discussion questions - Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

  • 1. Why does García Márquez use similar terms to describe the effects of love and cholera?

    2. What literal and metaphoric functions does the cholera plague serve in this novel? What light does it shed on Latin American society of the nineteenth century? How does it change its characters' attitudes toward life?

    3. Fermina Daza breaks off her engagement to Florentino Ariza after she discovers that he is a “shadow.” She later marries Juvenal Urbino, even though she does not love him initially. What are her motives in leaving Florentino Ariza and marrying Juvenal Urbino?

    4. Do you think Fermina Fermina and Dr. Urbino had a good marriage? What was their marriage based on? Do you think they succeeded at "inventing true love" (p. 159)?

    5. Several times in the book, Florentino Ariza states that he loves Fermina Daza exclusively. Does this seem realistic, given the many love affairs he carries out during the fifty plus years that he is separated from Fermina Daza? How does this reconcile with his avowal that he can love more than one person at a time?

    6. Why does Florentino tell each of his lovers that she is the only one he has had?

    7. Why is Leona Cassiani "the true woman in [Florentino's] life although neither of them ever knew it” (p. 182) Why didn’t they ever have a relationship?

    8. Why does a change in Florentino's writing style make Fermina more receptive to him?

    9. Compare the suicide of Jeremiah de Saint-Amour at the beginning of the book with that of Florentino's former lover, América Vicuña at the end. How do their motives differ? Why does the author frame the book with these two events?

    10. The book begins with an outbreak of cholera, and ends with an outbreak of cholera. Similarly, the river plays a major role in the beginning and ending of the book. Are the cholera outbreak and the river symbols of something greater? If so, what are they symbols of?

  • 11. How do you feel about Dr. Juvenal Urbino’s characterization in the novel, did you think Marquez gave him a flattering portrayal?

    12. How about Florentino Ariza?

    13. Fermina Daza?