Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- What would you choose to include in the soundtrack to your film production of Love in the Time of Cholera? Would each character have a theme song? (We think Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" would work particularly well for Florentino.)
- Some critics contend that García Márquez's representations of women can be summed up by three archetypes: the young, beautiful virgin; the prostitute; and the matriarch. Do you agree? Do any of the characters transcend these three stereotypes? Are male and female characters treated differently, and if so, how?
- How is race treated in Love in the Time of Cholera? On several occasions – such as when a Chinese man wins the poetry competition, or when Fermina discovers that her husband has been having an affair with Miss Barbara Lynch, who is black – the main characters display racial prejudices. Is García Márquez critical of their reactions? What do these reactions tell us about the way race functions in society? Why do you think García Márquez chooses to show us these examples of racial prejudice?
- What would the Facebook pages of Florentino Ariza, Fermina Daza, and Dr. Juvenal Urbino look like? We think designing their pages would be a really fun way to summarize the plot of the novel.
- Is Love in the Time of Cholera particularly Colombian? (FYI, García Márquez is from Colombia.) Why do you think García Márquez never mentions the name of the country or the city in which the characters live?