LESSON #3 & LESSON #4 ASSESSMENT

IB Language A HL: Literary Devices in Love in the Time of Cholera

Independent Analysis

Directions: Write a short essay response to the following question.

How does Gabriel García Márquez’s use of metaphor, simile, and symbolism contribute to the
meaning and effect of Love in the Time of Cholera? Use an example from the text for each of
the three types of literary devices (metaphor, simile, and symbolism) to support your
position. Be sure to explain what each example means and what larger ideas it
communicates. You may choose examples from the list below or pick your own from the novel.

List of Possible Literary Devices

Refer to the book for context
• Cholera/disease • Florentino’s jacket • Florentino’s coat
Medicine
• Animals • Travel • Boats
• Aging • Tránsito Ariza’s house • The telegraph
• Letters/writing • Lorenzo Daza’s house • Medicine
• The river • The trolley • The city

• “She [Jeremiah de Saint-Amour’s lover] would not shed a tear, she would not waste
the rest of her years simmering in the maggot broth of memory, she would not bury
herself alive inside these four walls to sew her shroud, as native widows were
expected to do” (16). [shroud: burial garment]
• “She locked herself in her room, refused to eat or drink, and when at last he
persuaded her to open the door, first with threats and then with poorly dissimulated
pleading, he found a wounded panther who would never be fifteen years old again”
(79). [dissimulate: to hide under a false appearance]
• “‘She’s a mule worth her weight in gold’” (81).
• “By that time, however, Dr. Urbino was not concerned with proclaiming victory, nor
was he moved to persevere in his social mission, for at that moment one of his wings
was broken, he was distracted and in disarray and ready to forget everything else in
life, because he had been struck by the lightning of his love for Fermina Daza” (115).
[persevere: to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of challenges,
opposition, or discouragement; disarray: a lack of order or sequence; disorder]
• “He distrusted the sensual type, the ones who looked as if they could eat an alligator
raw and tended to be the most passive in bed” (175). [sensual: devoted to or
preoccupied with the appetite of the senses]
• “But he did not visit her [Ausencia Santander] as often as before, not because of the
desolation in the house, as she supposed and as she said to him, but because of the
novelty of a mule-drawn trolley at the turn of the new century, which proved to be a
prodigious and original nest of free-flying little birds” (180). [desolation: loneliness,
grief, ruin; trolley: a wheeled carriage running on a track; a cart; prodigious: causing
amazement or wonder; extraordinary in quantity or degree]
• “She always felt as if her life had been lent to her by her husband: she was absolute
monarch of a vast empire of happiness, which had been built by him and for him
alone. She knew that he loved her above all else, more than anyone else in the world,
but only for his own sake: she was in his holy service” (221). [monarch: a person who
reigns over a kingdom or empire; a king or queen]

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How does Gabriel García Márquez’s use of metaphor, simile, and symbolism contribute to the
meaning and effect of Love in the Time of Cholera? Use an example from the text for each of
the three types of literary devices (metaphor, simile, and symbolism) to support your
position. Be sure to explain what each example means and what larger ideas it
communicates. You may choose examples from the list below or pick your own from the novel.

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Learning objective: Students will be able to analyze the effect of three literary devices (a
metaphor, simile, and one example of symbolism) in Love in the Time of Cholera through an
individual written assessment.

Literary Device Working Toward Some Mastery Mastery

Mastery

Point Value 1 2 3

Metaphor The essay identifies a The essay identifies and The essay identifies and
metaphor in the text, but constructs meaning from constructs meaning from
may not identify the two a metaphor in the text, a metaphor in the text,
elements being making reference to the explaining the two
compared. The essay two elements being elements being
does not adequately compared. The essay compared. The essay
construct accurate somewhat explains the explains the effect of the
meaning from the effect of the metaphor, metaphor through
metaphor. The essay but needs to be more specific and precise
does not accurately specific. analysis.
explain the effect of the
metaphor.

Simile The essay identifies a The essay identifies and The essay identifies and
simile in the text, but constructs meaning from constructs meaning from
may not identify the two a simile in the text, a simile in the text,
elements being making reference the explaining the two
compared. The essay two elements being elements being
does not adequately compared. The essay compared. The essay
construct accurate somewhat explains the explains the effect of the
meaning from the simile. effect of the simile, but simile through specific
The essay does not needs to be more and precise analysis.
accurately explain the specific.
effect of the simile.

Symbolism The essay identifies and The essay identifies and The essay identifies and
a symbol in the text, but constructs meaning from constructs meaning from
may not accurately a symbol in the text, a symbol in the text,
explain its significance. explaining one layer of explaining multiple
The essay does not significance. The essay layers of significance.
adequately construct somewhat explains the The essay explains the
accurate meaning from effect of the example of effect of the example of
the symbol. The essay symbolism, but needs to symbolism through
does not accurately be more specific. specific and precise
explain the effect of the analysis.
example of symbolism.

Score: _____/9

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