Fermina Daza and Dr. Juvenal Urbino’s son, who has not inherited his parents’ charisma and talent, is shy and seemingly unhappy. Instead of using modern medical ideas for the common good, like his father, he develops a theory about ostracizing old people from society. Although he justifies this scheme by saying that people should be spared the terror of growing old, such ideas highlight his callousness as well as his utter lack of compassion or intelligence, since he does not understand that his interlocutor, Florentino Ariza (who is already over 70), might be offended by these ideas. Dr. Urbino also proves socially conservative in considering that old people should not take part in romantic affairs, as his mother does with Florentino.