Loyalty in Love in The Time of Cholera

When one thinks of loyalty, they usually conjure up an image of a dog and his master; the dog, following and doting on its master, willing to give up its life to protect him. In the book, “Love in the Time of Cholera” written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, many examples of Loyalty are shown. The book starts out with the character Dr. Juvenal Urbino finds out that his friend, Jeremiah de Saint- Amour has committed suicide and left Dr. Urbino a letter with his final instructions. Dr. Urbino dutifully skips out on Mass to make sure his friend’s final wishes are fulfilled. Upon arriving in the location his friend expressed in the letter, he meets Jeremiah’s mistress, Barbara Lynch. Marquez shows the reader the theme of loyalty through the use of diction, imagery, and similes.

The use of diction communicates the theme of loyalty in many ways. One such example being when Jeremiah’s mistress, Barbara tells Dr. Urbino why she helped Jeremiah commit suicide. “Dr. Urbino already realized how completely he would repudiate the memory of that irredeemable woman, and he thought he knew why: only a person without principles”(Marquez 16). Dr. Urbino’s horror at Barbra’s cold manner of handling death, makes him feel offended, and it seems the doctor is trying to protect his friend’s memory, showing how much he cares about his friend, and would never let him be disgraced.. The use of word choice in this quote shows how strongly the doctor feels about this woman’s seemingly lack of love for his friend. Another example of diction is, “ “For the city, his city, stood unchanging on the edge of time: the same burning dry city of his nocturnal terrors, and the solitary pleasures iof puberty where flowers rusted and salt corroded, where nothing had happ...

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...nd her ear” (Marquez 15) apprises how Dr. Urbino feels about his friend’s lover. One could infer that because the doctor describes her with, “serpent eyes” that he sees her as a predator, and that she took advantage of his friend and didn’t actually love him as she claims. This description affirms the doctor’s loyalty to his friend because he detests this woman for not treating his friend as well as she should have. Both the usages of similes helped Marquez compare things the doctor loved, and things the doctor hated while providing clear understanding of the objects and subjects used.

Marquez effectively conveyed the theme of loyalty while using diction, imagery, and similes, without compromising the flow or structure of the text. Using a human as well as an object gave variety and increased the interest level of the text, while adding an enjoyable mood.

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