Love is a powerful emotion that can cause people to act in abnormal ways. In the novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, the main character Florentino Ariza falls passionately in love with Fermina Daza.
He immediately spends hours composing poetic love letters to Fermina as his entire life becomes dedicated to loving her. Fermina’s father, who greatly disapproves of the relationship between the two, decides to take his daughter to travel throughout the Caribbean.After many years of separation, when Fermina finally sees Florentino for the first time since she had been back in Hispaniola, all of her love immediately disappears after realizing she does not actually love Florentio. From that day on, Florentino would live for over a century in misery as he realizes that he cannot be with the only woman he had ever truly loved. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Ronald Wright’s novel “A Scientific Romance”, the theme of misery caused by the loss of love is relevant.Both writers use the motif of lost love, the effects of this lost love on the characters in the stories and the similar archetypes to show this theme.
Firstly, both authors use character development to convey this message of the effects of lost love on the main characters in both novels. Both Florentino Ariza (Love in the Time of Cholera) and David Lambert (A Scientific Romance) fail to develop as individuals in the stories. Florentino Ariza begins as a young man who has dedicated his entire life to Fermina Daza.He spends hours writing passionate letters to her and every day of his life is consumed by the thought of her.
In the following quotation Florentino reveals his eternal love for Fermina: “I have waited for this opportunity for more than half a century, to repeat to you once again my vow of eternal fidelity and everlasting love. ” (Marquez 50). It is clear that Florentino would give anything to be with Fermina as his love for her is immeasurable. When Fermina becomes a young woman who had outgrown her childish past, she immediately realizes that she does not love Florentino.
Devastated by the loss of Fermina, Florentino spends months sick and unable to go on with his life. As the years go by since his rejection by Fermina, he finds himself in a web of love affairs with women from all walks of life. Although he goes against his rule that he must remain a virgin until he can finally be with Fermina, he never marries or has children. The scars of losing his first and only love makes it impossible for Florentino to ever settle down, get married, have a family, or even a stable job.
In comparison, David Lambert, the main character of the novel A Scientific Romance , also fails to progress in life after the loss of his true love. David’s life seems to deteriorate when he loses his lover Anita. He later spends years searching for her around the globe. It becomes clear that David has never moved on from loving Anita as he says, “… sail back to Anita, to my parents; restore truncated lives, rebuild my own. ” (Wright 62). His only hope to ever return to being happy will only happen if he can go to the past and be with Anita and his family.
David, much like Florentino, spends his life consumed with thoughts of Anita. He never marries or has children and lives life lonely and miserable. The loss of both Florentino and David’s only true loves prevent them from developing as individuals. Secondly, the authors of these novels use the motif of misery caused by lost love. After Florentino is rejected by Fermina and then later finds out she is soon to be married, he becomes unable to bear with life. He can never live normally again as the misery inflicted upon him causes him to become a completely different person.
The following quotation demonstrates his inability to remain sane and in control of his emotions or health: “When Florentino Ariza learned that Fermina Daza was going to marry a physician he had lost his speech and his appetite and was spending nights on end in constant weeping. ” (Marquez 157). Florentino continued mourning the loss of Fermina in his life for months. His misery caused him to grow apart from his mother which strained and almost destroyed the only relationship that he had left.
He found himself wishing death upon Fermina’s husband as he knew that his misery grew as he thought of Fermina loving any man but himself.In comparison, David too suffers as he constantly lives in misery. David’s misery is not only the result of the loss of Anita, but also the loss of his beloved parents and his best friend Bird. The news of the death of Anita impacts David tremendously as he says: “Anita ill? ...
The news gutted me. ” (Wright 40). David finds himself in complete solitude as he had destroyed his relationships with his friends and remembers cursing his father prior to his death. The memory of his actions and their consequences continuously haunts David and causes him to live miserable and alone.
Overall both Florentino and David find themselves living in misery due to the loss of their loved ones. Thirdly, the authors use archetypes to further communicate the theme to the reader. Both Florentino and David possess the lover archetype. Florentino was completely committed to Fermina with all his heart so after he was rejected he became desperate and lost as he says: “No woman is worth all that… he paid no attention to her.
Sometimes he went to the office without having sleep. ” (Marquez 69). David is also a lover as he strives for bliss and is damaged by the loss of love.As a lover archetype, Florentino’s and David’s goal in life is bliss and in both novels bliss would be accomplished if they could be with their true loves. The fear of the lover archetype is loss of love which is relevant to both characters as it is evident that when they lose love they become miserable and find it hard to live their lives as they feel incomplete. Both characters also follow the task of following their bliss as Florentino never gives up his chase for Fermina.
He watches her every movement and even though he was initially rejected he never gives up as he is driven by love.The same applies to David as he takes a leap of faith and uses the time machine. Even though he could have risked death he still uses it and he even believes that it can take him to the past. He follows his bliss by boarding the time machine in an attempt to reunite with Anita in the past.
Clearly both Florentino and David are of the lover archetype as their goal is bliss, they fear the loss of love the most, they follow their bliss and they have passion and commitment in attaining their goal. In conclusion, both Marquez and Wright use similar components that enhance their characters.There are many similarities between Florentino Ariza and David Lambert which can be seen by the both the authors use of the motif of lost love, the effects on the characters due to their lost love and the lover archetype which supports their actions throughout the novel. Overall the loss of love for both characters caused them to lose passion in their lives and dwell in misery and in the case of Florentino Ariza once his love was restored to his life, he was able to experience the happiness he had once lost.
