There's a life-threatening situation in this sentence: "as he faced the firing squad." However, it is placed gently in the middle of the sentence, with words directing our attention elsewhere on either side of it. The opening of the sentence, "Many years later," places the firing squad at a distant time – although the firing squad is deadly, it isn't happening now, which makes it much less urgent. Humans tend to discount future problems. What can be done, now, about something that will happen many years later?
The last part of the sentence also softens the tension. When faced with the firing squad, the main character doesn't scream or cry or beg or sweat. He "was to remember" – he thought of his past. That could be an escape or a way to grieve what he is losing. It is a mental action rather than a physical action. Remembering can connect to any emotion. It is neutral until we know more. Because it is neutral and internal, it also reduces the tension of facing the firing squad.
Notice also how the sentence telescopes through time. There are three time periods in the sentence. One is the implied present – a time many years before the firing squad. The second is the day of the firing squad, many years after the present. The third time is "that distant afternoon" when Colonel Aureliano Buendia was a boy. The sentence stretches from boyhood, through adulthood, to probable death. It covers the length of a life.
"Colonel Aureliano Buendia" suggests a man of power. He holds rank. He receives the respect of a long, full name. Aureliano might tie to Marcus Aurelius, the stoic emperor of the Roman empire. Buendia breaks down into buen dia, a fortunate day. These names, too, suggest good fortune and strength. They are clues that he had a strong prime of life. The stretched time of the sentence suggests his life was long, as well.
The childhood memory that he will return to is "when his father took him to discover ice." For contemporary North American readers, ice is too common to discover. It is in our drinks and in our freezers since before we retain memories. To discover ice, it must be something the boy had not yet encountered – something rare. If we didn't know ice, what a wonder it would be. This is a good memory: a father taking a child on a wondrous yet safe adventure. Because the boy didn't yet know ice, he may be quite young. The times in this sentence may begin with his earliest memories, cross the peak of his influence, and end with his death.
I haven't completed this book. The sentences are lovely, and I was feeling too impatient for the wandering strategy of the story. I think, like the first sentence, the entire story wants to embrace a wide view, not only of time, but of character and place. I do think the first sentence shows a very interesting technique. It contains the basic elements of a hook – a character in a high tension situation – and then chooses to look at a much longer period of time, letting the tension slip away in favor of detail and nostalgia. When would this be the perfect entry into a story?
Graphic elements by Ken Silbert