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Love in the Time of Cholera Essay Sample #2

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.

December 19, 2006/by dpogreba

Sample Essay #1: Love in the Time of Cholera Tone

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The irony and heavy sarcasm throughout the first passage ridicules
and mocks Dr. Urbino’s and Fermina’s accepted relationship in their
marriage. Marquez uses the powerful word ‘perfect’ to describe the
doctor and then ironically proceeds to demonstrate that he is the exact
opposite of perfect. The mention of the minute tasks that the doctor
fails to complete transforms the tone into one that is harshly mocking
and a little bitter. The use of the insignificant obligations in life
that everyone is capable of doing implies that he also does not do the
bigger more significant and abstract commitments that are involved in
marriage; if he does not close a door or turn off a light then he
certainly does not demonstrate his commitment to Fermina Daza or
express the true emotions of his love for her. The sarcasm is
reinforced with the humor of the Doctor’s complaint, “A man should have
two wives: one to love and one to sew on his buttons.” Beneath the
humor of this quote, his tone expresses bitterness and demonstrates the
impatient and selfish attitude that the doctor has toward his wife. The
Doctor is then ridiculed and dehumanized when takes his first swallow
of coffee or soup everyday because instead of talking to his wife or
simply waiting for it to cool, he instead breaks into a howl, like an
animal. The presence of the words “no longer frightened anyone,” when
describing his howling scene, enforces the idea that this is a common
event in the household. It leads to further humor and sarcasms when the
doctor makes the childish threat to his wife that if he ever was to
leave that house it would be because he was tired of burning his mouth.
This childish temper tantrum ridicules the doctor completely and
demonstrates a humorous and mocking portrayal of their marriage.

The comparison of the excitement of new
freedoms opposed to the dreads of old captivities contributes to a
humorous, mocking, and bitter tone in this second passage. Introducing
the description of the widows’ lives, the choice of the phrase
“restorative idleness of solitude” establishes both the humorous and a
sarcastic tone expressed in this passage. The simple and long forgotten
freedom of the widows, like eating only when they are hunger, add to
the humorous tone because they are things that should be common sense
and things that one should do naturally. At the same time Marquez is
criticizing marriage and mocking the fact that these women have lost
control over their most basic personal needs. From the humorous tone of
their basic needs, Marquez changes to the more profound and abstract
freedom of loving without lies. He implies that many of the marriages
and the love that is generated from them are created or infiltrated
with lies. The alliteration and stark opposition of the two words
‘love’ and ‘lie’ creates an especially powerful portrayal and makes it
stand out from the rest. The question he raises of loving without lies
introduces a more introspective and deep evaluation of love and
marriage. The tone becomes increasingly bitter and almost angry as
Marquez argues that they have been robbed of their right to sleep
peacefully, which in essence represents their right to live peacefully
and be their own person. The fight for half the bed, for half the
night, for half the sheets and for half the air in turn represents the
struggle for power and individuality in the marriage. The final
sentence concludes the passage with a peaceful and calm tone because
the widows, now alone, are able to dream their own dreams and live life
how they desire, although in the final words he leaves us with a
slightly sad tone as he reminds us that when they wake they are still
alone.

The humorous, sarcastic, and mocking tone
of these two passages supports Marquez’s theme of the need for critical
evaluation of marriage and true love. Both of the passages use humor
and sarcasms to reflect the burden and unhappiness that marriage can
result in if one is not truly in love. The first passage mocks the
idea of a “perfect husband” and ridicules the Doctor and his own
stupidity as he is portrayed like a selfish child who howls every time
his coffee is too hot. To reinforce the ideas that were introduced in
the first passage, the second passage continuous the same sarcastic
tone. It differs from the first in the sense that it introduces both a
bitter tone toward marriage and a hopeful tone toward living a free
life with out a spouse. Although the first passage uses Dr. Urbino and
Fermina Daza and the second uses thepposite—widows—to illustrate the
message, they both demonstrate the need for everyone to think about
their own personal values in regards to marriage. Through the
experiences of Dr. Urbino, Fermina Daza, Florentino Ariza, and others,
Marquez demonstrates the imprisonment or freedom that love can bring.
His critical evaluation of marriage and love throughout the book
encourages the reader to look at their own values and to decide their
opinions for themselves.

December 19, 2006/by dpogreba

On Reading Heart of Darkness

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Heart of Darkness is always an interesting experience. Conrad’s dense prose is an interesting challenge, and I find myself forced to pay much more attention to detail than I often do with other texts. 🙂 I’m always most drawn to the argument that Marlow advances at the outset of his tale: that the power of England, as impressive as it seems, is really nothing more than a brief moment in history:

“I was thinking of very old times, when the Romans first came here, nineteen hundred years ago — the other day. . . . Light came out of this river since — you say Knights? Yes; but it is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker — may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday.

Marlow’s comparison is powerful: what the English saw was a historical epoch, was by the standards of human history, nothing more than a flicker or flash of lightning. It’s hard not to think about America’s position in the world when reading these words. Do many people of great empires ever have the insight that Conrad/Marlow did, and see the “brooding gloom” descend over their empire?

December 19, 2006/by dpogreba

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