Politics, Deception, and Absurdity
“Death Constant Beyond Love” centers on Senator Onésimo Sánchez, a politician who’s campaigning for reelection in Rosal del Virrey, a small island town. Rosal del Virrey is dried up, impoverished, and crime-ridden, but the senator’s campaign focuses on masking reality and making outlandish promises rather than proposing practical solutions to the town’s problems. For instance, his political aides create a “world of fiction” by paying people to inflate the size of the crowd at…
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Isolation and Powerlessness
The characters in “Death Constant Beyond Love” who do not have any sense of power or control over their lives feel a deep solitude and isolation. Senator Onésimo Sánchez—who’s come to the impoverished town Rosal del Virrey as part of a reelection campaign—has a great deal of power politically (he has been in office for at least twelve years), financially (his campaign is well-funded, and he has a rotating array of linen and silk…
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Death, Nature, and Inevitability
Death and nature loom large in “Death Constant Beyond Love,” both as things that cannot be avoided or defeated. García Márquez emphasizes death’s presence by acknowledging in the first sentence that the protagonist, Senator Onésimo Sánchez, has “six months and eleven days to go before his death.” The senator chooses to tell no one of his illness, either out of fear, stubbornness, or both, and he goes about his political business as though he…
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