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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The novel is set in a Caribbean port city modeled closely on Cartagena, Colombia, where Gabriel García Márquez himself was born. The city’s atmosphere is defined by its sweltering heat, heavy humidity, and constant threat of disease, which together form not just a backdrop but a living, oppressive presence throughout the story. Cholera outbreaks periodically strike the community, making illness and mortality an unavoidable fact of daily life, while also reinforcing the novel’s recurring association between love, passion, and sickness. The climate itself seems to shape the characters’ experiences of longing and desire, with feverish heat echoing Florentino’s obsessive love and the languid atmosphere mirroring the decades of waiting that structure the plot.
Related Themes:
