My first read of 2024 was One Hundred Years of Solitude written by Colombian author, Gabriel García Márquez. Rather than leave a simple review on Goodreads, I explore the science of intergenerational trauma and the importance of its portrayal in art, honing in on two masterpieces that really resonated with me: One Hundred Years of Solitude, representing literature, and Everything Everywhere All at Once, representing film.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
To summarise, the story One Hundred Years of Solitude is set in Macondo, a fictional town representing real-life Colombian town Aracataca as well as some generalities of Latin America culture in the twentieth century. It starts with Jose Arcadio Buendia and Úrsula, his wife, and narrates their loves, traumas, happiness, changes, alongside their adventures and daily life. The focus then shifts to narrate their children’s, grandson’s and then their great grandson’s lives and on, representing life as it expanded for seven generations.
What is Intergenerational Trauma?
Intergenerational trauma is inherited trauma that affects generations that were not directly exposed to the original traumatic event; the trauma may be inherited through parental behaviour during upbringing, the changes during pregnancy in the womb, and other gestation factors as well as changes to the sperm and egg cells of parents.
The Science of Intergenerational Trauma
PTSD and traumatic responses have been studied for decades, proving step-by-step how significant events affect our daily life, DNA, biology, and psychobiological well-being. Despite this, not much research has been properly implemented to show how following generations can be victims too.
Epigenetics is regarded as the study of the gene’s expression and the factors that affect it. This branch of science has explained why trauma contains long-lasting effects and its reasons for being carried across generations since gene’s expression is not only affected by merely biological factors but also by the environment they are getting expressed in.
The first effect noticed by researchers was that the offspring of PTSD survivors had lower cortisol levels. Cortisol is a hormone that shares the role of Adrenaline in stress hormones because they are released mainly as a response to a stressful circumstance.
In addition, cortisol also plays a role in the regulation of stress hormones. Since the constant presence of these hormones in our body can lead us to immunodefficiency, or damages to the brain and body, high cortisol levels (as those experienced during trauma) are released to combat and lower these stress hormones.
Yet, survivors and their offspring tend to show more sensitivity to lower concentrations of cortisol in their receptors (called glucocorticoid receptors), meaning that a small trigger of stress could lead them to larger traumatic responses.
Furthermore, it is not the traumatic experience itself that is passed on, but rather the perspective on the world that the survivor has. Children too can feel the fear their guardians have-sometimes to the point where they interiorize it-and are unable to recognize it as not their own. This inheritance may also cause children to adopt the behaviours of their guardians.
Other relevant findings include that socially and environmentally toxic environments can be transmitted through the uterus. Because of this, children of childhood-abuse victims are more likely to have depression, reflecting not only the biologically inherited traits, but also the traits inherited by a guardian’s behaviour when raising the child.
Film and literature portrayal of generational trauma
Literature Portrayal
Everything Everywhere all at Once, directed by Dan Kwan and Scheinert Daniel, won the 2023 Academy Award for Best Film; One Hundred Years of Solitude, written by Gabriel García Márquez, made his author’s worth by winning the Literature Nobel Prize in 1982. To describe these pieces of art as “incredible” is an understatement. It is amazing that both of these pieces were acknowledged and praised since they present a clear depiction of generational trauma as well as generational healing.
One area depicted is the concept of how inflicting trauma in one generation inflicts some of it onto the next one too. For instance, as seen in One Hundred Years of Solitude, Ursula, one of the characters, realizes that time is not linear, but cyclical in the way that it repeats itself over and over again.
Another area focuses on linguistics: in the fictional city of Macondo, an immigrant household is showcased with different cultural influences expressed through their spoken languages. This is essential because being able to associate words with trauma allows for its acknowledgement and subsequent healing process.
In the book, Gárcia Márquez portrays the Banana Massacre in Colombia using magical realism, a style which captures a realistic world view accompanied by magical/fantasy elements. Within this realistic fantasy novel, a massacre occurs in Macondo (the fictional setting of the book), before being quickly “forgotten about” and avoided by members of society while characters that did discuss the event were considered manic. This experience isn’t particularly far from reality and media manipulation as not accepting an event of this magnitude as part of our history makes the healing journey impossible to embark on.
Film portrayal
On a much lighter note, Stephanie Hsu, one of the main actresses in the film Everything Everywhere All At Once, said in an interview that she thought art existed “to hold space for trauma and offer catharsis.”
“Our generation and the younger generation is now exploring different types of strength and what it means to be strong when you’re compassionate, and how, actually, empathy and radical kindness are also a tool,” she exclaims.
What Hsu said allows us to recognize the importance of art portraying healing, trauma, and family. We are met with experiences and ways of living, allowing us to occasionally forget the feeling of being wrapped up after a traumatic event.
According to Peggy Loo, a licensed psychologist, “trauma can shrink the imagination”-An imagination, that with a magical-realism book and a science-fiction film, can expand again. For instance, it’s important to note that magical realism responds to a perception of the world through an individual perspective more than it does through an objective pair of eyes. Therefore, it allows people to think about changing a perception rather than trying to change a circumstance that in many cases is out of their control.
Healing and conclusion
By reading or consuming media that highlight difficult conversations such as healing journeys, current generations faced with generational trauma can start to break out of their cycle.
A study by the National Center for Education showed that only 55% of 1992 high school graduates whose parents had not attended college aspired to obtain a bachelor’s degree. The most accepted hypothesis for this is that these students lacked information about the admissions process, the benefits of a bachelor’s degree, and even about the university experience. This neglection can repeat for multiple cycles; therefore, having art that portrays and educates the importance of changing lifestyle habits can potentially save a myriad of generations.
Another study by neuroscience researchers Brian Dias & Kerry Ressler proved that if three generations of mice feared the scent of cherry-blossoms due to an electric shock that once came with it, but the last generation loses its fear, then the following generation will not inherit the fear, showing how healing can also be inherited. As it is stated, “just as trauma can be passed through generations, so can resilience”.
It’s important to realize that we can escape the trauma that has been “written” in our relatives. As Gárcia Márquez explained during the reception speech for a Nobel Prize Lecture, by creating a new utopian world rid of solitude and trauma, we could have for once, a second opportunity on Earth and write a new chapter.
“los inventores de fábulas que todo lo creemos, nos sentimos con el derecho de creer que todavía no es demasiado tarde para emprender la creación de la utopía contraria. Una nueva y arrasadora utopía de la vida, donde nadie pueda decidir por otros hasta la forma de morir, donde de veras sea cierto el amor y sea posible la felicidad, y donde las estirpes condenadas a cien años de soledad tengan por fin y para siempre una segunda oportunidad sobre la tierra.”
Nobel Prize Reception Speech of Gabriel García Márquez
“we, the inventors of tales, who will believe anything, feel entitled to believe that it is not yet too late to engage in the creation of the opposite utopia. A new and sweeping utopia of life, where no one will be able to decide for others how they die, where love will prove true and happiness be possible, and where the races condemned to one hundred years of solitude will have, at last and forever, a second opportunity on earth.”
References
- Bierer, L. Bader, H. Daskalakis, N. Lehrner, A. Provencal, N. Wiechmann, T. Klengel, T. Makotkine, I. Binder, E. Yehuda, R. (2020). Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Holocaust Exposure on FKBP5 Methylation. PubMed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32312110/
- King, S. (2022). The “Science of Social Justice”: An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Framwork Grounded in Neuroscience, Education, and Anthropology towars Healing Intergenerational Trauma. The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry 9(1). Oregon Health and Science University.
- Tym, C. McMillion, R. Barone, S. Webster, J. (2004). First-Generation College Students: A Literature Review. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED542505.pdf
- Effendi, C. (2023). How Everything Everywhere All At Once Breaks the Tough Chain of Generational Trauma. Pi Media. https://uclpimedia.com/online/how-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-breaks-the-tough-chain-of-generational-trauma-by-celine-effendi#:~:text=Everything%20Everywhere%20All%20at%20Once%20recognizes%20and%20appreciates%20all%20the,quiet%20understanding%20through%20it%20all.
- Zimmerman, R. (2023). How does trauma spill from one generation to the next?. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/06/12/generational-trauma-passed-healing/
- Jamal, A. (2023). Intergenerational trauma is a bagel: A look into Everything Everywhere All At Once. Vertigo. https://utsvertigo.com.au/discover/intergenerational-trauma-is-a-bagel
- Zornosa, L. (2022). How ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Helps to Heal Generational Trauma. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/movies/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-interviews.html
- Yehuda, R. (2022). How Parents’ Trauma Leaves Biological TRaces in Children. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-parents-rsquo-trauma-leaves-biological-traces-in-children/
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