Background Information About Author

Gabriel Jose Garcia Marquez was born in Aracataca, Colombia also known as the "bannana zone" on March 6 1928. Because his parents were poor and struggling his grandparents took on the task of raising him. Gabriel Garcia Marquez grew up during the Banana Strike Massacre of 1928. Bananas were crucial importance of the economy at the time. In October of 1928 over 32,000 workers went on strike. During their strike they demanded such things as hygienic working conditions, medical treatment, functioning toilets, and payments in cash rather than company scrip. After the strike the laborers were denied their existence as laborers. They were defined as “subcontractors” and were then exempted from Colombian labor laws safety regulations.

His grandfather died when Garcia Marquez was eight years old. Due to this and his grandmothers increasing blindness he was sent to Sucre to live with his birth parents. He was then sent to boarding school in Barranquilla. He became known as a shy boy who wrote humorous poetry. While he was at school he found himself stimulated by his studies, he often spent his time read books aloud with his companions. He graduated boarding school in 1946, and followed his parents’ wishes and went to the Universidad Nacional in Bogota as a law student rather than a journalist.

He met his wife while visiting his parents. He was introduced to a girl named Mercedes Barcha Pardo, a thirteen year old girl of Egyptian decent. During a trip with his parents he proposed to Mercedes. She agreed, but wished to first finish school. They would not be married for another fourteen years. They were finally married on March 27, 1958. They are still currently married with two children.

Garcia Marquez studied law and journalism at the National University in Bogota and also at the University of Cartagena. While he was a law student he frequently visited brothels. When he was beaten after he failed to pay for the services he wrote his first story ‘The Third Resignation’ in 1947. After he wrote that story, he started his career as a journalist. Garcia Marquez considers himself as a realist that writes about Colombian and Latin America as he has observed it.