The Limit of Karuṇā: Fostering and the Samsāric Cycle in One Hundred Years of Solitude

Abstract

This study analyzes Úrsula Iguarán’s crucial role as a fostering figure in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by applying a Buddhist ethical lens, primarily utilizing the concepts of Karuṇā (compassion) and Samsāra (cyclical suffering). Drawing specifically on ethical definitions from Buddhist thought and supported by humanistic principles of sympathy, this research fills a scholarly gap by interpreting Úrsula’s persistent caregiving as a moral identity within a decaying family. Employing qualitative textual analysis of twenty-two selected excerpts, the study examines how Úrsula’s compassionate fostering of non-biological children, including Rebeca and Arcadio’s offspring, constitutes the novel’s primary resistance against abandonment. The analysis establishes Karuṇā as the operative ethical framework—defined as an unwavering commitment to alleviate suffering—that resists Samsāra, the structure of cyclical fate. The study argues that Karuṇā is a vital principle for sustaining human existence. It suggests that Úrsula’s Karuṇā-guided fostering is a vital human act that affirms dignity; her efforts are ultimately undermined by the family's pervasive delusion and repeating taboo of incest. The study significantly contributes to Márquez scholarship by providing a novel, virtue-based ethical lens that moves beyond fantastic, ordinary, post-colonial, and identity allegories to interpret the limits of moral action within the Buendía family’s generational suffering.