Love in the Time of Cholera: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

When Dr. Juvenal Urbino enters the house of his friend Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, he notices a bitter-almond smell and automatically associates it with unrequited love. Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, a refugee from the Antilles, committed suicide by inhaling gold cyanide, which produces the smell that Dr. Urbino notices. In the man’s dark bedroom, Dr. Urbino finds his friend’s dead body lying on his bed next to his dead dog. Dr. Urbino can immediately tell that Jeremiah is dead. He gently lifts the blanket that covers him and sees his friend’s naked, blue body, which seems to have aged 50 years, and his limp legs, which always forced him to use crutches. Dr. Urbino sighs that Jeremiah behaved foolishly, since the worst has already happened.

An 81-year-old man and the most famous physician in the city, Dr. Urbino makes use of his authority, telling the police inspector and the medical intern present that an autopsy is not needed, since cyanide was undoubtedly the cause of death. Noticing the intern’s disappointment at not being able to inspect the body, Dr. Urbino says that he will soon find someone who has killed himself out of love. He then realizes that this is the first suicide by cyanide he has ever witnessed that was not caused by the troubles of love.

Dr. Urbino, who is known to abide by civic rules, refuses to talk to the Archbishop so that Jeremiah might be buried in sacred religious ground. He counters the police inspector’s praise of Jeremiah by noting that, if Jeremiah was a saint, he could only be considered an “atheistic saint.” Confused by Jeremiah’s decision to kill himself for no reason he can yet perceive, Dr. Urbino examines his friend’s possessions, noticing an unfinished game of chess on his desk—one in which, very surprisingly, it can be seen that talented Jeremiah was going to be beaten in four moves by a chess master—and Dr. Urbino considers this a clue.

Dr. Urbino also notices an envelope on Jeremiah’s desk, addressed to Dr. Juvenal Urbino. He tears the envelope open and sees 11 sheets of paper, which he fervently reads. When he is done, he feels distraught, though he simply tells the inspector and young intern that the missive contains Jeremiah’s death wishes. Dr. Urbino then realizes that he is now bound to miss Pentecost Communion, which he has missed only two other times in his life. He concludes that God will understand. Dr. Urbino then plans to inform anyone who knew Jeremiah of his death. He aims to be done with such tasks in time to go to the luncheon that Dr. Lácides Olivella, one of his disciples, has organized.

Since the wild years of his youth, Dr. Urbino now follows a rigid routine and has acquired fame throughout the province for his medical capabilities. Dr. Urbino has always refused to prescribe medicine for old age, but in secret, he takes medicine to alleviate his own symptoms related to aging, such as vertigo and insomnia—“it [is] easier for him to bear other people’s pains than his own.” He even takes a medicine to alleviate his own fear of the negative effects of mixing too many different kinds of medicine.

Dr. Urbino’s daily routine consists of teaching a class at the Medical School every morning before having breakfast and lunch at home. Then, he reads books that booksellers in Europe send him and goes to visit his patients at their homes. At his old age, Dr. Urbino knows that patients mostly call on him in desperate situations, but he considers this to be a form of specialization. Dr. Urbino trusts in his medical instinct and insists that most medicine is harmful, and that once death has arrived, all a doctor can do is alleviate the patient’s suffering. His wife, Fermina Daza, knows his unchanging schedule so well that she can send him a message at a particular place if need be.

When Dr. Urbino was younger, he would spend time in the Parish Café after work to play chess. There, he met Jeremiah de Saint-Amour, to whom he soon became a protector, without inquiring what caused Jeremiah to become a refugee or to have crippled legs. He contributed financially to Jeremiah’s incipient career as a child photographer. Dr. Urbino did this because of his love for chess, a game in which Jeremiah was greatly superior. Jeremiah made Dr. Urbino progress and, over time, the two of them became good friends.

On his way home in a carriage, Dr. Urbino gives a quick glance to Jeremiah’s letter and tells the coachman to go to the old slave quarter. Returning to the letter, Dr. Urbino remains shocked by Jeremiah’s confessions but concludes that they reflect the folly of a man before death. Dr. Urbino almost never visits the old slave quarter. Inside his elaborate carriage, in which he still orders his coachman to wear a velvet uniform and a top hat—which some people consider cruel in Caribbean weather—Dr. Urbino observes the streets around him, near the evil-smelling marsh and slaughterhouse garbage. He is appalled to notice the fragile houses made of wooden boards and metal, the drunken noises wafting out from taverns on a Sunday, and the group of children running after the carriage.

When Dr. Urbino finally reaches his destination, he enters a decrepit house in which a biracial woman (referred to as a “mulatta”) opens the door. She invites him to sit down in her parlor, which reminds Dr. Urbino of a crowded antique shop in Montmartre. Dr. Urbino can tell from the woman’s grief-stricken attitude that he has nothing new to tell her: she already knows what happened to Jeremiah. The woman, Jeremiah’s lover, confirms that she was indeed with him before his death. Her words express warmth and gentleness that very closely resembled love.

Jeremiah and his lover had met in Port-au-Prince, and the woman later followed him to this city. Dr. Urbino does not understand why the two of them kept their relationship secret. Dr. Urbino had always assumed that Jeremiah’s disability affected his entire lower body and that he had no lover. She replies that it was Jeremiah’s wish, adding that secrecy made their relationship more intense—a model relationship, perhaps. Dr. Urbino is then astonished to realize from her narrative that she is the mysterious chess master whose moves he witnessed on Jeremiah’s desk. He blurts out a shocked compliment about it, but the woman replies that Jeremiah was already gloomily affected by the thought of his death and did not play with energy.

After the chess game, Jeremiah wanted to write a letter to the man he admired the most in his life and his closest friend, Dr. Juvenal Urbino, even though they were only linked by a mutual passion for chess. To Urbino’s consternation that Jeremiah’s lover knew of Jeremiah’s intentions, the woman replies that she would never have reported Jeremiah, out of love for him. She explains that Jeremiah planned to commit suicide at age 60 in order to avoid growing old, although this decision brought him despair. When Dr. Urbino mentions the dog, the woman says that she did not tie the dog as Jeremiah had instructed, but that the dog had clearly died anyway, because he did not want to run away.

Jeremiah had told his lover to remember him with a rose. The woman recalls that, the night before, she laid on Jeremiah’s bed during the long hours in which he wrote his difficult letter. Then, she made coffee and cut the rose that she now wears. Dr. Urbino is repulsed by her attitude, which he considers too indulgent and passive toward grief, utterly devoid of principles. The woman concludes that she will not go to Jeremiah’s funeral, according to his instructions, and will keep on living without respecting the local custom of staying inside the house. Instead, she will remain happy in this neighborhood, which she calls the “death trap of the poor.”

Dr. Juvenal reflects on this description on his way home, recalling the seedy neighborhood and its chaotic atmosphere, in which some of its oldest inhabitants still bear the mark of being branded as slaves. He notes that people in this neighborhood take part in wild, alcohol-fueled parties, which inject the old city with chaos, foul smells, and “new life.” Since the country’s independence from Spain and the abolition of slavery, old families and their houses have decayed in silence. Women hide their faces to protect themselves from the sun or whenever they go to mass. People take part in boring love affairs, devoid of passion. Overall, life in the city is pestilent; smells rise from the swamps and the streets, bringing death.

Dr. Juvenal Urbino realizes that the colonial city is far from his idealized memory of it, which sustained him in Paris. He recalls that in the 18th century, the city was a bustling center of commerce, thanks to the slave trade, as well as the residence of the Viceroys of Granada. In its heyday, the city once saw a ship leave the bay with a cargo full of precious stones, which an English ship attacked. According to legend, the ship sunk near the port with its treasures.

Dr. Urbino’s house is an ancient, large, and cool house, decorated in accordance with European taste. Its beauty and efficiency makes it obvious that the woman in charge of it, Fermina Daza, is highly competent. Of all the rooms in the house, Dr. Urbino’s library is the most magnificent. In general, the pleasant atmosphere in this house—which keeps its inhabitants cool and away from the sun—convinces onlookers that the couple living in it must be a happy one.

After Dr. Urbino’s morning visits, he returns home to rest before the luncheon organized by Dr. Lácides Olivella. There, Dr. Urbino sees the household staff trying to catch the household parrot, which has escaped to the highest branches of the mango tree. Dr. Urbino has taught the parrot, who’s lived with them for 20 years, French and Latin. The parrot often imitates the French songs he hears Urbino play, as well as the servants’ laugh when they hear him singing in a foreign language. This parrot has grown so famous that visitors from abroad come to the house to hear him. Once, though, when the president arrived, the parrot refused to sing, which made Dr. Urbino feel humiliated.

Despite his parrot’s exploits, Dr. Urbino hates animals. It is Fermina Daza, his 72-year-old wife, who adores them and has adopted various animals over the years—dogs, cats, a monkey, and more—until she filled the house with animals. Although Dr. Urbino, busy with work, was not much involved in the life of the house, he imagined at the time that, surrounded by so many animals, his wife must be incredibly happy. However, one day a German mastiff with rabies attacked and killed all the animals in the house, leaving a blood bath. After that incident, Dr. Urbino told his wife that he would accept nothing that does not speak in their house. Fermina Daza applied these words slyly and ultimately bought a royal parrot.

Dr. Urbino accepted Fermina’s trick and now finds the parrot’s progress exciting. The parrot occasionally pronounces sentences that he must have heard sailors utter. Once, he saved the family by imitating the loud barking of a dog to scare thieves away. Since then, Dr. Urbino has been taking care of him, though he and Fermina made sure to clip the parrot’s wings after he tried to escape. The parrot has escaped again this morning, though. After three hours of trying to cajole him into coming down, Dr. Urbino resolves to call the fire department, which he founded himself, creating a corps of professional firemen to handle accidents.

In the meantime, Fermina Daza dresses elegantly for the luncheon. Although her loose dress and high-heeled shoes may seem inappropriate for her age, the outfit fits the shape of her body perfectly. At the age of 72, Fermina appreciates the fact that corsets and other constraining articles of clothing are going out of fashion, because it allows her to feel that her body is free.

For many years now, Fermina has dressed Dr. Urbino—at first out of love and later out of necessity. The two of them have been married for 50 years and cannot imagine a life without each other. However, although they have developed a mutually dependent partnership over the years, they’ve never dared ask each other whether this partnership is based on love or on mere habit. Fermina has seen her husband’s memory and physical shape decline over the years, and now treats him like a “senile baby.”

The two of them have never realized that it is easier to maintain general stability in a marriage than to handle everyday problems. Once, the two of them fought because Dr. Urbino argued that he had spent a week washing without soap, whereas Fermina said that there had always been soap. In truth, there had been no soap for three days, not a week. In then end, after days of tension, Dr. Urbino finally caved in, admitting that there was soap. This allowed them to find peace again. The narrator also notes that Dr. Urbino is the first man Fermina ever heard urinate, an act that he has also struggled to maintain over time—and has finally given in to old age by sitting down on the toilet instead of standing.

On Pentecost Sunday, Dr. Urbino shares what he has discovered about Jeremiah de Saint-Amour with Fermina. He says that Jeremiah was condemned to a lifelong prison sentence in his original country for a crime including cannibalism. Fermina had always assumed that Dr. Urbino appreciated Jeremiah for his life in their country, not for his past, and does not understand her husband’s shock. She also argues that, instead of lacking principles, Jeremiah’s lover revealed the depth of her love for him. Frustrated, Dr. Urbino says that what bothers him is not Jeremiah’s past deeds but his duplicity. Fermina replies that, had Jeremiah not taken up a false identity, no one would have shown him love.

The two of them then head to their luncheon, the marriage anniversary between Dr. Lácides Olivella and his wife. At the party, Dr. Urbino is seated at a table with both Conservatives and Liberals. The Archbishop comments to Dr. Urbino that this is remarkable, given the civil wars that are ceaselessly affecting the country, but Dr. Urbino remarks to himself that Liberal and Conservative presidents are the same, except that the latter are better dressed. He also notes that these people’s identities are less political than a result of their family lineage, which always prevails over politics and war.

At the table, people mention Jeremiah de Saint-Amour’s death. Dr. Urbino invents a new word, saying that Jeremiah died of “gerontophobia,” and someone laments that this death was not for love. Dr. Urbino then shares his memories of Jeremiah with the Archbishop, speaking of the saintliness with which Jeremiah lived—a thought that shocks the Archbishop, who does not consider suicide compatible with saintliness. Dr. Urbino asks the Mayor to preserve a collection of Jeremiah’s photographs.

After the speeches have been made and everyone has eaten, Dr. Urbino Daza, Fermina and Juvenal’s son, finally arrives, saying that he was told his house was on fire. Fermina and her husband leave around that time to get ready for the funeral. At home, they discover that the firemen have destroyed the mango tree and sections of the house in their desperate (yet unsuccessful) efforts to catch the parrot. Dr. Urbino urinates in the garden, appreciating the smell of asparagus in his urine, and takes a nap.

When Dr. Urbino wakes up, he is moved by sadness, realizing that these are his final days. He knows that he is suffering from old age and, were it not for his religion, feels compelled to admit that Jeremiah’s idea to prevent old age is not necessarily a bad one. However, he also appreciates the sexual peace that old age has brought. While Fermina is cleaning up after the firemen, Dr. Urbino hears his beloved parrot call out. He walks out to insult him, and the parrot returns the insult.

Dr. Urbino then tries to catch the parrot, using a ladder to climb the tree, but the parrot consistently jumps one branch higher. After a while, a servant comes out and screams, realizing that Dr. Urbino is high up and could easily fall. At the same moment, Dr. Urbino reaches out to catch the parrot, but he suddenly feels the ladder fall beneath him and knows he is about to die, though he regrets doing so without taking Communion or saying goodbye to those he loves.

Hearing the servant’s scream and then the shouts of their neighbors, Fermina runs out screaming as well. She is deeply shocked to see Dr. Urbino lying on the ground and, when she approaches him, she sees that he is resisting death to talk to her. “Only God knows how much I loved you,” he tells her before dying.

Dr. Urbino’s funeral becomes a city-wide event. Dr. Urbino was famous in his country for his modern medical techniques, which he learned during his studies in Paris. The last cholera epidemic had killed his own father and, focused on eradicating cholera, Dr. Urbino organized the building of the first aqueduct and the modernization of the sewage system. He founded various societies, from medicine to language, as he believed in using progressive ideas throughout all aspects of society. He created the Center for the Arts and the annual Poetic Festival. He also restored the Dramatic Theater to introduce opera to the country. However, although he considered himself a moderator between Conservatives and Liberals, each group rejected him in its own way.

In life, some of Dr. Urbino’s concrete actions proved that he did not behave as an entrenched aristocrat: namely, his move to a nouveaux riches house, instead of his family palace, and his marriage to Fermina Daza, who belonged to the lower classes. Although high society initially scoffed at Fermina, they were later impressed by her superior elegance and personality.

Although Fermina is deeply grieved by Dr. Urbino’s death, she also demonstrates authority and self-control. She organizes the various details of her husband’s funeral and is careful to control her outward gestures so that they do not reveal the extent of her grief and anger at the world. When she sees her husband in the coffin, she tells him that they will see each other again soon.

At that scene, Florentino Ariza, a man in the crowd, feels a pang of emotion. He played an important role in smoothing over the various organizational details that followed Dr. Urbino’s death. His serious, efficient attitude impresses everyone around him and, although his status as a bachelor makes his natural charm suspicious, he feels that he had loved passionately and silently longer than anyone else. On the night of Urbino’s death, Florentino Ariza, the President of the River Company of the Caribbean, dresses as somberly and elegantly as he always does, even in the strong heat. He stays until the end of the funeral, completely soaked by rain, and returns home to rest, so as not to fall sick.

After Fermina has said goodbye to all her friends, she prepares to lock herself in her house when she sees Florentino Ariza standing by her door. Before she can say anything, Florentino tells her that he has been waiting his whole life to reiterate his vows of love to her. Convinced that Florentino is not crazy but is speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit, she tells him to leave at once and never return, concealing her anger with a neutral tone.

It is only after Fermina hears Florentino leave that the full weight of her husband’s death affects her. She cries, realizing, as she lies in bed, that she has not slept alone since losing her virginity. Everything around her reminds her of her husband, fueling her tears, and she finally falls asleep in a daze. She cries in her sleep, but when she awakes, she realizes that she thought more about Florentino than about her late husband last night.