In "Love in the Time of Cholera,"" Garcia Marquez.
uses a love story to criticize the social inequities.
existing in Latino America. Moreover, he exposes the.
way that social institutions act together to keep the.
social inequities, and how the poor submit to their.
fortune without hope for change. .
The story takes place in Colombia at the end of.
the 19th century, in a Caribbean city next to a.
seaport. There are three major characters in the.
story. One of them is Florentino Ariza, a sentimental.
man whose excessive romanticism compels him to worship.
a woman that he hardly knows. At first sight he falls.
in love with Fermina Daza, a beautiful young girl, and.
later on he spends three years exchanging romantic.
letters with her; however, after returning from a long.
trip, she is disenchanted by Florentino's appearance.
and terminates the flirtation. Fermina Daza then meets.
Dr. Juvenal Urbino and ends up marrying him after a.
short engagement. Nevertheless, Florentino Ariza is.
already obsessed with her and waits over fifty years.
for her husband to die, so he can have a second.
opportunity.
Dr. Juvenal Urbino is a aristocratphysician who studies.
medicine in Europe and returnshome wanting to improve the.
sanitary conditions of the town in order to prevent another .
outbreak of cholera. .
The story itself develops in a society where the.
difference between social classes is evident. The city.
was once an important slave-trading center; the slave.
trading brought so much abundance to the town that.
many of the houses in the wealthy neighborhood are.
designed in a pretentious European style. However, the.
civil war and the abolition of the slavery system.
bring to an end the abundance of resources and the.
town falls into disgrace. The aristocracy holds to the.
memories of a glorious past that is long gone. In.
fact, after Dr. Juvenal Urbino returns from Europe, he.
is surprised by the way the aristocrats praise and.
talk about the greatness of the city, without paying.
