Can We Be Saved Through Progress? Modernity in One Hundred Years of Solitude

This is the final essay I've written for Foundations of Literature, the 9th grade English class, as part of the Capstone Portfolio Project. It examines Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude through the lenses of positivism and political economy. Building on the work of Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, and Ray Dalio, I contend that the rise and fall of Macondo mirrors the cyclical patterns of historical empires and economic systems. The novel illustrates how positivist ambitions for progress, when divorced from justice and foresight, lead to exploitation, inequality, and collapse. Macondo's trajectory offers a cautionary parallel to contemporary crises, ranging from financial instability to climate breakdown.