Study Questions and Suggested Essay Topics
Study Questions
Explain how the novel equates lovesickness with cholera. How is love comparable to illness?
Why does Florentino Ariza have sexual affairs with innumerable women? What is the allure of sex for Florentino when he is only in love with Fermina Daza? How does Rosalba influence his attitude towards sex?
Why does Fermina Daza reject Florentino Ariza on sight, after having been away on the long journey with her father, during which she longed for Florentino? What accounts for her sudden change of heart?
Suggested Essay Topics
Is Florentino Ariza madly in love or simply mad? Do his actions speak to the dangerous, compulsive obsession of a stalker or a madman? Or is he simply a dedicated lover?
Why does Florentino tell Fermina that he is still a virgin when he has had sexual affairs with countless other women?
Why does Fermina dislike Religion and the Church with such vehemence? Why is she enraged when Dr. Juvenal Urbino tells her that he has confessed his sins to the Archbishop?
What accounts for the common gossip that Florentino is a homosexual? Why does Florentino do nothing to prove that he is not?
What is the significance of "birds" in the novel? Likewise, what do (A) flowers and (B) water (rain, tears, the river), both reoccurring images throughout the text, represent?
