THE POLITICAL EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT INFLUENCED GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ IN THE LEAF STORM - Essay Example

?THE POLITICAL EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT INFLUENCED GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ IN THE LEAF STORM Introduction Colombia is a South American country that is influenced strongly by Spanish rule and is the site of several international trade for countries like USA, France and Britain for over four centuries now(Henderson 2). Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a Colombian writer who has written books that reflect the economic and social realities of his coutry. This paper examines the book, Leaf Storm which presents the vivid facts about an imaginary town, Macondo located in Colombia. It looks at the political events and factors that acted as foundation for Marquez to write the book and its implications in relations to that era of Colombian history. Leaf Storm is a narrative about the thoughts and views of three generations of a family; a grandfather (Colonel), a daughter and a grandson. Each of them give their views and opinions about a conflict involving the Colonel’s family and the people of Macondo who have an extreme hatred for a dead man who was the guest of the house for many years. The deceased, who happened o be a doctor, was seen by the townsfolk as cruel because he refused to treat members of the town who were wounded in the country’s civil war though he was qualified to. The people of Macondo therefore thought that the deceased did not deserve a normal Christian burial. On the other hand, the Colonel had made a vow to the deceased to perform his burial, since he had no known family members. In honor of his promise, the colonel sought to get the dead doctor a normal burial and as members of his family, his daughter and grandson had to support him in their conflict against the people of Macondo. The book therefore gives accounts of the events from three perspectives; an older man, a young lady and an innocent child. All these descriptions show strong links to Colombia’s political and social history. The narration appears to be set in 1909 (Marquez 2), a period linked with the numerous transformations that occurred in Colombia’s history including the Thousand Day War (1899 – 1902) and the establishment of numerous banana plantations including the United Fruit Company, which became a common entity in most of Latin America in that point in history. These two events came with so many complications and strive that determined the politics of the era. Pelayo(28) identifies three major events in the history of Colombia that are defined subtly through the writings of Leaf Storm. They include: 1. The arrival of the Banana Company 2. The people that the Banana Company attracted (the leaf storm) 3. The end of the Colombian Civil War The Thousand Day War Prior to 1909, the year the narration was set, there was a war in Colombia between 1899 and 1902 known as the Thousand Day War. It involved the members of the two major political traditions of the country: the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. The liberals accused the conservatives of retaining power through election fraud and this led to the commencement of a war that saw massive destruction of properties and human lives across the country (Henderson 54). This war was also fueled by economic crises caused by the falling coffee prices on the international market. This trend showed the need for the diversification of the country’s economy by planting other crops like bananas to support Colombia and prevent overdependence on coffee exports. Although Marquez does not refer to the Thousand Day War directly in the book, it can be inferred logically that the 10 or so men who were wounded and demanded treatment from the deceased doctor were involved in that war. Also, they appear to be fighting on the side of the rebels and the dead doctor seemed to be preserving his integrity by abstaining from the treatment of rebels. This clearly shows the extent people went to take and protect their positions in the Thousand Day War. This shows that there were some elites and conservatives who stuck to the ruling government when the war prevailed. This also shows the elitism that existed and how it separated Colombians and this had some grave consequences on the overall development and welfare of the nation. The Banana Company Marquez identifies the entry of a French banana company and that provided new prospects for Macondo. This is also echoed by anger, pain and agony felt by the town and is people when the company folded up and this marked the crux of the conflict between the people of Macondo and the colonel’s household. Parallels can be drawn between the fictional banana company in Leaf Storm and the United Fruit Company which commenced operations in Latin America in 1899. The United Fruit Company and many others of its nature were established in Colombia through trade agreements between the home government and the Colombian government. This agreement presented some form of exchange between the company and some influential members of government in return for the exploitation of workers through a degrading agrarian and labor system that affected the working class and indigenous Indians (Sanderson 247). In the case of Leaf Storm, it can be inferred that the French government and the owners of the banana company had also sought the permission of very influential people in the Colombian government before setting up. This, perhaps explains the injustices and unfair social practises that the company was employing in the Macondo plantations. Migration to Banana Plantations However, in spite of the exploitation and other undesirable factors that existed on the farms, people still trooped in to look for work with the plantation under the La Hojarasca. La Hojarasca or Leaf Storm refers to the situation that existed all over Colombia and the rest of Latin America whereby there was a flood of migrant workers to a certain area whenever there was a plantation or some form of agricultural boom in the place. This eventually became the title of the book and it seriously reflects the central theme of the story. The story shows clearly that the town, which used to be a very small village had a lot of people coming in after the French company was set up. Also, most of the migrations of workers in leaf storms like this one in Colombia were people who were severely hit by the destructive influence of the war. These were usually laborers and unskilled people who were in need of jobs after the war had destroyed many other plantations. The new prospects of the banana industry therefore triggered the boom in migration to places like Macondo. Social Injustices Leaf storms, came with some inherent issues and challenges to social development. Basically, the uncontrolled and unstructured movement of large numbers of people into a given area created a lot of social challenges to the less endowed and vulnerable. This is because a lot of deprived and internally displaced people would often be amongst the horde of people moving in. These people are likely to live under very harsh conditions in the new community. Secondly, there was the problem of the abundance of cheap labor and this gave the impetus for the exploitation and the situation where the less endowed and vulnerable would be taken advantage of. In Colombia at that time, there were so many people who had been displaced by the Thousand Day War. This therefore meant that they needed some jobs to do to survive. The establishment of United Fruit Plantations therefore created the influx of potential workers who flooded these societies. This created a situation where most of these migrants had to endure very devastating social conditions and live above these challenges. This also gave the owners of businesses like the United Fruit Plantation owners extra power to exploit their workers because there was always a pool of workers that they could fall on. Clearly, from Marquez’s narrations, it is obvious that there was large scale exploitation on the part of the French banana farm. This shows a strong link between the macrocosmic trends of Colombia and the characters and plot of the book. Based on this, Marquez could depict through Leaf Storm the rigid social order that existed not only in Colombia at that time but throughout Latin America which gave room for little social mobility (Pelayo 33). In the book, the colonel and his family belonged to the upper class. The priest also belonged to the upper class. These members of the upper class seemed to be sympathetic towards to a more conservative society and hence a conservative political ideology. They did not seem so much opposed to the burial of the doctor who appears to have been one of them. The majority of the people in Macondo appear to be in the working class and were exploited by the rich upper class. They therefore seem to be sympathetic to the people the deceased doctor refused to treat. This shows their political inclination towards the liberals in the war. Meme, the maid of the dead doctor depicted the fact that the Indians were the lowest caste in the Macondo. This is because she was treated quite negatively by the upper class and this appears to be the case with the larger Indian community. The book therefore sets up the structure of politics in Colombia at that point in history. It shows that the conservative was fueled by the rich and powerful, whilst the liberal party was widely supported by the poor and the working class. The book also shows that people in Macando, upper class or lower class have little to do with the politics involving the establishment and the folding up of huge businesses like the French banana plantations. It is apparent that the conservative government offered United Fruit Company the right to operate in Colombia in 1899 (Bucheli 1). This goes to show that the conservative government had granted a favorable financial opportunities to the rich and thus the upper class repayed them by giving them full and subtle support (as in the case of the doctor) during the war. 1928 Massacre Bucheli (1) identifies that the protests of the people of Macando in Leaf Storm other books Marquez has written reflects the 1928 protest of United Fruit Company. He recounts the massacre of thousands of United Fruit Company who were protesting by soldiers from the Colombian Army, under the command of General Carlos Cortes Vargas, which Marquez mentions specifically in his writings. The 1928 protest is from the social injustices that migrant workers from the Leaf Storms in Colombia and other Latin American countries suffer each day in their work on the fields. This is depicted subtly by the definition of the major parties in such struggles in Leaf Storm. The 1928 riots and other banana wars show that politics and structure of the banana trade are influenced strongly by foreign interest and the government’s desire to keep these foreign companies (Dosal 77). Dosal therefore implies that by extension, soliders are used as tools by dictators to ensure that people live within the constraints and negative practices of foreign companies that they benefit from. It is therefore clear from Life Storm that the conservative government used the French banana company as a tool for the oppression of the masses in favor of the few upper class citizens who benefited from the company’s operations. Companies like United Fruit are therefore very powerful wherever they operate in Latin America and by extension, most of the developing world. Marquez therefore shows us the various stakeholders and their positions in Colombia in the first decade of the 20th Century. This therefore shows his readers the various power dynamics through the illustration of a minor conflict involving the burial of a single individual. Conclusion The book, Leaf Storm therefore shows the various division of power in Colombia in the early 1900s. It shows through the funeral of a single doctor, the kind of struggle that existed in villages in the country. It shows how the division between the upper class and working class merged with the political structures and institutions of the country. It also goes further to indicate the power of international businesses over national governments and illustrates the motivation of social disparities and injustices like the 1928 massacre of workers of United Fruit Company through the description of the French banana company. Works Cited Bucheli, Marcelo. Bananas & Business: The United Fruit Company in Colombia 1899 - 2000. New York: New York University Press, 2005. Print. Dosal, Paul. Doing Business with Dictators: Political History of United Fruit Company in Guatemala. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield, 1993. Print. Henderson, James David. When Colombia Bled. Alabama: Alabama University Press, 1985. Print. Marquez, Garcia Gabriel. Leaf Storm & Other Stories. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. Print. Pelayo, Ruben. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2001. Print. Sanderson, Steve. The Politics of Trade in Latin America. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992. Print. Read More