LEXICON VOLUME 2 Number 1, April 2013 Page 1 - 11 CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF FLORENTINO ARIZA AS SEEN IN GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ’S LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA Mala Hernawati INTISARI Florentino Ariza adalah karakter utama dalam sebuah novel karya Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera. Karakter utama tersebut mengalami perubahan dari lelaki muda yang polos menjadi seorang lelaki yang tidak senonoh. Perubahan ini disebabkan oleh cintanya pada seorang wanita bernama Fermina Daza. Nasib harus membuatnya menunggu lebih dari setengah abad hingga akhirnya ia mendapatkan cintanya. Artikel ini menghasilkan beberapa kesimpulan. Pertama, Florentino Ariza memenuhi kriteria sebagai perpadu- an dari dynamic character dan round character. Kedua, Florentino tergolong dalam kelompok melankolis dan terdapat dua faktor atas perubahan kepribadiannya: mabuk cinta dan godaan dari lingkungannya. Kata kunci: karakter, perkembangan, mabuk cinta, perubahan, kepribadian ABSTRACT Florentino Arriza is the main character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, Love in the Time of Cholera. This main character experiences the change from an innocent young man to become an indecent man. This change is mainly caused by his love to a woman named Fermina Daza. Destiny makes him wait for more than half a century to finally win her love. This article results in several conclusions. First, Florentino Ariza fits the criteria of the combination of the dynamic and round characters. Second, he belongs to the group of Melancholy. In addition, there are two factors for his personality changes: lovesickness and environmental temptation. Keywords: character, development, lovesickness, change, personality INTRODUCTION someone who is very unpredictable in the sto- Love in the Time of Cholera is written ry. His effort, his madness, and his patience to by Gabriel Jose Garcia Marquez, a Nobel wait for his lover for more than half a century Prize winning author, some of whose works are amazing. In addition, the obstacles that the are phenomenal. It is one of his best-seller characters face in winning their love and how novels. This novel is strongly influenced by they dealing with those obstacles are interest- the social condition of Columbia around ing to explore. 1980s when cholera spreads out in this South This novel has a complexity of themes: American country. It is originally written in love, aging, and death. Below is a statement Spanish with the original title El Amor En Los supporting the complexity of themes in the Tiempos Del Colera. It was firstly published novel. in its original version in 1985. Its English ver- Love in the Time of Cholera is an “anato- sion was published in 1988. my” of love. One of its most ingenious portray- This novel is chosen as the object of the als (in an anatomical and a visionary sense) is study because of several reasons. The char- the growth of love out of the profane envi¬rons acters in this novel are very impressive. Each of “convenience.” All the meaningless details of everyday life shared by two people bound character is presented with a strong charac- together (all the un-pleasant smells, degrading terization especially the main character, Flor- tasks, and dulling routines; all the unspoken entino Ariza. This character is described as bitterness and rancor; all the sullenness and 1 LEXICON, Volume 2, Number 1, April 2013 gloom engendered by unlived possibilities) are indecent character based on the stages of his unmerci¬fully catalogued. (http://www/GAR- character development (b) finding out the fac- CIA/ marquez.htm DOD May 4th 2011,11.55 tors that influence Florentino’s character de- PM) velopment. As stated above, this novel is an anato- my of love, which means that it presents many THEORIES ON CHARACTER AND elements of love (passion, craziness, affec- CHARACTERIZATION tion, relationship etc.) and many kinds of love Abrams explains that characters are the (requited love, unrequited love, first love, true persons in a literary work that have moral and love etc.). The citation above states that the dispositional qualities, which are the natural growth of love out of the normal convention qualities of a person’s character. becomes one theme that is strongly found in the story. Characters are the persons presented in a Through its plot, this novel is capable dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and of showing the irony that is perhaps consid- dispositional qualities that are expressed in what ered as a strange happening that is impossible they say – the dialogue – and by what they do to happen, but which truly happens. The lives – the action. The grounds in a character’s tem- of the characters, especially the main charac- perament and moral nature for his speech and ter, are far from the ideal life that people used actions constitute his motivation. (1971:20) to figure out. Moreover, there are many life However, in some fictions, the charac- lessons that the readers can absorb from this ters may not be persons, Griffith (1986) states novel especially in how to deal with love. that they can be aliens, animals, or artificial The discussion in this article is limited intelligences. Inanimate objects are up to the to the character of Florentino as one of the task as well, though they require the author major characters. Because the analysis will giving them human abilities and psychologi- only focus on the intrinsic elements in the cal traits. Since the actors in a story are usual- novel, the Objective Approach is considered ly human, in his book, Foster (1953) is likely as the most appropriate approach to be applied to entitle the discussion of characters with the in this study. term ‘people’. The Objective Approach is also known Foster (1953) also introduces the popu- as Intrinsic Approach because the primary lar terms to distinguish two forms of charac- focus of this approach is on the intrinsic ele- ters, flat and round character. A flat character ments of a work of art as stated by Abrams is built around “a single idea or quality” and below : presented in an outline and without much indi- …the ‘objective orientation,’ which on vidualizing detail, and can be fairly adequate- principle regards the work of art in isolation ly described in a single phrase or sentence. A from all these external points of reference, ana- round character, on the other hand, is complex lyzes it as a self-sufficient entity constituted by in temperament and motivation and is repre- its part in their internal relations, and sets out to judge it solely by criteria intrinsic to its own sented with subtle particularity; thus he is as mode of being. (1971:26) difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in real life, and, like most people, he This article focuses on (a) studying the is unpredictable and capable of surprising the character development of Florentino Arriza readers. throughout the plot by focusing on the trans- Furthermore, Abrams (1971) states that formation of his innocent character into an a character may remain essentially “stable,” 2 Character Development Of Florentino Ariza As Seen In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love In The Time Of Cholera or unchanged in his outlook and dispositions, in the novel. Because of that, Galen’s theory from the beginning to the end of the work, is chosen as the guidance to classify the per- or he may undergo a radical change, either sonality of the characters. As Cocoris presents through a gradual development or as the re- in his review, Claudius Galen is popular with sult of an extreme crisis. His ideas are sup- his Four Temperament Theory that classifies ported by Griffith (1986). Who classifies char- human’s temperaments into four categories: acters into two groups of characters, dynamic Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic, and Mel- and static characters. Dynamic characters are ancholy. (Taken from http://www.zephyrus. characters that change significantly during the co.uk/galen.html on Wednesday, March 07, story. The changes include the change in in- 2012 at 03.03 pm). The elaboration of the four sight, commitment, values, circumstance, and categories of human temperaments are as fol- all the changes that result in some changes low: within the character’s self. On the other hand, a. The Choleric is an extroverted, hot-tem static characters are characters that do not ex- pered, quick thinking, active, practical, perience significant changes throughout the strong-willed and easily annoyed person. story. Whether a character remains the same The choleric is self confident, self-suffi or changes, the readers require “consistency” cient and very independent minded. They in a character – he should not suddenly break tend to leave little room for negotiation. off and act in a way not plausibly grounded in The choleric is a visionary and seems to his temperament as the readers already have never run out of ideas,plans and goals, come to know it. which are usually very practical. They Characterization is the action or pro- are slow to build relationship because cess of characterizing. It is the way an author results tend to be more important than presents characters. In direct presentation, a people. They do not easily empathize character is described by the author, the nar- with the feelings of others or show rator or the other characters. In indirect pres- compassion. Choleric people think big entation, a character's traits are revealed by and seek positions of authority. action and speech. (http://academic.brooklyn. b. The Sanguine is an extroverted, fun-lov- cuny. edu/english DOD March 7, 2012, 2.04 ing, activity-prone, impulsive, entertain- PM). It can be said that characterization is ing, persuasive, easily amused, and opti- the process of creating and developing charac- mistic person.