Why Memory Loss?

Well, in Chapter 2 when the entire town of Macondo contracts an insomnia disease that ends up turning into a sever memory loss for everyone infected with the disease.  At first, the people of Macondo are completely content with insomnia because it allows everyone to get more work done at a more moderate pace, then the people's memory begin to go.  However, this memory loss plague is much more symbolic than it first appears.  One major theme of the book is solitude.  I feel that this memory loss that inflicts the town is representative of that theme.  When someone loses their memory to that degree, then they are not going to able to recognize anyone except maybe themselves.  That means, that in a way, they're in complete solitude/isolation because they know no one; all a person has is oneself. People who know no one are completely alone.  Therefore, in my opinion, GGM choosing to have the characters of his story to contract a memory loss illness was not a coincidence.  The sickness was simply following a theme in the book.  I am sure the readers will continue to see more of these big events relating to solitude.  I can't wait to keep reading this book, it is my favorite piece that we've read thus far!