The Lionlady of His Soul

I will admit I was a bit cynical in my last blog entry. After reading further into the novel, I have discovered that, as crazy and unrealistic as it may be, Florentino truly does love Fermina. For fifty years, he remains emotionally faithful to her and believes that he has maintained his fidelity. Like Fermina, I feel pity for Florentino, but for different reasons than she does. Yes, his behavior is, at times, reminiscent of a sexual predator, but his blind love for Fermina prevents him from having any healthy relationships. The most tragic of these “could-have-been” affairs is Florentino’s friendship with Leona Cassiani.

Leona, the black Personal Assistant of Uncle Leo, is “the true woman in his life although neither of them ever knew is and they never made love” (182). It is Florentino’s obsession with Fermina that deters him from having a fully loving relationship with Leona even though she is clearly his soul mate, the “lionlady” of his soul (187). They have all of the components of a love match. First, Florentino is clearly attracted to Leona physically, describing her as “pretty” when he first mistakes her for a prostitute. Leona is also Florentino’s intellectual equal, as is apparent from her restructuring of part of the River Company of the Caribbean bureaucracy. She helps Florentino to achieve his vocational goals by clearing “the ladder at any cost, with blood if necessary, so that Florentino Ariza could move up to the position he had proposed for himself without calculating his own strength very well” (186). The potential for a real relationship with Leona is most obvious when we are told that “Florentino Ariza had not a moment of inner peace as he confronted the fascinating spectacle of that fierce black woman” (187). Unlike his other relationships that he can break off at any time, Florentino is constantly at battle with himself in regards to Leona.

Leona and Florentino become very close friends. So close, in fact, that Leona refuses to sleep with Florentino because she would feel as though she were going to bed with the son she never had (188). The one point about which the pair cannot discuss freely is Fermina. Florentino concedes that Leona is worthy of sharing burden of his love, but he still cannot tell her. Although his inability to share his most intimate secret with Leona is a roadblock in their relationship, the two are already, as the movie Just Friends would put it, “in the friend zone.” Leona’s deep involvement in Florentino’s schemes, that stem from his attempts to distract himself from Fermina, has prevented them from having a romantic relationship.

Leona Cassiani is the closest thing that Florentino has to finding true love beyond Fermina. Ironically, he does not ever sleep with her, furthering demonstrating his belief that physical and emotional loves are completely unconnected. His 622 physical relationships are simply that: temporary loves based only on corporeal pleasures. With Leona, he has the potential to have a relationship that encompasses the many types of love, but his attachment to Fermina prevents him from pursuing it. (516)