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José Arcadio Buendía, whose unbridled imagination always went beyond the genius of nature and even beyond miracles and magic, thought that it would be possible to make use of that useless invention to extract gold from the bowels of the earth.
This quotation appears in Chapter 1, after Melquíades demonstrates the power of magnetism to Macondo. José Arcadio Buendía believes he can use the magnets to make him rich, despite Melquíades’s explanation. This moment is an early introduction to José Arcadio Buendía’s tendency toward lofty dreams that ignore any reality or practicality. Instead of leading to innovation, his curiosity gets trapped in lofty, unattainable goals, to the detriment of the household. Here, even when presented with the reality that gold isn’t magnetic, he refuses to lose sight of his dream.
At first José Arcadio Buendía had been a kind of youthful patriarch who would give instructions for planting and advice for the raising of children and animals, and who collaborated with everyone, even in the physical work, for the welfare of the community.
This quotation appears in Chapter 1, as the people of Macondo observe how José Arcadio Buendía’s friendship with Melquíades has changed him. During the initial founding of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía put his natural industry to work making the village prosperous. However, Melquíades’s worldly knowledge distracts him from the immediate issues of home and opens his mind up to the mysteries of the world. José Arcadio Buendía’s curiosity is at the root of his solitude because it guides him away from the people around him to esoteric places that are irrelevant to his every day.
José Arcadio Buendía’s spear, thrown with the strength of a bull and with the same good aim with which the first Aureliano Buendía had exterminated the jaguars in the region, pierced his throat.
This quotation appears in Chapter 2, when José Arcadio Buendía murders Prudencio Augilar for mocking the chastity of the Buendía marriage. Although after founding Macondo we rarely see a hint of José Arcadio Buendía’s machismo, or aggressive and showy masculinity, this moment proves that the later machismo of characters such as José Arcadio or Aureliano Segundo is yet another ingrained Buendía trait that José Arcadio Buendía has passed to his sons. Nevertheless, the guilt and remorse José Arcadio Buendía feels for this act forces him into exile, and eventually leads him to found Macondo.
Emancipated for the moment at least from the torment of fantasy, José Arcadio Buendía in a short time set up a system of order and work which allowed for only one bit of license: the freeing of the birds, which, since the time of the founding, had made time merry with their flutes, and installing in their place musical clocks in every house.
This quotation appears in Chapter 3, after Macondo becomes connected to the outside world, bringing in an influx of new ideas and people. José Arcadio Buendía’s duality as a character stems from how he can use new ideas and technologies either as a practical tool or as fuel for his imagination. As he has long wanted Macondo to have the technology of the outside world, the newness surrounding him temporarily allows him to focus on immediate concerns, and he updates Macondo’s timekeeping system.
“This is a disaster,” he said. “Look at the air, listen to the buzzing of the sun, the same as yesterday and the day before. Today is Monday too.”
This quotation appears in Chapter 4, as José Arcadio Buendía begins to lose touch with reality for good. As a result, he will spend the rest of his life tied to a tree, nearly forgotten, his role as patriarch forfeit. José Arcadio Buendía’s belief that time has stopped reflects an internalization of his tendency to live outside of reality. In believing he lives outside of time, he has retreated into his solitude, a mental state focused solely on his internal obsessions, fully detached from everything around him.
