Friday, October 28, 2011

Killer Character Blogfest -- Challenge #3: Antagonist

El Amor En Los Tiempos Del Colera (Love In Times of Cholera, or Love In The Time of Cholera)

Florentino Ariza met Fermina Daza one slow afternoon when she raised her head from a book and met his eyes, "and that look was the origin of a cataclysm of love that half a century later hadn’t yet finished." [My translation]

For fifty-one years, nine months and four days, Florentino and Fermina would not speak privately.  Love arose through letters and chaperoned walks in a park, a love of expected vibrancy given their youth.  But Fermina would soon realize that she’d fallen in love with Love itself, that Florentino was not anything she’d thought he was, and she’d dismiss him from her life to marry a man more in line with her station.

But Florentino did not give up.  He waited patiently, with a debauchery that never threatened the purity of his love for Fermina, for half a century.  The opportunity finally comes, but…  They’re too old, Fermina says.  Florentino’s patience isn’t exhausted and soon, in spite of her disparaging protests, she begins to admit there might still be time for love.  Love, after all, is love regardless of the time or the age.  But it becomes denser the closer one is to death.

Time is the antagonist.  Time is what threatens: Florentino must outlive Fermina’s husband.  Age—evidence of Time’s passage—threatens to make everything pointless.  In the end Florentino thinks he wins: Time, so long against him, is now his ally--not just because proximity to death has intensified everything, but also because the half-century interlude flew them over the trials of love turned routine.  And now…  Now they need only each other.  But Time won't stop, not even on that drifting riverboat with a cholera flag raised.  We're left with the sensation that, however well-lived, their days together will not be many.



8 comments :

  1. Oh, what an interesting choice, I love it. I have never read this book, but it's always been on my TBR list. This post reminds me again that I really need to read it!

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  2. Time is against all of us, isn't it? I love your choice, especially for this book. Thanks so much for participating!

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  3. Nice to see someone choosing a non-human (and indeed a non-tangible) antagonist.

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  4. Glad to see you stopped by, guys :) I'm curious to see everyone else's antag choices. This one was tough. Julie, I cannot recommend this book enough. I read it like 25 years ago (I'm dating myself... I don't really care, actually), and I reread it once a year or thereabouts. Every time--every single time--I find something new, something that keeps the experience fresh. It's SO not a love story, but it took me years to figure it out, it's that good. C.B., thanks for your appreciation :) It wasn't easy--took me half a day to draft the post (*blush*).

    Emily, thank you (and Deana) so much for hosting this blogfest. It's the most fun I've had since I started blogging in June of this year. I look forward to any other ideas the two of you come up with.

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  5. This was my favorite post in the whole hop. The way you told the story was lovely, and then I got goosebumps when you said that time was the antagonist. Because it's so often true! It was such a creative take on the question, and you presented it perfectly. Well done!

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  6. What a beautiful post, and another reason I need to read this book!

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  7. Your choices have been so well thought out! This one is so good. Who doesn't think time is fighting against their goal? Perfect:)

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  8. I'm so glad you enjoyed this post :) I've so enjoyed this blogfest... The other choices were also fantastic!

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