We were also interested in exploring how the Caribbean setting and culture affect the telling of the story. Is it important that this novel’s narrative of love takes place “in the time of cholera” rather than another disease or another time? Why? In what ways are the civil wars and cholera outbreaks that take place during the novel important to our understanding of the characters, the world they inhabit, and cholera? In considering all of the diseases and their related literature that we have studied, how does the format of Love in the Time of Cholera as a novel provide a unique window into disease and the way it affects people?
Finally, it seems to me that throughout the novel, characters–Fermina in particular–undergo evolving relationships with time and space: their stages of life as they age over time and the different people with whom they share their space. The characters experience changing perspectives on love and their partners as they age. Fermina, for example, initially does “not find even the shadow of a doubt in her heart” (p. 87) about marrying Florentino despite their relationship primarily taking place within the space of written letters, though she rejects him soon after. Later on in her years of sharing physical space with Dr. Juvenal Urbino, she “was not convinced that love was really what she most needed to live” (p.205). However, in the end, she reconnects with Florentino. Why does Fermina reject Florentino initially? What causes her to change her mind at the end of the novel and reunite with Florentino? Is it for love alone, or can it be attributed to other concerns?
One thing that I took away from the silent discussion yesterday was that although there are many different diseases that this story could be based around, cholera seemed to tie into Florentino and Fermina's relationship the easiest. What I thought about afterwards was the similarities between the signs and symptoms of cholera and Florentino's love for Fermina, and while there may be other diseases that love could be equated to, cholera seems to fit the story the best as it consumes Florentino. However, I did leave the silent discussion with some questions. On pages 226-227, Dr. Urbino says "Well, it must be a very special form of cholera,... because every single corpse has received the coup de grace through the back of the neck." I was wondering how this occasion fit into the storyline and what the importance of this quote and this specific moment is in the bigger picture.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Marquez's association of love with cholera forms a contrast to how we've been viewing other diseases in this class: rather than using the common method of having an abstract concept (love) provide insight/representations of a disease, he reverses it and instead uses the disease to provide insight on an abstract concept. Accordingly, Marquez employs the many different characteristics of cholera to examine the multiple aspects of love. By equating the symptoms of cholera with the symptoms of love, Marquez is saying that the act of loving or pining for someone involves a lot of suffering, which is obviously what Florentino went through for Fermina, especially when she was out of his reach. It is also important to point out that Dr. Urbino dedicated a lot of his career to eradicating cholera, so, in a way, he can be seen as "eradicating love," which becomes apparent as his relationship with Fermina falls apart and she ultimately chooses Florentino. Another key area where cholera pops up is towards the end of the novel when Florentino and Fermina fly the cholera flag on their boat, isolating themselves from the rest of the world to be together. In this section, Marquez uses cholera to represent eternity, but also the isolation that comes with fully committing to/marrying someone. In terms of the novel's perspective/window onto how cholera affects people, I found it quite similar to the Decameron, in how the disease that the piece centers on never really makes a dominant presence in the story, but rather forms a backdrop as the author focuses in on the disease's emotional/societal effects, such as using it to portray romance between characters or add more depth to Dr. Urbino's character.
ReplyDeleteI've always struggled with the idea that cholera is a very prevalent theme in the book, but after our silent discussion I have a better idea about cholera's role in the novel. It became apparent to me that cholera really complimented the melancholy that Florentino suffered. The imagery on page 61 of the "physical representations" of love, backed up by cholera like symptoms, was very necessary in setting up the story and describing Florentino's feelings about Fermina and love. The imagery in the final pages with the yellow cholera flag was an amazing final touch. The yellow flag represents isolation and at this stage in their lives, Fermina and Florentino need the isolation to find the love that took 50 years to finally come to fruition. Another possible way to read this is at the beginning of their relationship they strictly communicated with letters. They were stuck to the page, unable to find love in the real world. I believe that Fermina changed her mind because she finally was able to see Florentino for the man he was. She never had the chance to really understand his true character, only the words he wrote in their letters. I think Fermina fell in love with Florentino's words, not him.
ReplyDeleteI think that this book is a lot different from the other things we have read, Malaria Poems for example. Up until this point, we have read things about how the literature of story reveals something about the disease we are learning about. In Malaria Poems, everything opened up a different aspect of Malaria that we hadn't thought about before. In love in the time of cholera, I think that it is the opposite. We seem to use cholera to learn more about the love and relationship between Florentino and Fermina. Cholera (and other diseases) involve people suffering, which I think gives insight into how Florentino was feeling up until the end of the book. He was suffering over not being with Fermina.
ReplyDeleteWe addressed some of this in class, but I absolutely think that the fact that this love takes place in the time of cholera in this particular Caribbean town is of paramount importance. In our class discussions we’ve talked a bit about how comparisons between love and cholera are especially significant because they allow love to become a much more tangible and physical presence in the novel; it also seems like the irrational love Florentino has for Fermina is made into a much more rational quantity simply because of the idea that this sort of love is most similar to a disease like cholera.
ReplyDeleteWithout the inextricable link between love and cholera, this book would undoubtedly be markedly different. Because love is likened to a disease, the reader’s attention is directed to certain details that might otherwise have seemed rather unremarkable. For example, even Florentino’s physical features are connected to cholera; the descriptions of his eyes and appearance as a whole correspond to descriptions of the physical changes resulting from a cholera infection. Normally, physical appearances in love stories just reflect the romantic feelings felt by the protagonists; I think it’s significant that Florentino’s face is a reflection not just of love but of cholera as well.
One of the things that I was particularly interested in with our discussion is how the book would have been different if cholera had not been part of the book and if it had taken place in a different setting or time period. Some of us have argued that this book is rather a love story than one about the way disease can affect people's lives, and I somewhat agree, but after our discussion it's clear that Marquez is very specific about the setting of his book. I remember in first semester in City of Angels we had talked about the importance of the title of the book "What Makes Sammy Run?" in the same way the title of the book "Love in the Time of Cholera" is just as important. It signifies that this book, although a love story, is unique and significant because of the setting it is placed in. "In the Time of Cholera" suggests a large importance upon the setting and thus is represented in the actual text. For example, at the end of the book, the waving of the yellow cholera flag is significant in finishing up the whole book. It ties the love of Fermina and Florentino to his original disease, a love like cholera. It's true that cholera may not be mentioned as much as we have seen in other texts but the disease is just as important to the entire narrative.
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