Love in the Time of Cholera Analysis

García Márquez's use of imagery and symbolism isn't all that straightforward, but it sure is interesting. Keep in mind that there may be more than one reading of much of the novel's imagery –...

García Márquez's descriptions of the setting paints the picture of a complex and colorful city. The setting not only provides a lot of clues about the characters' personalities, interests, and s...

Our narrator doesn't just jump back and forth between different characters, but also back and forth in time. He (we're calling the narrator a 'he' in this case because the author is a man...you ca...

Magical realism is a genre in which magical events occur alongside normal, everyday ones. In Love in the Time of Cholera, for example, Fermina might sense the flesh and blood presence of her dead...

One important aspect of any magical realist text (see "Genre" for a definition) is that the author recounts seemingly incredible events without sounding the least bit surprised, impressed, or spook...

You may have noticed that the plot of this story doesn't progress in a linear fashion. In fact, García Márquez starts us off pretty near the end of our protagonists' lives, and then spends most...

What a weird title. Love generally makes us think of sweet things like puppy dogs and rainbows, right? Not bacterial infections of the small intestine that lead to watery diarrhea and death. We...

The words I am about to express:They now have their own crowned goddess.– Leandro DíazThis epigraph does just what a good epigraph should do. It makes us say, "Huh? What the heck does this epi...

Think about any of the romantic comedies you've ever watched. From When Harry Met Sally to Say Anything to Love Actually, what's the Golden Rule that unites them all? The lovers get together at t...

The twisting complexity of this book's plot makes it challenging enough to be plenty interesting. Events don't unfold linearly, so it can be a little tough to keep them straight. As well, charact...

Ah, youth, beauty, and raging hormones.Florentino is majorly crushing on the young and gorgeous Fermina Daza, and he's succeeds in getting her to agree to marry him...eventually. We hate to say it...

Love in the Time of Cholera is, in a weird way, kind of a whacked-out version of a quest story. The problem is, we're not really sure if we can get behind the hero's journey. Let us explain.Flore...

Fermina and Florentino fall in love and carry on an illicit correspondence behind her father's back. Lorenzo finds out and takes Fermina away from the city so that she'll forget about Florentino,...

García Márquez based Love in the Time of Cholera on his parents' love story. Read all about it in this short article, called "Serenade: How My Father Won My Mother," published in The New Yorker...

This book is all about love, so as you might imagine, it's got plenty of sex. One of the main characters, Florentino Ariza, actually keeps a record of all his sexual conquests in a book he titles...

Alexis Carrel, Man, the Unknown (1.107). Carrel was a French surgeon, biologist, and eugenicist. In Man, the Unknown, published in 1935, Carrel recommends a plan of forced euthanasia to rid societ...