“Fictive Narrativism” in Gabriel García Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera

THIS PAPER ARGUES that Gabriel García Márquez “Love in the Time of Cholera” reveals fictive
narrativism through Plot, Theme, Point of View, Characterization, Symbolism, Style and Emotional
Effect.

These arguments are supported by feminist theory’s second wave. Feminist theory is the extension of
feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of
gender inequality. A Feminist Critique of Love In The Time of Cholera. Throughout Love In The Time of
Cholera, a feminist plot reveals itself through Florentino’s pursuit of Fermina, the emphasis of female
sexual virginity, and Florentino abuse of América.

The Fictive Narrativism can be reveal through:

Plot Structure is the way in which the story elements are arranged. A series of interconnected events in
which every occurrence has a specific purpose.

Exposition: Dr. Urbino makes a house call to find Jerermiah de Saint- Amour, a good
friend of his, dead after committing suicide. After returning home to his wife
Fermina, they attend a luncheon. The next morning, after pursuing his parrot up a
tree, he falls to his death.

At the doctor’s funeral, Fermina’s old flame Florentino Ariza attends and asserts his
lasting love for her.

Evidence: In this first chapter, the death of Jeremiah Saint-Amour is prominent, and
surely has a certain significance, though, as of yet, it is not evident. Most curious is
that Saint-Amour's suicide is the first that Dr. Urbino has seen that has not been
triggered by a tortured love, but by an acute fear of aging. The reader is provided
further clues about Saint-Amour's importance when Dr. Urbino is described as
Beginning having an unusually emotional reaction to his death.

The Initial Incident: The police inspector expresses doubt that the death was
intentional, but Dr. Urbino knows that Saint-Amour's death by cyanide is not
accidental

Evidence: Saint-Amour had worked as a renowned photographer of children, and

possessed extensive knowledge of chemicals. As he was making his rounds, Dr.
Urbino had discovered a note nailed to Saint-Amour's street door, instructing him to
enter and inform the police. Urbino uses his power to persuade the inspector to
forgo routine legal procedures so that Saint-Amour, an "atheistic saint," may be
buried that same afternoon, on Pentecost. Urbino notes that two unusual events
have occurred on this Pentecost: the death of a friend and the silver anniversary of
one of his medical pupils.
The Rising Action: About five decades before Fermina lives in the lower class of the
city, and falls for Florentino. The couple communicate through letters and a couple
years laters, Florentino proposes. However, her father finds the love letters and
forbids her from seeing Florentino, ultimately taking her away from home until she
forgets him. Upon return, Fermina falls out of love with Florentino, and meets Dr.
Urbino, whom she marries. Florentino aims to wait for her, while partaking in
several other affairs.

Evidence:

Climax: Fifty decades in marriage. Dr. Urbino passes away and Florentino seizes the
opportunity to admit his everlasting love towards Fermina, and aims to rekindle
their love that they had when they were young.

Evidence: One year after Urbino's death, Florentino attends the memorial mass in
the Doctor's honor. After the ceremony, Fermina, smiling, thanks him for coming.
Fermina reads Florentino's letters with interest, for they help her to overcome her
grief. When Fermina is desperate for her husband, she sees him, not as an
apparition, but as flesh and blood. Once Fermina feels she is capable of ruling the
house, she becomes close friends with Lucretia del Real del Obispo, who visits her
often. After receiving a handwritten letter from Florentino, Fermina asks Lucrecia
what she thinks of him.

Falling Action: Fermina, at first hesitant, accepts Florentino’s gesture and the two
begin to write each other often. They develop a close bond, and Fermina accepts an
invitation to a river cruise.
 Evidence: Fermina idolizes domestic animals and tropical flowers, though the doctor
has a strong aversion to both. At the start of the marriage, she owns many animals:
a vast array of dogs, cats, birds, and reptiles. Tragedy, however, intervenes when
one of the German Mastiffs, sick with rabies, attacks. The doctor and his wife have
no way of knowing which animals have been infected, and have no choice but to kill
and burn all of the surviving creatures, all but the tortoise, who is forgotten.

Ending: The way the author ends the story reflects the title of the novel and
symbolizes the theme of love as a sickness that Florentino endures through his life,
as the flag signals an outbreak of cholera, Florentino gives in to his love and is ready
to live the rest of his life with it, just as a sufferer of cholera would have to accept
their fate.

Evidence: The novel continues to compare love to an enduring plague in the final
chapter. So that Florentino and Fermina may at last be together, Florentino orders
the Captain to falsely announce that there is at least one passenger aboard the ship
who has been infected with cholera. When interpreted symbolically instead of
literally, this statement is mostly true. Florentino has been infected by a burning,
unshakable passion for Fermina since the day she rejected him in the Arcade of the
Scribes, a passion that has persisted much like a deadly plague of cholera.
Florentino is literally plagued by love; he suffers from lovesickness as one would
suffer from cholera, enduring both physical and emotional pains, and visible
symptoms of his illness. When the Captain raises the yellow flag of cholera to the
top of the ship's mast, his action is symbolic of Florentino's surrender to his disease.
At long last, Florentino has surrendered to Fermina's love, just as a sufferer of
cholera surrenders to death.

Theme: The title reflects the occurrences in the novel, as well as the motives and conflicts of the
characters: The plaque of love, Aging, Suffering for love.

Point of view