Comparative essay on the elements of fiction between "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "The Secret Miracle"

Both set in the midst of South American culture, ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Garcia Marquez and ‘Ficciones’ by Jorge Luis Borges, attempt to illustrate the nature that is humanity. While on the whole both stories are presented differently, similar factors were used to emit a similar feeling from the reader. With focus on the last few chapters on ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ and on one short story in Ficciones, “The Secret Miracle”, a more concise explanation can illustrate the different approaches the authors may have made in using the death of two central characters in either novel to conclude the book/short story.

Chapter 18-20 in One Hundred concludes the novel to the very last happenings in the town of Macondo and to the death and downfall of the Buendia family, the town’s founding family. The last of the family line, Aureliano II finally fulfills his life-long pursuit of deciphering the parchments that was left by the gypsy, Melquiades, after h...