to see through the pigs lie. While the pigs may have taken part in the revolution with honest intentions, their subconscious motivations were anything but noble. The pigs realize that they are acting in a manner different from the other animals (all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others (Orwell 118)) but they never seem to feel any remorse, or even acknowledge their outrages. Rather, they rationalize it by changing the Seven Commandments to fit their liking, to justify this little episode, arrangements to amend the rules are made. No animal shall drink alcohol to excess (Orwell 104). The shift of the pigs role in the farm changes all of the animals, but the change is so subtle that it is hardly questioned by the others.
The characters in One Hundred Years of Solitude, on the other hand, are fully aware that their lives are changing, but are disillusioned of the direction it is heading. Some, such as rsula, are sure that their lives are becoming more realistic, and better than they had been in the simple days. They have the belief that the romantics ruin the chance to change things for the better. You shouldnt complainchildren inherit their parents madness (Mrquez 44). Others, such as Jos Arcadio Buenda and Aureliano Babilonia, romanticize the simple life and attempt to unravel the mysteries it holds. That discovery excited him much more than any of his other harebrained undertakings. He stopped eating. He stopped sleeping (Mrquez 84). When the idealists begin to fade away, however, the more dominating realists take their place and try to steer the direction of the family.
The most obvious of change of lifestyle is that of Wang Lung, and yet no one notices the damage that effects their happiness. He begins his life as a poor farmer under the local rule of the House of Hwang. Through his hard work, and steadfast dedication of his wife, Wang Lung climbs the social ladder and takes the place of the House of Hwang. Wang Lung realized the changes he is going though, but never connects them with the problems he encounters. He looses the connection with nature, and even his family, as he adapts to his new way of living. I have scarcely thought whether I had land or not these days (Buck 270). Wang Lung seems to not even notice that his life has taken the form of men he once disgusted, and plays off his downfalls by rationalizing them.
Now that old man in heaven will enjoy himself, for he will look down and see people drowned and starving and that is what the accursed one likes.
This he said loudly and angrily so that Ching shivered and said,
Even so, he is greater than any one of us and do not talk so, my master.
But since he was rich Wang Lung was careless, and he was as angry as he liked and he muttered as he walked homeward to think of the water swelling up over his land and over his good crops. (Buck 271-272)
This illusion of invincibility is contradictory to the respect a younger Wang Lung shows the gods. In thinking of the good weather, Wang Lung remarks that he would buy a stick of incense and place it in the little temple to the Earth God (Buck 7). It is unsure how much of a role the gods take in Wang Lungs life, but his luck, as his innocence, fades as he gains power.
After analyzing all the parallel events in history, it is easy to see that the shaman baboon was correct. No matter what the time, setting, or generation, life will always move in an circle. Three authors are able to connect, despite different cultures and eras. The impact of their writings enforces the idea of interchangeable situations. Orwell, Mrquez, and Buck create stories with themes that are notably similar in their portrayal of human nature and their belief of the corruption of power. Though some believe free will, times circle proves to be unforgiving and unceasing as shown in these remarkable works.
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