O rito de passagem da viagem em O amor nos tempos do cólera, de Gabriel García Márquez

Abstract

This paper is part of a master’s thesis named "The journey rite in Love in the Time of Cholera novel, written by Gabriel García Márquez" (DOURADO, 2013). This research considers the rite of passage, according to Arnold Van Gennep's studies, who defines this rite as a cyclic process of individual transformation marked by symbolic rituals and formal ceremonies made by the individual in his social environment. Thus, Van Gennep considers this journey as a rite of passage, an initiation process, because the spatial and temporal transition of it provides to the traveller the construction of a new way to be in contact with a new culture, a new life. In Love in the Time of Cholera, the journey rite is associated to the main transformations of human life (birth, puberty, marriage and death). However, this article approaches the journey rite related to the death rite due to the different cultural visions about the end of life confronted by the narrative. This analysis is made from the postulates of the anthropologic imaginary to study the symbolic and mythical dimensions that are inherent to the rites of passage.