Love in the Time of Cholera

The main female character in the novel, Fermina Daza is the strong axis around which the story revolves. She is flexible and independent, a free thinker. Fermina was devoted completely to her husband Juvenal Urbino, quietly regulating his life as he fell into old age. She enjoys shopping and is described as having filled up their house to bursting with the merchandise she brought home from Europe. She also loves animals, having bought the talking parrot which later led Urbino to his death.
Fermina easily rejects Ariza in their youth when she realizes the naiveté of their first romance, but by the end of the book she has recognized a change in Ariza and their love is allowed to blossom once more in their old age. For most of the novel, their communication is limited to correspondence by letter; not until the end of the book do Fermina and Florentino converse at length.