 Numbers are an important symbolic aspect of the novel . The book is divided into eight chapters , almost all of equal length , which represent the eight @-@ year love affair between the General and Manuela Sáenz . The General 's last hours are marked by an octagonal clock . Allusions to the number three are even more common in the novel . As García Márquez scholar Isabel Rodríguez Vergara notes , the number three — the Trinity which occupies a vital place in the symbology of the Catholic Mass — is repeated 21 times throughout the book . She quotes Mircea Eliade : " In the novel it represents a symbolic sacrifice aimed at redeeming humankind — that of Bolívar , a misunderstood redeemer sacrificed by his own people . " 
 Numbers <a href='drop_aux' title='1'><mark>are</mark></a>an important symbolic aspect of the novel . The book is divided into eight chapters , almost all of equal length , which represent the eight @-@ year love affair between the General and Manuela Sáenz . The General <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'s</mark></a>last hours are marked by an octagonal clock . Allusions to the number three <a href='drop_aux' title='3'><mark>are</mark></a>even more common in the novel . As García Márquez scholar Isabel Rodríguez Vergara <a href='uninflect' title='4'><mark>notes</mark></a> , the number three — the Trinity which <a href='uninflect' title='5'><mark>occupies</mark></a> a vital place in the symbology of the Catholic Mass — is repeated 21 times throughout the book . She <a href='uninflect' title='6'><mark>quotes</mark></a> Mircea Eliade : " In the novel it <a href='uninflect' title='7'><mark>represents</mark></a> a symbolic sacrifice aimed at redeeming humankind — that of Bolívar , a misunderstood redeemer sacrificed by his own people . " 
Numbers an important symbolic aspect of the novel . da book is divided into eight chapters , almost alll of equal length , which represent the eight @-@ year love affair between the General and Manuela Sáenz . TdaGeneral  last hours are marked by an octagonal clock . Allusions to the number three even more common in the novel . As García Márquez scholar Isabel Rodríguez Vergara note , thdaumber three — the Trinity which occupy a vital place in thedambology of the daholic Mass — is repeated 21 times throughout the book . She quote Mircea Eliade : " In the novel it represent a symbolic sacrifice aimed at redeeming humankind — that of Bolívar , a misunderstood redeemer sacrificed by his own people . "