The Autumn of the Patriarch

“[H]e had more time available to take care of the armed forces, not because the armed forces were what sustained his power, as we all thought, quite the contrary, because they were his most feared natural enemy, so he made some officers believe they were being watched by others.”

In one of the first instances of the General’s paranoia, he turns his officers on each other so that they focus less on him. This results in fighting among his officers in the novel and the General’s eventual rule without anyone he trusts. The General’s solitude is a direct result of this paranoia and this characterization drives much of the action throughout the novel.

“The anonymous hand with a velvet glove which waved from a window of a presidential stateroom.”

The General’s body is frequently fragmented in the novel. The hand or his suit become symbols of his power which in turn create a system that doesn’t require the General to operate.

“[A]ffairs of the state took care of themselves without any help, the nation went along, he alone was the government, and no one bothered the aims of his will whether by word or deed, because he was so alone in his glory that he no longer had any enemies left.”

The despot’s solitary rule, which becomes so pervasive that it can operate without him, is what the General most desires. This passage demonstrates how much happens without the General’s knowledge: The affairs of the nation are carried out by his ministers and officials, which continually allows them to attempt to take power from the General.

“Look there how they daub themselves gray, and they are the hue of canary birds, not white nor yet black, and what there be of them, and we didn’t understand why the hell they were making so much fun of us general sir since we were just as normal as the day our mothers bore us.”

This passage reflects the arrival of colonists and the impression that they leave upon the people of the nation. The colonists' reflection establishes Europeanness as the norm and encapsulates the arms of power which critique and attempt to change the identity of a nation. The nation, however, asserts that it is not in need of change.

“None of us was old enough to remember what had happened the first time, but we knew that no evidence of his death was final, because there was always another truth behind the truth.”

The Inevitability of Death is difficult to believe because of the extreme attempts by the General to escape his death. The confusion about whether the General is actually dead adds to the ambiguity of both his identity and the reality of the novel.

“Although all trace of his origins had disappeared from the texts, it was thought that he was a man of the upland plains of his immense appetite for power, the nature of his government, his mournful bearing, the inconceivable evil of a heart which had sold the sea to a foreign power and condemned us to live facing this limitless plain of harsh lunar dust where the bottomless sunsets pain us in our souls.”

When the narrator discovers the General’s body, his rule is remembered for his insatiable greed and allegiance to foreign powers and not his people. Because of his efforts to remove any trace of his origin, his only public memory is now the one decision he had hoped never to make, highlighting the sea as a symbol of the futility of his corruption.

“Contrary to what his clothing showed, the descriptions made by his historians made him very big and official schoolboy texts referred to him as a patriarch of huge size who never left his house because he could not fit through the doors.”

This quote is an example of the propaganda that made the General seem larger than life—and why his body is difficult to identify. It works in contrast to Manuela’s first impression of the General. To Manuela, the General couldn’t even fill his uniform.

“I don’t want to see you begging hat in hand at the door of some church if tomorrow or later God forbid they take away the chair you’re sitting in, if you only knew how to sing at least, or were an archbishop or a navigator, but you're only a general so you're no good for anything except to command.”

The General’s mother, worried about his future, realizes that her son would have nothing should he be removed from power. This suggests the futility of The Pursuit of Power—without power, he has nothing. Also, however, he might not have anything with it.

“Trying to find out where Manuela Sánchez of my shame lives, the queen of the poor, madam, the one with the rose in her hand, wondering in alarm where could you live in that turmoil of sharp bump backbones of satanic looks of bloody fangs of the string of fleeing howls with the tail between the legs of the butchery of dogs quartering each other as they exchanged nips in the mud puddles.”

The degradation of the “slums” in contrast to Manuela, a beauty queen whom the General believes needs protection, portrays the relationship of power to poverty. The contrast that Márquez draws between Manuela and her surroundings, in the General’s eyes, conveys the inherent connection between power and the perpetuation of poverty: the General, with vast resources, only saves those whom he deems worthy.

“He saw himself dead of natural causes during his sleep in the office next to the reception room, and he saw himself lying face down on the floor as he had slept every night of his life since birth, with the denim uniform without insignia, the boots, the gold spur, his right arm folded under his head to serve as a pillow, and at an indefinite age somewhere between 107 and 232 years.”

The General’s vision of death informs most assumptions that the General makes about whether he is dying or will die soon. The General reasons with himself that death is not imminent when it doesn’t match his vision of natural causes while he sleeps. Yet he runs from The Inevitability of Death all his life. The “indefinite age [of] somewhere between 107 and 232” reflects the magical realism of the novel which constructs a seemingly unending tyrannical rule.

“You have to remember that things and people we’re not made to last a lifetime, but he answered just the opposite, the world is eternal.”

The general’s false belief that he might be able to live eternally reveals his infatuation with immortality. His optimism is present here, as well, suggesting that he is not yet totally imbued with paranoia but still hopes for his future instead of fearing it. This characterization builds towards an ending that has some hope within the tragedy.

“[H]is legend had begun much earlier than he believed himself master of all his power, when he was still at the mercy of omens and the interpreters of his nightmares.”

The General believes that he was pre-destined to rule even from birth, and omens and nightmares became turning points in his life and rule. Though eventually the General comes to rely less on omens and more on his own delusions, these early predictions inform his character arc which traces The Pursuit of Power.

“He wondered if so much confidence and so much authority delegated to one single person might not have been the cause of his misfortune.”

Over time, the General begins to realize that his power is really a prison—at least for himself. The General feels trapped by this possibility but pursues power nonetheless. The double negative of “might not” and “misfortune” highlight the predicament.

“For an instant he suffered the clairvoyant spark that he had never been nor would he ever be the master of all his power.”

The idea that he might not be “the master of all his power” is second to his fear of death. The General’s mortality, especially, is one reason why he cannot believe himself to be the master of all his power. Márquez’s verbose style—epitomized here by the phrase “he had never been nor would he ever be”—reflects the General’s overwhelmed mental state.

“There was no higher glory than dying for one’s country, excellency, and he replied smiling with pity don’t be a horse’s ass, boy, fatherland means staying alive.”

The General’s response to this comment reveals his change from a soldier willing to die for his country to a selfish despot who’s only interest is protecting his life. This change in character is a direct result of the power that the General gains. Márquez contrasts the platitude of the glory of “dying for one’s country” with the bathos of an image of a “horse’s ass”.

“General Rodrigo de Aguilar had succeeded in establishing another system of power within the power as widespread and as fruitful as mine.”

As the first incursion by a trusted servant into the General’s power, this comes as a great blow. This instance creates the first apparent system of power which is not within the General’s control which he can conquer only through killing those closest to him. It initiates much of the dramatic action in the novel.

“The distinguished Major General Rodrigo de Aguilar entered on a silver tray stretched out full length on a garnish of cauliflower and laurel leaves […] and a sprig of parsley in his mouth.”

The novel contains abject scenes of death. General Rodrigo’s death is excessive both because of the brutal way in which he’s killed but also because he is served at a banquet as a feast while people in the nation starve below. This is one of the most surreal displays of excess and power in the novel.

“More lonely than a left hand in this nation which I didn’t choose willingly but which was given me as an established fact in the way you have seen it which is as it has always been since time immemorial with this feeling of unreality, with this smell of shit, with this unhistoried people who don’t believe in anything except life, this is the nation they forced on me, father.”

The General is given power by foreign intervention which he never wanted but remains susceptible to all the same. The General also never shows a love for his people; he has no attachment to the nation nor the people in it except what they can do for him. Márquez uses basilect (“smell of shit”) to reflect the General’s lack of care.

“He made him absolute master of a secret empire within his own private empire, an invisible service of repression and extermination that not only lacked an official identity but was even difficult to conceive of in its real existence.”

Like General Rodrigo, Nacho has taken power from under the General’s nose. This is much worse than the first instance with General Rodrigo, too, because of the decline that follows. Márquez leaves the reader in suspense by following a failed coup with another coup that gains momentum.

“I am the government after all, but Saenz de la Barra explained to him impassively that you aren’t the government, general, you are the power.”

This passage highlights the precarity of power. The government commands the nation, but power is what drives the people toward following its rule—and power, as the novel suggests, can be used by anyone in a position to wield it. Though this is an affirming thing to say to the General on the surface, Márquez undermines “power” throughout the novel.

“All I am now is a fright painted on the wall of this horror show where it was impossible for him not to give an order that hadn’t been carried out long before.”

The General realizes that his rule has amounted to nothing and there is nothing more he can do to effect change. He’s been in power too long, and the world is moving on without him. His stationary position is reflected in his image of himself as a painting stuck on a wall.

“One learns too late that even the broadest and most useful of lives only reach the point of learning how to live.”

Márquez uses broadly reflective statements such as this to highlight the futility inherent in The Pursuit of Power. The passage suggests that no matter one’s power or reach, the human condition is true for anyone who exists.

“he had put himself above his feverish avarice and his congenital fear only to keep until the end of time the little glass ball in his hand without knowing that it was an endless vice the satiety of which generated its own appetite until the end of all times general sir.”

The General finally realizes that The Pursuit of Power has ended in his ruin. He also realizes that he’s left with nothing in the end. The glass ball is a fragile material that ultimately contains nothing but has the potential to shatter.