Chapter 12 Summary

With the coming of the railroad Macondo undergoes a rapid transformation - technology such as movie theaters and phonographs become rather commonplace even as they confuse the town members who often mistake mechanical tricks for magical reality. The railroad also brings a huge influx of immigrants. One traveler, Mr. Herbert, prowls about Macondo and the surrounding swamp and investigates insects and bananas for a few days before leaving. Soon enough he returns with an army of foreign workers and supervisors who build entire compounds which are prohibited to the established town. Within a few months a gigantic banana plantation is established next to, but fairly separate from, Macondo. So that Jose Arcadio's corpse's stench of gunpowder will not infect the irrigation waters, the banana company erects a fortress of reinforced concrete over his tomb. Banana workers flood the whore houses, bars, and cafes...