The next section...

I just put the book down from reading another portion of The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Again, it wasn't very interesting. I am still confused as to where this book is set. I konw that it is somewhere in the northern part of South America, because references are being made to Quito (in Equador), Lima (Peru), Bolivia, Caraca (Venezuela), and other parts of northern South America. However, throughout the book so far Simon Bolivar (more commonly talked about in the book as The General) has often been called "The General of The Republic". The problem is, it was never established earlier in the book exactly what "The Republic" is. I have assumed that it is The Republic of Colombia because of this quote from earlier in the book,
"...Congress designated for the coming year would meet without delay to elect another President of the Republic [to succeed him]"
"'After that,' he concluded, 'I will leave Colombia forever'"(15).
This led me to believe that he was President of the Republic of Colombia but it still bothers me that the author never clearly stated this information. What also bothers me about the authors writing style is his vague use of people and places. For example, he has brought up probably a dozen "General (so and so)" and "Field Marshal (so and so)" and with the exception of two, hasn't mentioned them other than in that sentence. Unless the reader knows much about the history of Southern America, the people and places mentioned won't mean much to them unless some further description is given.
Hopefully that is starting to change becuase in this section the reader learns more about Field Marshal Sucre and General Urdaneta. It is becoming clear that General Urdenta will be an antagonist in the novel, as he is against "The General" and against Field Marshal Sucre, who is a friend of "The General". The General wanted Field Marshal Sucre to succeed him as president, while General Urdaneta was against this proposition, due to the fact that he himself wanted to be president. Although Congress unanimously chooses a different candidate for president, I still believe General Urdaneta will cause trouble later in the book.