Death Constant Beyond Love
Writing Assignment #2
27 April 2011
Death Constant Beyond Love Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “Death Constant Beyond Love” depicts the vulnerability and helplessness of a human when dealing with two of the most enigmatic parts of life. The background of corruption, poverty, and the political campaign become rather insignificant to the broader themes of love and death. Marquez expresses the confusion, power and diversity that come with the feeling of love and how ever changing it can be. These emotions are portrayed through the wealthy senator, Onesimo Sanchez. His love for Laura Farina becomes a means for him to sublimate his fear of death into sensual passion. However, his demise is inevitable, and he is left lonely and defeated, as death is one of the only constants in life. Marquez was born in Colombia in 1928, and raised by his maternal grandparents. He attributes his unique writing style to his childhood experiences, and various stories his grandparents would tell him. His grandmother often told him fantastic stories, and usually didn’t pay much attention to details. This characteristic of leaving out seemingly important details sometimes forces the story’s development to be left up to the reader’s imagination. The recurring image of a military veteran abused from various experiences is a loosely based character that resembles his grandfather; he was a colonel who served on the liberal side of the Colombian civil war. His old war stories shaped Marquez’s political and ideological views, which explains his opposition to the Colombian literary status quo. Marquez’s socialist and anti- imperialistic style can be found in a large majority of his work. Reality is also an important theme he likes to illustrate, usually resembling his Latin American society. This sense of reality mixed in with fantastic elements creates what he is most famous for, a style called “magical realism.” All of these styles can be found in “Death Constant Beyond
27 April 2011
Death Constant Beyond Love Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, “Death Constant Beyond Love” depicts the vulnerability and helplessness of a human when dealing with two of the most enigmatic parts of life. The background of corruption, poverty, and the political campaign become rather insignificant to the broader themes of love and death. Marquez expresses the confusion, power and diversity that come with the feeling of love and how ever changing it can be. These emotions are portrayed through the wealthy senator, Onesimo Sanchez. His love for Laura Farina becomes a means for him to sublimate his fear of death into sensual passion. However, his demise is inevitable, and he is left lonely and defeated, as death is one of the only constants in life. Marquez was born in Colombia in 1928, and raised by his maternal grandparents. He attributes his unique writing style to his childhood experiences, and various stories his grandparents would tell him. His grandmother often told him fantastic stories, and usually didn’t pay much attention to details. This characteristic of leaving out seemingly important details sometimes forces the story’s development to be left up to the reader’s imagination. The recurring image of a military veteran abused from various experiences is a loosely based character that resembles his grandfather; he was a colonel who served on the liberal side of the Colombian civil war. His old war stories shaped Marquez’s political and ideological views, which explains his opposition to the Colombian literary status quo. Marquez’s socialist and anti- imperialistic style can be found in a large majority of his work. Reality is also an important theme he likes to illustrate, usually resembling his Latin American society. This sense of reality mixed in with fantastic elements creates what he is most famous for, a style called “magical realism.” All of these styles can be found in “Death Constant Beyond