43 pages 1 hour read

Gabriel García Márquez, Transl. Gregory Rabassa

The Autumn of the Patriarch

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1975

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Character Analysis

The General

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses murder, suicide, and sexual assault.

The General, unnamed throughout the narrative, is the “solitary despot” ruling over the unnamed territory in the Caribbean. Though in legend and lore he is often described as huge and lumbering, he is of average size and in fact shrinks with age. The General’s physical description, aside from his herniated testicle and giant, flat feet, is intentionally elusive—no one knows what he actually looks like except for his sad eyes, pale lips, and hands devoid of any lines. Since the General stands in for a long line of historical dictators in the novel, his physical description is purposefully ambiguous.

His hand is gloved in velvet often, and he is found again and again in an unmarked denim uniform, wearing a gold spur on one of his boots at an unimaginably old age. He’s described at times as not fitting his clothes by various narrators who encounter him, and his description in death details his aged body in putrefaction and infested by parasites. This reflects The Impact of Corruption on the Human Body.

Solitary and obsessed with power, the General is both insatiable and easily swayed.

Related Titles

By these authors

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Gabriel García Márquez

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon

Gabriel García Márquez

Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel García Márquez

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

Death Constant Beyond Love

Gabriel García Márquez

Death Constant Beyond Love

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

Eyes of a Blue Dog

Gabriel García Márquez

Eyes of a Blue Dog

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

In Evil Hour

Gabriel García Márquez

In Evil Hour

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

Innocent Erendira

Gabriel García Márquez

Innocent Erendira

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

Leaf Storm

Gabriel García Márquez

Leaf Storm

Gabriel García Márquez

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Gabriel García Márquez

Memories of My Melancholy Whores

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

News of a Kidnapping

Gabriel García Márquez

News of a Kidnapping

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

No One Writes To The Colonel

Gabriel García Márquez

No One Writes To The Colonel

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

Of Love And Other Demons

Gabriel García Márquez

Of Love And Other Demons

Gabriel García Márquez

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

One Of These Days

Gabriel García Márquez

One Of These Days

Gabriel García Márquez

Plot Summary

logo

Strange Pilgrims

Gabriel García Márquez

Strange Pilgrims

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

The General in His Labyrinth

Gabriel García Márquez

The General in His Labyrinth

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Gabriel García Márquez

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World

Gabriel García Márquez

Study Guide

logo

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Transl. Gregory Rabassa

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Transl. Gregory Rabassa

Study Guide

logo

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Gabriel García Márquez

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor

Gabriel García Márquez