An example of the characterization of Rebeca, who was adopted early on into the Buendia family, demonstrates that she is also unlike most other females depicted within One Hundred Years of Solitude. Although Rebeca is not as harsh towards her lovers as Amaranta is, she has her own idiosyncrasies that set her apart from the vast majority of other women outside of the family within this novel. It is worth noting that the power that many of the Buendia women are able to preserve and actuate at different times within this work of literature is best personified by Iguaran. Therefore, it is fairly interesting to note how Iguaran largely regards Rebeca as something of her protege in preserving this power in the tradition of the Buendia family, which the following quotation makes abundantly clear.

…only she, Rebeca, the one who had never fed of her milk but only of the earth of the land and the whiteness of the walls... Rebeca, the one with an impatient heart, the one with a fierce womb, was the only one who had the unbridled courage that Ursula had wanted for her line (Marquez).

This quotation is important for delineating some of Rebeca's idiosyncrasies, such as her propensity for consuming the minerals found within the raw earth itself and eating the white...

Also, it shows that Rebeca is, despite being adopted and never having "fed" from the breasts of Iguaran, is the one who most embodies the fierceness and the potency of the latter described within the passage as an "unbridled courage" that typifies Iguaran and which she had hoped to pass down to the rest of the women in this family. Such a courage, that may rear itself in a refusal to submit to traditional domestic roles as lovers in some cases, is ultimately what sets apart the Buendia women from others outside of this clan.
It is extremely significant that this distinction between the women in the Buendia family and other women rendered in Marquez's novel is demonstrated best by both Iguaran and Rebeca. Since there is no direct blood relationship between the two, the fact that they exemplify the characteristics that sets the women in this family apart from other women suggests that this quality is something that goes beyond mere hereditary, and is attributable to the unusual circumstances of isolation, love, and even solidarity, that characterize the existence of the Buendia women for the greater portion of their lives spent in Macondo.

Works Cited

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Perennial. 1998. Print.