Marquez reports Urbino’s serenade to the reader with a matter-of-fact attitude. This tone categorizes Urbino’s act not as one inspired by love, but as a business transaction. For example, the author refers to Urbino and the pianist helping him as the “sponsors” of the serenade. Also, by using the phrase “taking advatage,” Márquez suggests that Urbino is able to think rationally, he is not afflicted by love, because he is able to view the arrival of a famous pianist as a strategy for wooing Fermina. This phrase also calls into question the authenticity of Urbiono’s love for Fermina. His “history-making” serenade is portrayed more as bragging than as an act of love. The lack of imagery and the details included by the author work to further illustrate the business-like quality of the passage. Rather than focusing on the actual serenade, Márquez describes the preparation for and results of Urbino’s performance. Most notably, he mentions the piano and how it was transported to Fermina Daza’s home but grants the reader no images of Urbino’s performance. Fermina hears the music, but does not even look out the balcony; in fact, she identifies with other maidens when she “regretted not having the courage of other harassed maidens, who emptied their chamber pots on the heads of unwanted suitors” (Márquez 122). However repulsed Fermina is, her father accepts Urbinp’s proposition, inviting him into his home where he thanks him with “a glass of good brandy” (Márquez 122).
Márquez has a more complex attitude regarding Florentino’s serenade: he ridicules his exaggerated actions while sincerely portraying them as beautiful by using magical realism. The image of Florentino playing his waltz most effectively illustrates this tone. The reader can visualize Florentino’s violin bathed in tears as he murmurs the words of his waltz in the middle of the night. By incorporating details about the dogs in the city, Márquez employs magical realism. “…the dogs all over the city began to howl, but then, little by little, they were quieted by the spell of the music, and the waltz ended in supernatural silence” (Márquez 138). While this hyperbole mocks Florentino, Márquez’s attention to detail suggests that he believes Florentino’s serenade to be a true act of love. His choice in words reinforces this belief. He describes the waltz as a symbol for Florentino and Fermina’s “frustrated complicity” (Márquez 138). The word “complicity” suggests both Florentino and Fermina are culpable for their secretive affair: both are involved in the affair, so their love is more genuine then the love between Fermina and Urbino. Whereas Fermina is angered by Urbino’s serenade, the reader does not know her reaction to Florentino’s. Márquez only writes that “The balcony did not open” (Márquez 138). Because Márquez never uses Fermina’s name, the balcony is the subject of the sentence, this quote conveys Florentino’s isolation without suggesting rejection. Furthermore, Márquez contrasts Florentino and Urbino’s serenades. “…no one appeared on the street, not even the night watchman, who almost always came running with his oil lamp in an effort to profit in some small way form serenades” (Márquez 138). The author points out that Florentino’s waltz is not a business transaction in the least, because not even the watchman comes in search of a profit.
By describing the serenades of Urbino and Florentino with different attitudes, Márquez expresses his opinions of love. Urbino’s serenade is presented as “the strangest thing” and as and “uncommon tribute” while Florentino’s waltz is a “mad act of the heart”. With these descriptions Márquez presents a dichotomy in love. The first type of love, Uribino’s love for Fermina is strange because it is practical. A relationship begins not with love but with a business proposition, such as Urbino’s serenade. Just as profits are hoped and expected for with a business, love is hoped for in such a relationship. This practical approach avoids the negative implications of love as a disease. Contrary to this idea is Florentino’s romanticized love for Fermina which causes him pain. This irrational, over-exaggerated love is easily ridiculed, but is more genuine and beautiful. Gabriel García Márquez’s tone regarding each man’s serenade suggests that while it may be easier to express and accept love pragmatically, true love is romantic and pathogenic.
