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In Love in the Time of Cholera, the reader is able to observe the characters for their entire lives. The reader can compare and contrast how characters acted in their youth and how they acted in old age. The novel is therefore able to show many bias opinions against old people. In the final section of the novel, the reader observes many of the stereotypes that elderly people are physically and mentally limited.

Bias against old people is observable through Florentino because in the final chapter he is incapable of doing many of things he could do in his youth. When Florentino receives Fermina’s second reply, he is shocked by the vicious prose she uses in her letter. Florentino is so heartbroken by the fact that they will not have an immediate reconnection that he “lies in bed more dead than a dead man.” In comparing Florentino to a dead man, Gabriel Garcia Marquez makes it clear that Florentino is no longer as physically or mentally capable as he once was. Where a younger Florentino would probably have gone to see Fermina after reading this letter, the elderly Florentino simply lies in bed rereading this letter over and over again. By thinking about the letter constantly, Florentino is mentally unable to deal with the letter. By staying in bed all day, Florentino is emotionally unable to deal with the letter Florentino’s old age makes him incapable of immediately taking action following the news Fermina’s letter. Florentino’s inaction is an example of the bias view that the elderly are less competent than younger people.

Florentino’s limited capabilities due to old age are also apparent when he is on the cruise ship with Fermina. On the New Fidelity, Florentino finally gets his long awaited opportunity to make love to Fermina while they are aboard the ship.. However, due to his elderly conditions, Florentino is unable to perform sexually. This instance is ironic because Florentino had been extremely sexually active with other women in his younger years, but he is unsuccessful when he finally has the opportunity to make love to the women he has been waiting all of his life for. The fact that Florentino is unable to perform sexually is an example of the idea that the elderly are physically less capable of doing things. Although he later successfully makes love to Fermina, Florentino’s unsuccessful first opportunity shows a stereotype of the difficulties that come with old age.

The bias view about the limited abilities of old people is held by Florentino’s lover America Vicunia. When Florentino tells America the serious news that he intends to get married, she simply laughs at this idea. She thinks that it is simply absurd for an old man to get married. To America and the general population, it is socially unacceptable for old men and old women to marry. She therefore regards the idea of Florentino getting married as a joke. Her view shows the bias perspective that the elderly cannot do certain things that younger people are capable of doing.

However, the end result of the novel shows proves that Florentino is more capable than ever to accomplish his life goal. In his old age, he finally is able to be with Fermina, accomplishing a goal he was unable to attain in his younger years. The fact that Florentino finally gets Fermina in his elder years when he was unable to do so in his youth proves that aging did not actually limit his capabilities. The final relationship between Fermina and Florentino breaks the ropes of old age that had previously tied them down. Their connection disproves that bias of old people that was apparent in the earlier parts of the novel. (619)