Monday 21 March 2016

Of Love And Other Demons-Between Love, Faith And Superstition



‘Of Love And Other Demons’ is a beautiful portrait of love and conflict of believing and not believing in religion. On one hand Gabriel Garcia Marquez pictures the violence and abuse heaped upon a 12-year old rabid girl Sivera Maria in the name of exorcising her. On the other hand Marquez has also beautifully penned down the subtle love of a priest for that girl.
The 12-year old girl, who has been raised by the slaves of her parents and they have inculcated some of their tribal religious practices in her, like drinking the blood of roosters before breakfast, is bitten by a rabid dog. On bitten by the dog she develops rabies, and is she presented before a number of different doctors and healers who attempt to cure her of the rabies that she does not in fact have. Eventually, the Bishop of church convinces her father that in order to save her soul she must be confined to a convent.
Thereafter church declares that she is possessed by demons and starts the exorcising of the demon. But one of the priest, Delura who is close of the Bishop and is given the task of exorcising falls in love with her.
Marquez as he is known for, has beautifully depicted all the conflicts, emotions, tussles on both the subjects be it love, desperation or the conflict of a rational mind debating between existence and non-existence of god.
Like, in one of the lines, Marquez says, ‘“Disbelief is more resistant than faith because it is sustained by the senses”—here lies the subtle sarcasm, if disbelief is sustained by senses, then what sustains faith? He leaves the readers to ponder and answer this.
Again, he says, “One never quite stops believing, some doubt remains forever", here what is doubt, it is faith (religion) or did Marquez wanted to say that religion is just a doubt? He again leaves this to the readers to decide the exact meaning of his words.
There are several lines where Marquez delivers highest levels of philosophy in one liners, like, ‘Crazy people are not crazy if one understands their reasoning’—yes of course, if you understand the reason of someone who is considered crazy, that clearly makes him normal.
Marquez also beautifully depicts the desperation of Delura’s love, in one context he says, “Do not allow me to forget you”—this line with all its simplicity can touch anyone’s heart. In another lines, Delura says, “No medicine cures what happiness cannot”, how much true the line is given to the fact of today’s fast paced life.
In all ‘Of Love And Other Demons’ – is yet another masterpiece by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and is a must read.
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(The post first appeared on www.yourbookstall.blogspot.in)

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