I find Love in the Time of Cholera to be a much more enjoyable read than The Sound and the Fury, though that should not take anything away from Faulkner’s work. The story line has been captivating enough that I usually have to force myself to not get ahead of the assigned reading. I thought that the discussion in class today was particularly interesting, and after listening to others and taking a little more time to reflect on the work, I have decided to write about my views on love in the story.
Starting in chronological order, Florentino is the first to fall in love just by laying eyes upon Fermina. Some people are skeptical as to whether or not he really loves her based on first glance, but I believe that if a person truly loves someone they will find out relatively quickly. Usually there is just something about a person that makes them attractive to someone else, and I think Florentino found it quickly. He seems really passionate about Fermina as can be seen through his letters written to her and the way he feels about her such as his willingness to die and endure jail time. Another interesting debate the class had is whether or not Florentino is obsessed with Fermina or really in love with her. In regards to pure romantic love, I believe that in order to truly love the other person you must be somewhat obsessed with him or her as is the case with Florentino. However, I do not believe Florentino takes his obsession to the extreme, and I applaud for him for his continued loyalty toward Fermina.
Next, I want to move on to Dr. Urbino because he is the exact opposite of Florentino. Florentino is proactive in his love, whereas Dr. Urbino is content to let his love grow over time. Personally, I do not like Dr. Urbino’s point of view and I am disappointed that he married her due to “some vanity on his part.” I think that he only likes her because she is beautiful, and he did not seem to have the same attraction towards her that Florentino had. I feel like he does not really deserve Fermina, and that she only marries him due to his social standing. Indeed Fermina does not really seem to like anything about him, and only gives into the marriage because he has been so persistent. I am glad to know that by the end of his life he can say he loves Fermina. In the end, the readers find out that he really did love Fermina, it’s just that he went about acquiring his love in a different way that Florentino. Neither way is right, but if my personal opinion, I prefer Florentino’s way, no matter how unrealistic and idealistic it may appear.
The biggest mystery in the story appears to be Fermina’s feelings. I really find it difficult to interpret who she loves. When she was with Florentino, she never really let herself go emotionally in her letters. I believe she began to grow more attracted towards him, but she never felt a strong emotional attachment as can be seen by the ease with which she breaks off the relationship. The same can be said about her relationship with Dr. Urbino. As mentioned above, she does not really give a good reason for marrying him, and it seems odd that she agrees to marry him at the height or her annoyance with him. It feels as if she just accepted his proposal just to get marriage out of the way so that her father and Dr. Urbino would not keep bothering her about it. During the marriage, I never got the sense that Fermina is as devoted to Dr. Urbino as he is to her. For example, she was ready to move out of the house due to a petty argument over soap. I am really interested in finding about more about Fermina and her interactions with Florentino after the death of Dr. Urbino. I feel that these interactions will give us a better understanding as to her true character.
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5 comments:
I really am impressed by your impressive blog Navdeep!
Nav(igating in)deep(waters)--Nearly every blog I've read in the last two days has had a comment from you before I got to it, so I thought I'd try your blog next, only to discover that Jenny beat me to that one. I've been joking with some of the people you've written comments to that I think you're trying to do my job for me. Actually I'm glad you're commenting; sometimes I get a little lonely being the only one.
Anyway, I think the novel is a good litmus test (sorry, science department) for our own ideas about love. Depending on whether we sympathize more with Florentino or with the relationship between the doctor and Fermina, we learn a bit about ourselves in the process, I think. (Personally, I'm with you in finding Florentino a mroe sympathetic character than some of your classmates do).
Depth charge--how the heck many comments did you write the other night? You certainly were busy. I like the way each one ends with a prediction about the reader's upcoming reactions to future scenes, although I can't tell if you yourself know what is contained in those future scenes. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed yourself in writing the comments half as much as I'm enjoying reading them.
Mr. Coon-I was writing college essays when I remembered that I needed to take a look at Andrew's poem. I had to comment on that piece of brilliance and then decided that commenting on people's blogs was more worthwhile than writing essays. I've only commented on people whose names I can remember and who have straightforward blog URLs.
I agree that Love in the Time of Cholera is more enjoyable than The Sound and the Fury.. I have not read either of them, but it's cool that Love in the Time of Cholera is dedicated to me.. of course.
p.s. your blogs may be written better than mine but my blog is prettier than yours :P
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