Cultural Symbols of Latin America in Marquez’s Literary Discourse.docVIP

Cultural Symbols of Latin America in Marquez’s Literary Discourse 　　Abstract 　　This article deals with the cultural aspects of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s literary discourse that are manifested or represented through its narrative units， carrying cultural semantic contents. These units indeed serve as socio-symbolic mediations that relate the literary text to his culture. For this reason， Marquez has immensely applied the figurative elements in his novels， making a bridge between his works and the world to which he belongs or claims to belong. These textual elements can be thus interpreted by taking into consideration the cultural aspects of his society. Hence， this article surveys the cultural components of his novels and mainly to decode them according to the cultural values and social conventions of his culture. 　　Key words： Figural elements； Conventional symbols； Natural references and cultural codes 　　INTRODUCTION 　　Being sensitive to the uniqueness of the socio-cultural aspects of his country and the complexity of themes that he has intended to present in his novels， Marquez is indeed induced to construct and develop a highly original literary idiom for portraying his society with its distinguishable cultural features and complicated history； a society that had been a victim of the political oppressions and repressions under the domination of past colonialism and recent imperialism for almost three centuries； a society that has lost its salient cultural traits and identity due to the influence of African and Spanish cultures during the period of colonization； a society that has been controlled by the unfaithful and unreasonable Catholic authorities whose dark and cruel behaviors have condemned many innocents and professional figures to death； a society that has been influenced by the superstitious beliefs of the alien cultures； a society in which moral depravities have been considered as acceptable norms； a society that is composed of multi-racial communities