Solitude and Isolation in One Hundred Years of Solitude"…The races condemned to 100 years of solitude have not had a second chance on earth." These powerful last words of the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude ring true. The book demonstrates through many examples that human beings cannot exist in isolation. People must be interdependent for the race to survive. Loneliness. Examples of this idea can be found throughout the hundred years of life of Macondo and the Buendia family. It is both emotional and physical loneliness. It is shown geographically, romantically and individually. It always seems like the characters' intention is to be alone, but they have no control over this. Being alone and forgotten is their fate. The novel begins with geographic isolation. José Arcadio Buendia shouts: "Damn it! Macondo is surrounded on all sides by water!" Whether it is, in truth, an island is irrelevant. The city believed itself cut off from the rest of the world. Furthermore, José Arcadio Buendia and Ursula seek solitude. The founding of Macondo was the result of Jose Arcadio Buendia's escape from the murder of Prudencio Aguilar. Aguilar's ghost haunted them, eventually forcing them to retreat. The family seems to remain very self-involved. A lot of this is Spanish culture. In Spanish-speaking countries it is not uncommon to find many generations of the same family living in the same house. The Buendia house always has several relatives inside it. Yet this is not the only explanation. Family incest is a theme throughout the novel and is a significant factor in this family's loneliness. If a family rarely turns to others to branch out, it eventually becomes completely inward-looking: isolated and detached. Sometimes, the family poisoned by the fate of loneliness extends its hand. Those who interact with this family share its unfortunate fate. First to Pilar Ternera, the sexual partner of two Buendia boys. Following this sexual interaction, Pilar spends the rest of her life alone. The same pattern is observed with Petra Cotes, simply with another generation. Another example is demonstrated by Remedios Moscote. She is another outsider, paired with Aureliano Buendia. Soon after their wedding she dies unexpectedly and violently.