Coping with Change and Magic Realism - Essay Example

Coping with Change and Magic Realism Coping with change is difficult. It usually takes courage and patience to accept change and continue with life’s struggles. However, for many people who lived in the earlier days, coping with change necessitates denial and fantasy. In the novel, “Love in the Time of Cholera,” Gabriel García Márquez shows different ways of coping with change through Magic Realism. Using characterization and plot, the author reveal ways to confront reality by seeing it in an angle popular during his time. The beginning of the novel itself illustrates the theme of refusal to change. The suicide of Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, a friend of Dr. Urbino, implies the fear of aging, hence the fear of change. Jeremiah kills himself and his dog so that he will not go through the pains of aging. His fear may be inexplicable to some but it demonstrates the tendency of people to refuse change. Most of the characters also show the fear of change because they want to cling to a more beautiful part of their life, which existed in the past or when they were young. For instance, Dr. Urbino in his youth is successful and well-respected. Although he is still respected in his profession, he realizes that his strength is failing and he is not as strong as before. His fear of change is mainly illustrated in his denial of change. During the luncheon, he comments that a “Liberal president was exactly the same as a Conservative president…” This dialogue shows the tendency of Urbino to deny change as he likes to see two people bearing the same qualities despite their highly opposing characteristics. The idea of permanent change only occurs to him as he sees his friend Jeremiah dies. Dr. Urbino refuses to face up to the fact of aging. He takes pills to slow down the aging process in spite of his disapproval to this behavior, for that he wants to stay happy for long. Moreover, Dr. Urbino is also afraid of the changes in his society. He sees the modernization everyday in front of him, along with the outbreak of Cholera but still clings to conservative and traditional ways. For instance, he visits his patients to cure them instead of asking them to come to where his clinic is. The inability of Dr. Urbino to accept change is further illustrated in his inability to face reality. In the novel, it is not made clear if he is aware of his antagonistic role to the love between Fermina and Florentino. However, it is suggested by the line, “the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love”(3). Comparing the bitter scent of almonds to unrequited love means that Dr. Urbino feels that he can never win Fermina despite making her his wife. If he actually feels this towards his wife, then Dr. Urbino’s character can be seen as a hypocrite for he pretends to be happy and content despite the void he feels. Florentino Ariza’s character is the total opposite of Florentino. Unlike the doctor, Florentino is not afraid of aging. He loses his teeth and hair but still remains sexually active. In the novel, Ariza leaves his mistress upon hearing the bell of Dr. Urbino’s death. This illustrates how promiscuous he has become. Nevertheless, the changes around him do not affect his feelings for Fermina. Instead, they make his feelings more exuberant to the point that Fermina gets offended by his advances for the second time. Indeed, the gesture of Florentino is a bit too forward for someone who has just lost her husband but the gesture only illustrates that like cholera, Florentino’s love should not be ignored. Florentino Ariza also detests change but does not deny it. This is why he clings to his old feelings for Fermina Daza. Despite the long years of waiting, Florentino still feels passionately about Fermina. His feelings transcend through time even though it is unrequited. His refusal to change leads him to be trapped in his love for Fermina, thus his feelings are metaphorically compared to the epidemic cholera. Like Cholera, Florentino’s feelings are deadly. His refusal to accept change leads him to stillness of mind and feelings or worst, emotional death. On the first time Fermina rejects him, he experiences dying. When Fermina leaves for her honeymoon with Dr. Urbino, Florentino never expects her to return again. The second time Florentino proposes and experiences rejection doubles the emotional death he feels. The way he dresses in black symbolize the emotional death he feels. Unlike Dr. Urbino, Florentino does not deny change but suffers from its consequences. He does not totally accept his misfortunes but attempts to do so by putting his attention on other matters. For instance, he pursues Olympia and other women to consume his passion for Fermina. However, his elicit love affairs only imply his suppressed feelings for Fermina. When he finds out about Dr. Urbino’s death, Florentino immediately confesses his love for Fermina. This part of the novel shows Florentino’s way of reacting to change, which is different from that of Fermina. The character of Fermina is perhaps the most realistic in the story. She serves as the average person that balances between the conservatism of Dr. Urbino and the modernism of Florentino. In Fermina’s character, readers see a positive female personality in that she has lived a good life and has remained true to her husband until the end even though she has feelings for Florentino. Unlike the two, she is capable of accepting and facing reality. She decides to marry Urbino, thinking she could have a better future with him. This attitude shows her strength to accept change around her. Moreover, she adopts to family life and succumbs to reading to while away time instead of thinking or feeling nostalgic about Florentino. Although there are times she seems to miss him, she knows how to control herself and stay true to her husband. Fermina shows a little inability to accept change when she rejects Florentino for the second time. However, this is only momentary, and is expected of every widow. Nevertheless, she gives Florentino a second chance, thus demonstrates once again her ability to adopt to change. The ghost of Dr. Urbino waving at her at the end may be Fermina’s own imagination and her own way of freeing herself. Thinking how they have aged, Fermina accepts Florentino’s proposal because she does not want to be left behind. Change as an inevitable aspect of life is likewise imparted in the novel. Dr. Juvenal Urbino’s steps are full of uncertainty, “his mood changes” and “the gaps in his memory, his recent habit of sobbing while he slept all show his aging” (22). Meanwhile, Florentino Ariza is toothless and hairless and Fermina Daza “has “the sour smell of old age” (335). The appearances of the characters testify the changes they underwent. However, the physical sense is not equated with the emotional feelings they hide inside. As seen in the end, Florentino and Fermina’s love never fades for each other. The ways of the characters in dealing with change demonstrate Garcia Marquez’s use of Magic Realism. Using the character of Urbino, Garcia Marquez demonstrates the idea of coping with change by denying it. He faces reality by clinging onto the magic of love, which he only forms in his mind but does not actually exist. Likewise, there is Magic Realism in Florentino’s coping with change. He remains in love with Fermina through all the years they are apart. The love surprisingly remains despite all the women he sleeps with and despite old age. It is too romantic to think that the two, in their sixties, would still feel passionate about each other, to the point of proposing love, missing each other, going on a cruise, etc. Magic Realism is likewise seen in the character of Fermina as she goes back to old ways of seeing operas, daydreaming or thinking about Florentino and his proposal, etc. despite having raised kids with Dr. Urbino. The Magic Realism employed in the novel may, for modern readers, seem unexcused. As Verma (1) claims, “the problem here is that anything which seems uncanny or unfamiliar to Western eyes becomes "magic", while to a native of that culture the events or ways of thinking so described are real.” Reading the novel from the old readers’ perspective, magic may still be true. Readers of Garcia Marquez’s time may be moved by the second proposal of Florentino but not modern readers because for modern readers, the love of Florentino is selfish, deadly and insane. Leaving his partner as he hears about the death of his opponent to propose love for Fermina can be seen as an act of selfishness. Likewise, writing his claim on the bosom of Olympia is rude and stupid, knowing that the woman is married to another guy. In sum, the promiscuousness of Florentino are in no ways signs of immortal love. In fact, the Magic Realism attached to the character of Dr. Urbino may be more felt by modern readers in consideration of his unrequited love. Works Cited Garcia Marquez. “Love in the Time of Cholera.” Trans. Edith Grossman. New York: Vintage Books, 1988. Print. Verma. Raj Gaurav. “Magic Realism and the Theme of Love in ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’.” The Criterion, Vol.4 Issue 2 (2013): 1-13. Web. Read More