The Lack of a Context

The time and place of this story are undetermined. The characters' names suggest a Spanishspeaking country, and a reference to airplanes indi indicates that we are somewhere in the twentieth century; but beyond these minor details, we seem to be in the "once-upon-a-time" world of fairy tales. The narrator tells of events in the past, using the phrase "in those times" in a manner common to myths and legends. These associations help prepare the reader for the story's "magical" elements by suggesting that this is not a factual history to be taken literally, but a tale of the imagination where the usual rules may be suspended.

Such an "undetermined" setting is common in Garcia Marquez's fiction. While he is often outspoken in his journalism and takes a public stand on many political issues, references to contemporary history in his fiction tend to be...