According to the legend of El Dorado, there was a lost city of gold, located somewhere in South America. When the Spaniards arrived in South America, they relentlessly searched for El Dorado, but never found it. In relation to the novel, the town is made up of descendants from the original Spanish colonizers who went in search of El Dorado, but eventually decided to settle in South America. One such character is Bayardo San Román who “arrived on the weekly boat with some saddlebags decorated with silver that matched the buckle of his belt and the ring on his boots. He was around thirty years old, but they were well-concealed, because he had the waist of a novice bullfighter, golden eyes, and a skin slowly roasted by saltpeter” (Márquez, 25). The same way the Spanish colonizers went in search of treasure, Bayardo went in search of a woman to wed. By this analogy, the woman is comparable to treasure, which indirectly hints at machismo, the belief in male supremacy. This shows that magical realism helps develop themes throughout the novel. The following passage expresses the sexist mentality of the
According to the legend of El Dorado, there was a lost city of gold, located somewhere in South America. When the Spaniards arrived in South America, they relentlessly searched for El Dorado, but never found it. In relation to the novel, the town is made up of descendants from the original Spanish colonizers who went in search of El Dorado, but eventually decided to settle in South America. One such character is Bayardo San Román who “arrived on the weekly boat with some saddlebags decorated with silver that matched the buckle of his belt and the ring on his boots. He was around thirty years old, but they were well-concealed, because he had the waist of a novice bullfighter, golden eyes, and a skin slowly roasted by saltpeter” (Márquez, 25). The same way the Spanish colonizers went in search of treasure, Bayardo went in search of a woman to wed. By this analogy, the woman is comparable to treasure, which indirectly hints at machismo, the belief in male supremacy. This shows that magical realism helps develop themes throughout the novel. The following passage expresses the sexist mentality of the