Post 1: Villiany in 100 Years of Solitude

     100 Years of Solitude is an interesting novel because, though it does represent an impossible narrative (being in the genre of magical realism), it does not present much in the way of an archetypical villain or antagonist figure, or at least not any of great importance.
     There are some characters or groups definitely meant to be disliked. There are many instances where the conservative regime/government that claims jurisdiction over Macondo is considered to be evil. At one point, Jose Arcadio III ends up ruling Macondo in a dictatorial fashion during the civil war (when he is entrusted with the town by Colonel Aureliano Buendía, who goes off to war), but he is eventually gotten rid off. At another point, the President of the Banana Company (closer to the end of the book) is cast as a villain, as he takes advantage of the town and establishes terrible conditions for the workers (leading to a strike which ultimately results in the deaths of two thousand protestors).
     However, the main "villain" of the novel seems to be time, and the inevitable, decaying factor that results from it. Of course, Macondo starts out as a small town established by the Buendía family and other people who wander across the mountains. It starts off small, but eventually grows and for is a time quite successful and vibrant. However, by the end of the book, the town has lost its wealth and is ultimately wiped off of the face of this Earth. Though time or death is never really characterized within the narrative, it is rather obvious that the entropy, the degeneration of the Macondo line, is a tragedy. It is one of the most melancholy parts of the book, made even worse by the slow, agonizing skid the town makes into nothingness. The saddest part of the book is the end of the Buendía family, and the only thing responsible for it is time and the gradual wearing away of things it brings.