Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
There are some novels that start slowly, and build up momentum as we progress through the story. And there are others that start with a bang. ‘Of love and other demons’ is definitely in the latter category.
The books opens with a letter from Marquez on how he came upon the story. On a routine round to cover a story for his newspaper, the author is sent to find out about the emptying/transportation of crypts of Santa Clara Convent, which is in a dilapidated state. He comes across an astonishing sight when after one of the crypts is open, they see copper colored hair on a skeleton head. It was as if the hair grew after death out of the skeleton. The author is reminded of a story that his grandmother had told him about a young girl with long hair, who got bitten by a dog, became mad and was later venerated as a saint since she performed miracles.
From the get go, when “an ash gray dog with a white blaze”, charges into a market and bites the protagonist, a young girl who is the daughter of a local nobleman, the novel transports the reader to a different place in a different era, and doesn’t let go. Till the last page, we’re intrigued by what is going to happen and are rooting for Sierva Maria to come out of the whole ordeal victorious.
I’d always wanted to read Marquez. I’d heard about this famous book ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ in high school or college, as a quiz question or may be it was a crossword puzzle on The Hindu. It was at the back of my mind. I read the prologue of this book our local library and was totally hooked. It was a worth read. AK also read the book. She also bought ‘One Hundred Years’. Haven’t gotten to reading that yet though.
In short, the novel is about a young girl getting bitten (very small bite) by a dog. She is actually not affected but due to the rumours and superstitions, she is forced to undergo exorcism by many people. Finally is brought to a convent. The young priest there falls in love with the girl. Though he recommends that she is not mad, the authorities don’t listen. It ends tragically for all the ‘good’ people in the book.
What is good and not good is often a gray area. If you follow society’s norms and act in the way it expects, then you’re branded as good. The religious fanaticism that existed in the 17th century South America exists even today, almost everywhere in the world.
The novel explores many themes, and one of them is the fight between good and evil. One could say that the ‘good’ is the truth and everything that is natural in the world. The ‘evil’ is dogma and superstition that plagued the society during that time period. A strong belief in demons and reliance on hearsay, made the people around Sierva Maria see her differently than what she really was. She was just a 12 year old adolescent who was coming out of childhood into adulthood. She was also a victim of neglect by her parents. Her Yoruban beliefs, songs, dances, painting her face black, etc. were part of her growing up and it was natural for her. But it was tangential to her European parents or the Church.
In a way, the novel conveys that going against the confines of the present norms can sometimes work, or sometimes go awry. When a new idea upends an old one, it is many times because of myriads of factors that led to that time. Though people always venerate heroes who led the revolution without realizing that the people were the instruments and the revolution would have happened regardless of that particular person.
Also, I think the novel depicts that the conflict between good and evil is a human condition. Though we could judge the people based on our moral compass and group them as good vs evil, every person is fighting the battle against evil. What he or she thinks is evil could be based on his/her level of intelligence or what they’ve been told. It is not just the external evil but also the internal one. The internal conflict sometimes manifests externally by being too good to people or too cruel. So a human life’s journey is about fighting their own battle with their hidden evil and also fighting the external forces of evil from their standpoint.
The novel also alludes to the fact that people may not fully be in control of their destiny. One can only attempt to be true to oneself and hope that it aligns with the surroundings.