How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
The truth is that Dr. Juvenal Urbino's suit had never been undertaken in the name of love, and it was curious, to say the least, that a militant Catholic like him would offer her only worldly goods: security, order, happiness, contiguous numbers that, once they were added together, might resemble love, almost be love. But they were not love, and these doubts increased her confusion, because she was also not convinced that love was really what she most needed to live. (4.117)
Fermina makes the decision to marry Dr. Urbino based on what he can provide for her, not on how she feels about him. This seems unromantic, but it makes her happy.
Quote #11
They were together in silence like an old married couple wary of life, beyond the pitfalls of passion, beyond the brutal mockery of hope and the phantoms of disillusion: beyond love. For they had lived together long enough to know that love was always love, anytime and anyplace, but it was more solid the closer it came to death. (6.221)
Towards the end of the novel, García Márquez's representation of love only gets more complex. It seems like the lovers gain a more solid understanding of what love is based on their many years of experience. What does it mean to be "beyond love," though? The author leaves us with a lot of questions.