Life, Death, and the Love in Between in Love in the Time of Cholera

Love In The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a story about Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza’s long, enduring love for each other. It started when they were young, and it was love at first sight for them. But Lorenzo Daza, Fermina’s father, dd not approve of their relationship, even as they were already engaged to be married. Fermina eventually chooses to wed Dr. Juvenal Urbino, a wealthy, well-born doctor, and her father approves, and even enforces the relationship, because of the very reason that he upheld his very high standards. Of course, Florentino was devastated for a long time, but he still slowly rose in his business All while he engaged in over 622 affairs in 51 years, with the exclusion of his heart. Once Urbino died, he finally declared his love to Fermina once more. The second time around, it worked and they ventured out to ‘forever.’

Fermina Daza is a stubborn, headstrong woman, but is also passionate. From the beginning, she was already the kind of girl who went with what she wanted. She fell in love with Florentino, so she even went against his father to keep their love alive even as they went away. At first she was not keen on Dr. Urbino, so she refused even the lifting of her expulsion from her records because she did not want him. So she was always very strong, and independent. But love was one thing that weakens her, or in a sense, maybe giving her much more depth and humanity. Because love is something that she values in her life.

Florentino Ariza was, in the beginning, a simple boy who did not have much wealth, if not at all. But I can say that he was wealthy of love. He was passionate, to the point of being borderline obsessive. This is because of his love for Fermina Daza. I will say, he is actually a perfect embodiment of, as Beyoncé would sing, “Crazy in Love”. He even went as far as to drinking Fermina’s perfume to always remind him of her scent. He ate flower petals as well. But overall, he is not actually bad. He was just controlled by love. Although I wouldn’t say he was very loyal. A romantic, maybe he is.

Dr. Juvenal Urbino, finally, is a renowned doctor, and born into a noble family. He was the one who got to marry Fermina Daza. He was a very meticulous person, hygienic, proper, maybe in the eyes of the people, a perfect man. Though in this story, he is the one who is not really all about love. He actually married Fermina for practical purposes, and not because he was madly in love with her. This leads them to having an uninteresting marriage, and even to his death, an unsatisfactory life.

The end of this novel is actually one of the parts that I loved the most. Because for me, it showed both of them running away from reality. I know that it may seem like a bad thing to do, but to be honest, what’s there to it, anyway? They were actually very old in the very end of the story, and it is even highlighted when Florentino was disgusted with his and Fermina’s first kiss, because she already smelled like old, decaying flesh. But putting that aside, they were together. But this happy ending wasn’t actually why I loved this part. More so, it was actually because I felt that it was more tragic than happy. First of all, Florentino was actually running away from the fact that his fourteen year old lover committed suicide. Then there was the fact that the lover’s voyage they were taking actually coursed through a river filled with corpses.

Cholera was used in many different ways throughout the whole novel. It was mentioned literally, and as well as figuratively. The disease is actually connected, or even symbolize, love. You may ask, “What even is Cholera?” Cholera is an infectious disease that targets the small intestines, which is often picked up from infected water supplies. It causes vomiting, diarrhea, etc. As I said, Cholera is actually mentioned many times, because it was prevalent in the story’s time period or age. For example, Juvenal Urbino’s father actually died from the said disease, and he devoted his time in studying this. It was mentioned as well when Florentino was waiting for Fermina’s letter. Because he was said to show the symptoms of having Cholera, but it was only used for correlation. Even in the end, it was used to keep them together for their voyage. But how does it connect to love? Because it highlights that love is a disease.

Something as beautiful and sweet as love can actually be dangerous and harmful to us people. This is how Cholera can symbolize love. This can be seen especially in Florentino Ariza. Like I mentioned, his mother actually told him that he almost looked like he had the disease, because of how his love for Fermina affected him. He became nauseous, he lost his voice, his appetite, and he was complicated by diarrhea and severe vomiting. He became disoriented because of his love. Love is something that can physically break us, especially destroy us emotionally. It is dangerous once you put too much passion into it, in this case it is seen with Florentino Ariza. As well as when you give too little, which is Juvenal Urbino’s portrayal.