Memory and  Liberation From Tyranny : A study of Marquez's     The General in His Labyrinth         

   There are many similarities between India and Latin America . Both have  suffered under colonialism and imperialism .The diversity  in religion, creed, hybridity of identity, strong ambience of magic , and the  painful transformation under the relentless assault by the West. India has withstood this assault in terms of language and many  Indian writers  excelled in their vernacular languages. Only a minority of writers have made English as their medium of expression unlike their counterparts in Latin America who have embraced Spanish of the colonizer. The conqueror has failed to wipe out Indian languages and their literatures. The conquered have no need to speak in a different tongue  as Neruda Praises  Spanish language in his memoirs.

    Where does lie the fascination for Latin American literature—in their inherent greatness of  techniques  of expression of their local or continental  reality or the capturing of universal imagination?  In Latin American fiction Garcia Marquez carved a niche for himself through his fiction in which the elements of history, myth, Psychological truth, rational and irrational elements of this world. His novels are  initially indecipherable, exotic and enigmatic. It needs the patience of a miner to dig the golden meaning out of his works. He focuses mainly on inseparable solitude of  an individual whether it is private or historical. The colonel who waits for pension, the unifier of continent like Bolivar, the indefatigable  lover , the person over  whom death hovers as in chronicle, the corrupt mayor concerned with Order In Evil Hour – all of them appear as strange and pitiable at once.

 

The present paper analyses the last journey of Bolivar and his anguish over the broken dream and  amidst solitude of power. 

The title of the novel suggests that  “ even the powerful-even generals, colonels , patriarchs-cannot control fate and destiny. “( Martin 106)

  “the theme of fame and glory takes us back to a complex of themes which had preoccupied Garcia Marquez  long before he himself had become celebrated, in particular the matter of identity and the solitude of power, including the distance between one’s image and reality.” (Martin 106)

 

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    In Latin American fiction Garcia Marquez carved a niche for himself through his fiction in which the elements of history, myth, Psychological truth, rational and irrational elements of this world. His novels are  initally indecipherable, exotic and enigmatic. It needs the patience of a miner to dig the golden meaning out of his works. He focuses mainly on inseparable solitude of  an individual whether it is private or historical. The colonel who waits for pension, the unifier of continent like Bolivar, the indefatigable  lover , the person over  whom death hovers as in chronicle, the corrupt mayor concerned with Order InEvil Hour – all of them appear as strange and pitiable at once.

   Garcia Marquez’s novel The General in the Labyrinth shows the solitude  of power, the latter’s temporariness, the gap between one’s vision and actuality. The dream appears whole but the actual world crushes it to fragments. This  has been the fate of many historical personages good and bad. The dreams of  Bolivar, Lenin, Gandhi have not heralded the unified continent of Latin America, the  revolutionary communism, the undivided India respectively. No leader could transcend the limitation of time and physicality. Leaders succeed  only when they are in tune with times. They fail if they whip the dead horses even though they are adept jockeys. Bolivar failed since nationalism was growing in stead of continental unity. Lenin could not prevent the rise of bureaucracy which was the reverse of communism. Gandhian vision  of undivided India suffered fragmentation and simmering historical rivalry and conflicts between India and Pakistan. The top leaders feel inalienable solitude in the face of overwhelming odds. Bolivar in the face of national differences in Latin America , Lenin  in the face of the rise of bureaucracy and Gandhi in the throes  of partition experienced this intense loneliness or solitude. An individual’s life inexorably moves towards death irrespective of the fortunes of nations. The solitude of  those who exercise great power and the fading of glory in the face of death  is inevitable in nature. The new generation takes over and makes or mars the future of the country. Latin American countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Mexico went through the purgatory of nation formation. Lenin’s Russia turned bureaucratic, imperialistic and imploded in the face of competitive  global capitalism  and ceased to be a super power. India has remained democratic but at loggerheads with Pakistan and a victim of corruption, inequality and Hinduistic struggling to adopt to modern ethos and technology. The present paper analyses the last journey of Bolivar and his anguish over the broken dream and  amidst solitude of power. 

 

   Gerald Martin comments that “the title suggests that even the greatest power is always limited, always temporary: even the powerful –even generals, colonels, patriarchs—cannot control fate and destiny.” (106)   Marquez’s preoccupation had been with  “the matter of identity and solitude of power, including the distance between one’s image and one’s reality.”(106)

Why did Bolivar fail in realizing his dream despite his  “earlier  success in liberating eighteen provinces from Spanish domination.”  In the novel , we come to know through Jose Palacios the historical facts of creation of the republic of Colombia  out of the  former territories and his “fantastic dream of creating the largest country in the world : one nation, free and unified, from Mexico to Cape Horn.” ( the General, 48)

Bolivar lost his wife early that was when he was nineteen and gave himself to liberating a continent and no other leader had undertaken such a huge task in history. If he failed it was due to the currents of history which encouraged nationalism.                                                                           

   The people admired him earlier and now they wanted him to go away and they didn’t believe that he would really go away finally. They had some respect for him for his past glory but times have changed  and a few followers were with him. His former loves Manuela Sanchez and Miranda Lyndsay saved his life. Manuela informed him about the possible plot and helped him escape from the assassination and Miranda arranged a rendezvous just to keep him away from being killed.

His men were weary of wars and further sacrifices he demanded from them. They said that they had got independence and asked him what to do with it.  Alexander’s army   also might have felt the same weariness   when they clamoured to go home from India. The glorious emperor of the ancient days  died midway and so were Napoleon and Bolívar. Napoleon died as a prisoner whereas Bolívar as a prisoner of his dream. At Mompox , Bolívar met his former comrade Lorenzo Cárcamo and both ”lamented their misfortunes, mourned the frivolity of nations and the ingratitude of victory” (117)

Bolívar as a young man fell under the influence of Rousseau , swore to kick the Spanish out of Venezuela enjoyed Parisian life but felt bored afterwards. After many years and at the end  of  his life he remembered his friend Cárreno’s advice and sink down into  “the redemptive ocean of purple verbena  along with his armies of beggars, his useless glories, his memorable errors , the entire country.” (132)        

         He might have heard the vast silence  like the explorer  Columbus notes the novelist.

 

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The lone journey of  Bolívar  shows the how leader also may be left out of touch with the pulse of the people or spirit of the times. The general was desperate to resurrect his former days of glory. The betrayal by Santander pain him whereas the assassination of his chosen heir  Sucre pains him a lot. His entourage still treats him with deference and his former loves try to help him to regain his bearings and former glory. But the wave has passed and he needs to heave a  sigh. He reached  Barranca Nueva   and didn’t like to have  burlesque performances of the black men and women which he liked earlier. E slept and suffered nightmares. He was generous in giving money to the officers and soldiers and sighs but could not “renounce his  infinite capacity for  illusion  at the very moment he needed it most” (136)

He has shrunk physically but not mentally as per the words of his General Montilla, a witty man. 

An individual’s life inexorably moves towards death irrespective of the fortunes of nations. The solitude of  those who exercise great power and the fading of glory in the face of death  is inevitable in nature. The new generation takes over and makes or mars the future of the country. Latin American countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Mexico went through the purgatory of nation formation. 

Reference:

Martin, Gerald. The Cambridge Introduction to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. New Delhi: CUP,2012.