Monday, December 3, 2007

Love Bites

The relationships and intimate relations that Florentino Ariza partakes in play a large part in the theme of the novel because it shows how physical love is only a temporary solution to a broken heart.
Young Florentino, at a naïve part in his early life swore his virginity to be taken only by his true love, Fermina Daza; however, he quickly learns that promiscuity can temporarily curb his pain. Though there are many women in Florentino’s life, 622 to be more precise, there are only a few that are significant enough in his formation as a character to be mentioned in the novel. The first of these women has no name or face to be known, but she is the one who took Florentino’s naivety away and created a man disloyal to even his own promises. This began the promiscuity of Florentino that encompassed his whole life. It is very important to the reader that this women is to remain nameless and faceless because it shows that the relations that Florentino will partake in from this moment on will be solely physical for the most part and hopelessly loveless. Her anonymousness brings the reader to comprehend that these physical relationships are ephemeral and unimportant to the character but they seem to temporarily relieve his life-long need for Fermina so that he can ease his pain in daily life. While his naivety was lost, his pain was seemingly eased, but the reader understands that these relationships are fleeting and unimportant in the long stretch of Florentino’s life.
In contrast, there was one relationship that did affect Florentino’s love life that was not in the least part promiscuous, and this may be the reason why the relationship was beneficial for Florentino. Leona Cassiani became a very influential woman in Florentino Ariza’s life for many reasons. She was one of the only women other than Fermina Daza that Florentino began to have true romantic feelings for. This may stem from the fact that Leona was one of Florentino’s only friends and he felt comfortable around her and was able to talk to her. Another reason she was very important in his life is because she is the only woman that he had feelings for which whom he never laid in bed. This is significant because the reader can see that physical relationships are not what attract Florentino to women, it is the personality and love that Florentino needs women for but he tends to get into bed with women regularly in order to save his true love for a woman who does not love him for his skills in bed. Leona is a demonstration to the reader that Florentino truly is a romantic, and that, while he does partake in promiscuous activities, his internal goal is to strive for a true love with a person that is his friend and emotional partner rather than a play thing to take to bed.
The women portrayed in the novel bring light to the truth behind the character we readers know as Florentino Ariza. From these women we learn that he is sensitive and romantic but yearning for a way to curb the pain of a heart break that was never cured. While he seems to trudge along every day in order to win the heart of his one true love, he partakes in promiscuous activities in order to forget his love as well. In a sence this seems ironic but mentally, the reader can see into the mind of a lovesick martyr-of-a-man who simply wants to hide his pain or overcome it by winning the one he loves. Florentino is a true romantic who only partakes in physical love to ease the pain that he has been experiencing for such a long period of time (630).