How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
They had just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, and they were not capable of living for even an instant without the other, or without thinking about the other, and that capacity diminished as their age increased. (1.67)
Even as García Márquez presents to us the image of a couple completely unified in their dependency on one another, he reminds us that they're getting old and are therefore vulnerable.
Quote #2
Life would have been quite another matter for them both if they had learned in time that it was easier to avoid great matrimonial catastrophes than trivial everyday miseries. (1.68)
Most of the things Dr. Urbino and Fermina fight about don't really seem like that big a deal – here, matrimony seems like an exercise in triviality.
Quote #3
The truth was they both played a game, mythical and perverse, but for all that comforting: it was one of the many dangerous pleasures of domestic love. (1.70)
The way García Márquez talks about this couple's experience makes it sound pretty universal. Can fighting with your spouse be comforting? Even pleasurable? If not, why would so many couples do it?