In Love in the Time of Cholera, Marquez uses sickness, death, and gerontophobia as metaphors for the dangers of love. Early in the novel when Jeramiah de Satint Amour commits suicide with gold cyanide, Dr. Urbino immediately attributes the manner of the death to unrequited love. The mention of the scent of almonds is also foreshadowing the next chapter in which the love affair between Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza is narrated. Florentino frequently sees Fermina Daza beneath an almond tree and mentions how the scent of alomds will forever remind him of her.
During their discreet love affair, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza are literally in danger due to the wrath of Fermina’s father and the environment in which Fermina is being raised. The watchful eye of Lorenzo Daza forces Fermina and Florentino to only communicate through letters left in odd places. When waiting for his first reply from Fermina, Florentino is driven mad with eagerness and displays symptoms similar to those of cholera. Florentino’s joy in suffering for Fermina and his willingness to be a martyr for love makes Florentino an ideal romantic character because he has no fear of rejection and has absolute faith in the success of the doomed relationship. Since the reader already knows from the previous chapter that Fermina will marry Dr. Urbino, it is much easier to feel sympathetic toward Florentino.
Through the suicide of Jeremiah de Saint-Amour before his own clandestine love affair can fully bloom and the cholera-like lovesickness of Florentino juxtaposed with his raging affection for Fermina, Marquez touches on a fundamental human fear: fear of the ravages of love whether they be brought about by rejection, unfavorable circumstances, or death. Florentino’s melodramatic approach to love makes him seem absurd and thus makes the idea of hopeless romanticism seem absurd. He writes seventy pages of love letters to a girl who he has never met and foolishly expects that she will feel the same way. However, it can be inferred that Marquez is glorifying romanticism because Florentino comes to Dr. Urbino’s funeral and therefore uncovers hope at the bottom of the pandora’s box of love’s travails. (357)
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2 comments:
Lauren Mattioni, I particularly enjoy your connection between fear and romantic love. In addition, your analysis of Florentino is very thought provoking. As you advance throughout the novel, you will get a better understanding of Florentino and his hope.
Macaroni--I concur with Prof. Khera's comment and only wish to add my pleasure at having you point out the connection between the smell of almonds in the cyanide and the image of almonds in the garden where Florentino sees Fermina and comes to idealize her. Finally, glad you noticed the ways love makes people afraid, mad, sick, crazy, absurd, and everything else it does.
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