1. At
that time Macondo was a village of twenty adobe houses, built on
the bank of a river of clear water that ran along a bed of polished
stones, which were white and enormous, like prehistoric eggs. The
world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order
to indicate them it was necessary to point.
These lines come from the very first
page of the novel. They establish Macondo as a kind of Eden, recalling
the biblical tale of Adam naming the animals. This parallel to the
Old Testament is present throughout the book, as Macondo slowly
loses its innocence by seeking too much knowledge. At the same time,
however, the reference to prehistoric eggs refers to an entirely
different account of the origin of the world: evolution. By beginning
the book with references to two entirely different accounts of creation,
García Márquez tries to tell us that, in this book, he will invent
his own mythology. It will not be based solely on the Bible, nor
will it be totally grounded in science. Instead, it will ask us
to accept several different myths at the same time.
