Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Essay Example

Gabriel Garcia Marquez For centuries the world has been blessed with numerous and story tellers who have the talent to influence the world through their unique and straight forward writings. These bold and straight forward story tellers always use their pen as a weapon to target authorities or any political idea which stands against the basic human rights. Gabriel Garcia Marques was one writer who has influenced the world through his imaginative writings. Before his stories, only few people were aware of the word magical realism and its affect. Garcia used fantasy in his writing in a way which convinced people to believe that those fantasies were for real. Gabriel influenced the world by giving them the power to imagine beyond objectivity. He used his writings to create an imaginary world with principles which are considered impractical in the real world. (Schroder, 41) Gabriel Garcia was born in Colombia in the year 1928. He became one of the most successful writers ever born in the history of the mankind. He spent most of his childhood with his maternal grandparents who played an interesting and crucial role in his life and career. His style of narrating a story is quite influenced from his grandmother who used imaginative ways to narrate folk tales to him during his childhood. He also took inspiration from the heroic war tales his grandfather used to tell him. (Martin, 47) His background and the political situation of his country gave him the foundation for writing a novel or a short story (Villada, 24). Folk tales and war incidents narrated to him by his grandparents were deeply rooted inside his mind and all characters which he created in his writings had been somewhat inspired by those tales. He began his career as a journalist in the newspaper named El Espectador and went on to become one of the most internationally renowned fictional writers of the twentieth century. (Villada, 49) Gabriel is best known for popularizing magic realism among the common people. Although magic realism was not invented by Gabriel, yet it was because of his writings and unique imaginations, people got attracted towards fictional novels and magic realism. In order to understand more about Gabriel Garcia and his influential writings, it is necessary to first understand about the concept of magical realism. In magical realism the fictional elements are presented in such a way as if they are for real. People living in that world are aware of those fictional elements and their world is quite different from the world in which we all live in. The person who reads a book which has traits of magical realism starts to believe in those fictional elements and often relate those events with real life characters or events. The fictional events may look like some kind of magic or unnatural phenomena in the real world but those things are not unnatural or unique in that environment. People in those worlds may well defy the logic and rational thinking of the real world. (Schroder, 1) Fictional events like people living for more than two hundred years or people with power to see things from any where in the world are common in the world of magic realism. Magical realism is no way speculative or experimental. It is a reality which is logical from the point of view of the storyline. The story is narrated from the point of view of the people of that world. Gabriel Garcia was gifted with the talent of using magical realism perfectly in his writings. The style and characters used by him in his writings were presented in such a manner which convinced the reader regarding the existence of those fictional characters or events. (Schroder, 41) His fascination with magical realism was primarily due to his background. Latin America has seen so many years of political turbulence and military dictatorship (Villada, 12) that they all believe that someone with extra ordinary powers would come to their rescue Such belief regarding supernatural powers have engraved in the minds of the Latin Americans and therefore the use of magical realism in novels may be quite unique to Europeans but it was not at all unique for the Latin Americans. It was in the year 1955 when Gabriel wrote his first short story named Watching it Rain in Macondo where Gabriel used magical realism for the first tine in his writing. It was in this story where he introduced the magical town of Macondo which made an everlasting impression on the readers which were spread across the world. Gabriel believed that Latin America is a land full of mysteries. He never tried to portray his work with the rules of the existing world but always used magical instances to showcase his country. His power to force people to believe in those supernatural things tells about the kind of influence he made on people through his writings. His work influenced the society in a way as people started to relate fictional events of the novel with real life characters. Gabriel was one of the many successful Latin American writers. His work has been appreciated worldwide and he even won the Nobel Prize for his novel Hundred Years of Solitude. His legacy and style have made people to believe in supernatural elements and to fantasize about events or characters which are part of his stories. His novel Hundred Years of Solitude made him one of the most successful writers in Latin American. His simple and creative writing style enchanted people all around the world. His Nobel Price award was primarily because of this novel which had been published in over 30 languages. Before him numerous people tried their best to use magical realism but Gabriel’s vision and style gave magical realism the true recognition is the world. Magical realism is truly one of the most innovative ways of narrating a story. Controversy Every famous personality always becomes an easy target for hardliners who have strong resistance to change. These hardliners put all their efforts to maintain the status quo at any cost. Gabriel Garcia was no different as he was frequently targeted by numerous people for their own selfish needs. Garcia was living in a continent which had little or no freedom of speech. The press was totally controlled and dictators often used powers to suppress liberal voices. (Cardenas, 3). Gabriel was one of the persons who always valued liberty more than power or fame. He used to write from his heart and never hesitated to give an opinion even if that opinion was against the might of the state. One of the most controversial writings of Gabriel was when he wrote a series of articles in the newspaper El Espectador in the year 1955. His writing created so much of controversy that he had to flee his home country and took refuge in Europe as a foreign correspondent. The fourteen series articles written by him were published primarily to showcase the truth behind the accident. He wrote that the shipwrecked happened due to presence of overweight contrabands which were onboard the vessel. He dared to challenge the official version which blamed the sea storm for the shipwrecked to occur. He also criticized the authorities and blamed the government for the existence of the contrabands on the vessel. (Martin, 174) The uproar caused due to his writings was so massive that the newspaper was forced to shutdown their office temporarily for two weeks and the newspaper authorities had to send Gabriel to Europe as their foreign correspondent in order to ensure his safety. Gabriel Garcia wrote those fourteen articles only after due research and investigations. It is to be remembered that Gabriel started his career as a journalist before becoming a successful writer. Right from his youth years, he never missed an opportunity to criticize the country’s government on their foreign policies and lack of freedom of speech. As per the official version the shipwrecked happened due to a storm which caused the ship to sink. All crew members on board died except one who reached the Colombian shores on a raft. Gabriel met the survivor and took his interview before publishing his articles. Gabriel knew that he was going against the official version and could face the heat from the authorities. (Martin, 173) Gabriel, in spite of the risks involved went ahead with his publication and blamed the Colombian Navy for showing negligence by loading overweight contrabands and risked the lives of the crew members. Colombian authorities were outraged and condemned his writings. The Colombian authorities provoked people to attack the offices of the newspaper which eventually had to close down their office for two weeks. The series written by him were later compiled and published as a novel in the year 1970. The novel was loved by people all around the world. Millions of copies were published and shipped across to different corners of the world. (Martin, 174) Gabriel here again used his unique style and descriptive techniques to present the story to the people. He used his creative writing to forced readers to put themselves at the place of the survivor and form virtual images of ocean, sea gulls, sharks and the raft in their mind. The novel is still one of the best sellers across the world and is read by millions of people all around the world. The novel tells how the lone survivor survived without food and water for days before reaching Colombia. Gabriel Garcia is a man who speaks from his heart. The events described by him regarding the shipwrecked seem to be far more real than the official version given by the Colombian Authorities. The most important point to consider here is that, Gabriel was voicing his opinion in a country where freedom of speech is not their basic right. His opinions against an oppressive regime speak about his courage and honesty. (Villada, 66) Gabriel was not after fame or money. He believed in human rights and equality and therefore he risked everything to bring out the truth. He choose a road which was less travelled and dangerous which no other writer or journalist would have dared to take. Latin America during the 1950’s was not a place where liberty or other human rights were given importance. It was a place which was affected by riots, civil war and military dictatorship. Writing against an oppressive regime definitely needs courage and strength. Any writer or journalist who would dare to do so would only do it out of love for their country and people. His opinion regarding the shipwrecked seems to far more authentic as many instances have been proved where the country’s regime have been actively involved in smuggling goods into the country. The government of the day may have denied their involvement regarding the presence of contraband but the fact was that drugs were being smuggled into the country with the active support of the Colombian authorities. (Mendez, 2) His writings made Rojas Pinilla, the military dictator of Colombia nervous and eventually he forced the paper to close in the year 1956. The closure of the paper and the Garcia relocation to Europe vindicates the stand which Garcia took against a fascist regime. (Villada, 50) Gabriel Garcia is no doubt one of the best writers ever born. He had always tried to write articles or stories in a way which creates a picture in the mind of the reader. Whether it is journalism, epic novels or short stories, Garcia has always found innovative ways to give something new to the readers all around the world. His work and style is often a source of inspiration for many new writers who wish to write a novel or short stories. His imaginations are a symbol of the strength of the human mind and the creativity of the human heart. Through his creativity he is able to transport a person from one world to another where the rules are quite different. Gabriel main gift was his power to imagine things far beyond objectivity. He not only imagined things but also used his narrative techniques to convince others regarding those irrational thinking. His straight forward nature and love for human rights make him a role model not only for journalists or writers but for people from various backgrounds and professions. Work Cited Bell Villada, Gene H, ed. Garcia Marquez: The Man and His Work. 2. North Carolina: University of North Carolina, 2010. Print. Cardenas, Sonia. Human Rights in Latin America: A Politics of Terror and Hope. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. Print. Martin, Gerald. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2008. Print. Mendez, Juan. The Drug War in Colombia: The Neglected Tragedy of Political Violence. New York: Human Right Watch, 1990. Print. Schroeder, Shannin. Rediscovering Magical Realism in the Americas. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Read More