The colonel has no one to write about Gabriel García Márquez: summary, analysis and characters

What is the book The colonel has no one to write by Gabriel García Márquez:

The colonel has no one to write to him is a short novel by Gabriel García Márquez that tells the story of a colonel who, for fifteen years, has been waiting for the allocation of his pension for the services rendered to the country.

It is a narrative that reflects on hope and resignation, on the consequences of maintaining principles and personal dignity in a corrupted society.

The book was written by its author during a stay in Paris in 1955. It wasn't published until 1961.

Summary of the novel

The colonel is a veteran of the Thousand Day War who served under Aureliano Buendía. He lives with his wife in a modest house on the Colombian coast.

For fifteen years he has been waiting to be assigned a pension, to which he is entitled for having served during the civil war.

For that reason, every Friday he goes to the port post office, hoping to finally be notified of the pension allocation.

But the economic situation of the colonel and his wife is precarious, and they barely have to feed themselves.

In addition, they have a fighting cock, inherited from their son Agustín, who was killed for distributing clandestine information a few months ago.

The little money they have goes to feed the rooster, so they are forced to sell the few things of value they keep in order to eat. His wife, however, convinces him that it is best to get rid of the animal.

The colonel, then, will try to give the rooster to his son's friends, but they refuse to accept it and assure him that they will take care of it. from food until the fights in January, in which they hope to earn a lot of money thanks to the animal that, they say, is the best in the world. Department.

However, his compadre Don Sabas, a rich man and godfather of his late son, advises him to sell the rooster, as they could pay up to nine hundred pesos, and he tells her that he has a client who might be interested in buying it for four hundred.

The doctor, aware of the business, dissuades the colonel from selling it: Don Sabas would buy it for four hundred pesos and later he would sell it for nine hundred.

In any case, the colonel will have several days to make a decision, since Don Sabas has gone on a trip and will not return to town until next week.

One Friday, on the way to the post office, the colonel remembers that the rooster's training for the January fights has begun and he passes by the rooster.

There he sees how a crowd applauds and cheers for the animal. Then the colonel, excited by the scene, decides not to sell the rooster and takes it to his house.

His wife reproaches him for his decision, calls his attention to the miserable situation they are going through. To which the colonel responds categorically and memorably.

See also:

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
• Gabriel García Márquez: biography and published books.

Novel analysis

The colonel has no one to write to him is a short novel structured in seven chapters. It is narrated in the third person, that is, by a heterodiegetic narrator.

The story revolves around the economic needs of the colonel and his wife, exacerbated since the death of his son, murdered for political reasons.

Apart from the pension that the colonel expects, the rooster represents the only hope of marriage to get money: in January fights they trust that the animal will triumph and produce Profits.

The colonel has no one to write to him is a narrative that reflects on waiting and on the advisability of maintaining personal integrity in a world where men of courage and principles, like the colonel, have been forgotten and overtaken by the ambition for political and economic power of his former colleagues struggle.

The novel is written in diaphanous language, poetic precision and fantastic descriptions, which announce the writing style that García Márquez will bring to the culmination of it years later with his work magna, One hundred years of loneliness.

Characters

• The colonel: main character of the play; He has been waiting, for more than 15 years, to be granted his pension.
• The Colonel's Wife: she is an elderly but energetic woman, she suffers from asthma.
• The rooster: He is a gallo pinto, the best fighting cock in the department, they say; it belonged to the colonel's late son.
• The doctor: colonel's wife's doctor; It is part of the clandestine information chain, through which the real events in the country are known.
• Don Sabas: Compadre of the colonel, he is the only leader of his party who did not suffer political persecution. He is a rich man.
• Agustin: son of the colonel, murdered for distributing clandestine information.
• German: friend of Agustín, late son of the colonel. It is he, along with other companions, who will be in charge of feeding the rooster for the January fights.
• Lawyer: he is the one who handles the case of the colonel's pension. It is implied that he is incompetent.
• Alvaro: tailor for whom Agustín worked; he is the one who buys the sewing machine from the colonel.

About Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014) was a Colombian writer, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. Author of the novels as The colonel has no one to write to him (1961), One hundred years of loneliness (1967), The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), A Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981) and Love in the time of cholera (1985), among other books. He is considered one of the most important Latin American writers of the 20th century.

He may also interest you:

• Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel García Márquez
• 25 short novels to read.

Literature professional, graduated from the Universidad de Los Andes. Passionate about literature, history and philosophy. He has worked creating, writing and proofreading in publishing, advertising, journalism and digital content since 2008.