 Bolívar 's fate is known from the beginning , and García Márquez constantly uses images which <unk> this ending . For instance , a clock stuck at seven minutes past one , the exact time of the General 's death , appears repeatedly in the novel . This sense of fate is introduced in the <unk> , which comes from a letter written by the historical Bolívar to General Santander on August 4 , 1823 : " It seems that the devil controls the business of my life . " As Palencia @-@ Roth points out , the word used for devil here is <unk> rather than the more familiar <unk> . <unk> derives from the Greek word <unk> , which can equally mean divine power , fate , or destiny . Accordingly , the General <unk> to his fate and accepts his death as destiny . 
