Category: Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold (COADF), both traditional literature novels set in the 1900’s explore the im0pact internal and external influences have on character development of young protagonists who challenge the discriminatory values of the intolerant public society and ideologies of their families. Both authors explore the impact of the problematic socio-cultural environment on the protagonist and the variations of human nature when influenced by society in relation to one’s sense of self by highlighting social issues within the community as well as the strict cultural values of family.

A Fine Balance and COADF both explore how internal and external influences impact the character development of their respective protagonists by skilfully positioning the audience in different character perspectives to represent the discriminatory values of the community. Mistry presents the inequality within social class and the intolerance lower caste members have to endure, by placing readers in a young child’s perspective. He utilises repetition in the quote, “I want to be able to drink from the village well, I want to worship in the temple, I want to walk where I like,” to express the child’s innocence and obliviousness when confronted with the restrictions of being in the bottom social class. This additionally emphasises the purity of a young mind through the use of a child’s first perspective and their exposure to the oppressive caste system of the external world. Mistry also presents the strict cultural values prevalent in the community show in the quote, “He had turned cobblers into tailors…Crossing the line of caste had to be punished with the utmost severity…Catch them all – the parents, wife, children.” He demonstrates the impact of being influenced by one’s sense of self rather than by the community through Om and Ishvar, two men who refused to conform to society by choosing to be tailors rather than cobblers and as a result, got cast away.

Similarly, Marquez’s COADF highlights the impact of the problematic socio-cultural environment on character in relation to one’s sense of self to represent the prejudiced values within the community. Marquez demonstrates the lack of responsibility and the ignorant attitude of the members in society through the perspective of a police officer as shown in the quote, “The truth is I didn’t know what to do…My first thought was that it wasn’t any business of mine but something for the civil authorities.” This proves that the so called “authoritative” figures in the community are unreliable by struggling to rise above cultural prejudices as well as choosing to disregard warnings of a severe event that consequently led to the murder of an innocent man. The challenge of rising above cultural preconceptions is also prevalent in Mistry’s A Fine Balance where the community refuse to accept the change of profession of two young men resulting in the cruel death of their relatives.

Mistry’s A Fine Balance and Marquez’s COADF both demonstrate how internal and external influences impact the character development by placing readers in various perspectives to represent their attitudes towards the strict cultural ideologies of their families. In A Fine Balance, Nuswaan, the protagonist’s brother uses manipulative power to pressure her into marrying his choice of a wealthy man. Instead, the protagonist’s rebellious nature challenges the values of her family defies her brothers wishes by marrying a simple chemist who she loved. The protagonist, Dina’s bold actions against her family’s beliefs furthermore demonstrates how one’s sense of self impacts the development of character. Mistry additionally represents the impact of external influences on character development by placing readers in the perspective of a young boy, Om who is subjected to following the stringent ideologies of his family. This is revealed in the statement, “Sons were expected to run their father’s feet when they were relaxing after work”, further emphasises the challenging principles accustomed within the family. The author utilises the perspective of a child to present the involuntary ritual-like principles imposed at a young age and the extent to which society honours the firm teachings of the community’s values.

Likewise, Marquez’s COADF explores how personal and public worlds have an influence by positioning the audience in the perspective of a courageous character who challenges the harsh morals of her family while simultaneously struggling to gain acceptance and respect. The affect family has on character development and how the way they perceive specific subjects such as love is especially shown in the quote, “Angela Vicario only dared hint at the inconvenience of a lack of love, but her mother demolished it with a single phrase: Love can be learned too.” Her mother is presented as a dominating character who greatly influences the protagonist, Angela Vicario by pressuring her to get married but not for the sake of love, convincing her she can simply learn it. Throughout the novel, Angela Vicario finds that she is in fact in love with the man she is compelled to marry and begins to obsessively write love letters to him however “the longer he went without replying, the more she went crazy for him.” Angela’s infatuated blind letter writing takes the form of a ritual, unlike the customs adapted by her family and the community, as it doesn’t arise from societal expectations but instead, her own sense of self. The manipulative power of family and how one’s internal influences can affect the character development is likewise evident in Mistry’s A Fine Balance where the protagonists in both novels experience similar challenges.

For one, I previously failed to understand what motivated the twins to be vigilantes and disregard the justice system. Deciding to kill Santiago Nasar seemed not only extreme but quite ridiculous if only to restore the idea of “honor” to their family. However, it was during class discussion, when a student revealed that such concepts and societal expectations had a long history within 1950’s Columbia and were very important to the culture. The community, who are rather conservative, idealize traditional morals and disregard contemporary ideals such as equality. This interactive oral helped me understand how the concept of honor influenced decisions: Santiago stripped the Vicario’s family name of honor, which could only be earnt back by an act of virtue. Further, machismo forced the twins to react in a significant exaggerated act of masculinity. Woman contributed by selectively looking out for these men. Furthermore, in the discussion we examined the role of woman, who were dictated by principles of Marianismo. The contrast between two polarizing societal expectations for women and med, expose a deep imbalance in society, depending one’s gender. This helped me realize Marques uses the book as a social criticism: to emphasize the weakness of the political scheme of Latin America.

Prior to the discussion, I was fascinated by the random events that occurred, to line up Santiago’s death, further displaying how unfair society was. However, through the discussion, I came to understand the prominent idea of magical realism present in Colombia. I came to understand through the interactive oral, that Santiago’s death may not be an unlikely and unlucky event, but rather destined to happen. One important distinction was how the murder’s declared themselves innocent in the eyes of God. The men’s blind faith, believing that what they are doing is right, when in actuality they are committing an insane act of murder, demonstrates again how unfair society is: Santiago’s death didn’t prove anything, merely traditions state otherwise.

This interactive oral made me consider the conventional nature of the pre-modern Latin America: it allowed me to understand extreme cultural differences, where a society expects and values traditions over human life. I recognized Marquez owns views towards this culture is represented through a satirical representation.

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, presents moral dilemmas that must be considered in Santiago’s life and death. Despite a banal English translation, the narrator vividly explores whether an ill-fated murder was solely a random, in the moment occurrence, or the result of collective will. In doing so, Gabriel Garcia Marquez forces the reader to question whether fate and one’s belief can be both solely relied upon as an inevitable occurrence. In this compelling novel, Marquez uses the recurring theme of fate to illustrate the moral dilemmas his society encounters as a result of an over dependence on the concept.

Certainly, it would seem Santiago’s death was a result of people acting on their own accord and demonstrating free-will: Santiago decided independently to have sex with Angela Vicario; The twins had agreed together they would restore their family’s honour by killing Santiago: it was Santiago’s in the moment action that forced a unrealistic reaction decided in the moment. While this view gathers credibility, one can also interpret that ultimately Santiago’s death was destined to happen. Marquez reveals this doomed fate for Santiago from the very first line: “on the day when they were going to kill him” (Marquez. 1983, 1). By setting forth the idea that Santiago’s death is inevitable even before his birth from the start of the novel, Marquez forces the reader to consider how unfair society is, and to question the ethics of a society that truly did believe nothing could prevent the event, as you read and learn how and why the murder occurred. In doing so, an idea of frustrated expectancy presents itself – irritation that an apparently inevitable event was never attempted to be changed, despite so many chances for it to be.

Marquez, writes that the book is a chronicle, however the book is not written chronologically. We first are presented with the murder at the hands of the twins, and despite describing the circumstances of his death, we are never truly told if Santiago was guilty and underserving of this fate. Just like the townsfolk awaiting the bishop, only to see him bypass them all: “He won’t even get off the boat… He’ll given obligatory blessing, as always, and go back the way he came. He hates this town.” (Marquez. 1983, 8): Marquez’s word choice evokes the insignificance, even condescension, that the Church has forsaken and secluded within society, linking to the coldness and unethical aspect of fate and the fate of Santiago.

The ironic foreshadowing of Santiago’s death is used by Marquez, to describe how Santiago himself had never predicted that the murder would happen to him, indeed, to question whether Santiago was actually guilty and warranted this fate. Indeed, as Santiago dies, “his reaction was not one of panic, but was rather the bewilderment of innocence” (Marquez. 1983, 59). Demonstrating how unsuspecting and underserving Santiago was: stabbed seven times, dyeing a lonely death. Nether the less, Santiago is described to have experienced two different dreams focusing on a forest the night before he died, where he fails to recognise the bad omen. Visual imagery vividly portrays Santiago going “through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant, he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke, he felt completely spattered with bird shit.” (Marquez. 1983, 1).

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells the story of a gruesome murder in a small town of Sucre, Colombia. The murder victim was an attractive, wealthy, half Arab man by the name of Santiago Nasar. Marquez modeled the character after his own godbrother Cayetano Gentile who was described as the “ tall, elegant, and good-looking” son of successful Italian immigrants. The murder of Cayetano served as the skeleton of the murder of Santiago as they echoed eachother. Another character seemingly simmilar to the murder victim, is Bayardo San Roman, also perceived as a foreginer, he arrives into the town clad in expensive calfskin trousers, gloves and a jacket. He was also perceived as handsome, enchanting and wealthy. Much like his counterpart, Bayardo San Roman’s life also revolved around wealth ergo his rising social status. Although they were charming and wealthy, Santiago was dubbed as the “foreigner” along with Bayardo, the way they are seen by the community is important as it emphasizes the idea that despite the fortune their life will not be any easier or more bearable. The recurring theme of money in the Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Santiago Garcia Marquez shows the societal impact of wealth on the life of both Santiago Nasar and Bayardo San Roman.

Santiago’s life is ample with privilege, even so, his father’s Arabic heritage casts him as a foreigner. It is often speculated that Angela chose him for his wealth, thinking that her brothers would never amount to murder of such a rich individual, as shown by the excerpt ‘Don’t be silly,’ he said to her. ‘Those two aren’t about to kill anybody, much less someone rich.’. Throughout the book, the reader is presented with various ways that the murder victim is treated and seen by “his” community. For example in this excerpt when Santiago is in the kitchen, with Divina Flora, the daughter of the cook Victoria Guzman he grabs Divina. “’The time has come for you to be tamed,’ he told her. Victoria Guzman showed him the bloody knife. ‘Let go of her, white man,’ she ordered him seriously. ‘You won’t have a drink of that water as long as I’m alive.’ Even though Ms. Guzman works for Santiago, her distaste for him is blunt as she referred to him as “White man”.

Another instance in which he is referred to as such occurs at home, “Victoria Guzman was keeping watch over the coffee pot on the stove when he passed by the kitchen on his way into the house. ‘White man,’ she called to him, ‘coffee will be ready soon.’. That quote not only highlights her dislike for Santiago but shows that despite the fact that she works for him, her dislike will always be present. Although some believed his murder was justified, some thought that he did not deserve his fate, as shown here “Faustino Santos was the only one who perceived a glimmer of truth in Pablo Vicario’s threat, and he asked him jokingly why they had to kill Santiago Nasar since there were so many other rich people who deserved dying first.”. Similar to Santiago, people did not believe that Bayardo deserved his fate. This scene, as gruesome as it is, is valuable as it shows that despite all the wealth acquired, the foreigner will never be treated as one of “us” and that money does not make life, alternatively it takes. The sheer amount of witnesses aware of the incoming murder, stayed silent due to many reasons such as their dislike for the foreginer or envy of his wealth. Unlike Santiago, Bayardo was liked, and people pitied the handsome man met with such a sad fate.

As for the husband of Angela Vicario, Bayardo San Roman, his life is also of significant privilege and societal respect. His arrival in the book is vital as it helps us establish the base of the connection between him and Santiago. Both men being wealthy foreigners settling into a small town. While the story of Bayardo unravels throughout the book, giving us an insight into who he is, and his impressive skills, one can begin to contrast the two men. When Bayardo arrived in Sucre he gained instant traction from the women in the town, as shown by this excerpt “Magdalena Oliver had been with him on the boat and couldn’t take her eyes off him during the whole trip. ‘He looked like a fairy,’ she told me. ‘And it was a pity, because I could have buttered him and eaten him alive.’ She wasn’t the only one who thought so.” Not only was he attractive but he was also talented and knowledgeable and establishing himself as such. His skills and looks played a big part in him gaining the reputation of a respectable man. This is a slight difference as Santiago was known as a playboy, meddling with girls, Bayardo had one goal, to find a wife. This excerpt shows his many achievements and contributions to the community as well as his budding relationship with the citizens. “The night he arrived he gave them to understand at the movies that he was a track engineer, and spoke of the urgency for building a railroad into the interior so that we could keep ahead of the river’s fickle ways. On the following day he had to send a telegram and he transmitted it on the key himself, and in addition, he taught the telegrapher a formula of his so that he could keep on using the worn-out batteries. With the same assurance he talked about frontier illnesses with a military doctor who had come through during those months of conscription. He liked noisy and long-lasting festivities, but he was a good drinker, a mediator of fights, and an enemy of cardsharps.

One Sunday after mass he challenged most skillful swimmers, who were many, and left the best behind by twenty strokes in crossing the river and back. My mother told me about it in a letter, and at the end she made a comment that was very much like her: ‘It also seems that he’s swimming in gold.’ That was in reply to the premature legend that Bayardo San Roman not only was capable of doing everything, and doing it quite well, but also had access to endless resources”. His great relations with the citizens set him apart from Santiago as they empathised with the groom “For the immense majority of people there was only one victim: Bayardo San Roman. They took it for granted that the other actors in the tragedy had been fulfilling with dignity, and even with a certain grandeur, their part of the destiny that life had assigned them. Santiago Nasar had expiated the insult, the brothers Vicario had proved their status as men, and the seduced sister was in possession of her honour once more. The only one who had lost everything was Bayardo San Roman: ‘poor Bayardo,’ as he was remembered over the years.”. This is where their life once again differs as Santiago was villainized, his fate seen as deserved, Bayardo was seen as the heartbroken man. The excerpt is a prime example of the differing life paths that were taken on by the foreigners.

Yet they lead to the same conclusion, that life can not be made or saved with money. Regardless of just how much Bayardo spent on his wedding, the dream home of Xius and life in the town, he was left heartbroken and alone in Sucre. In terms of the life of Santiago, it was quite the opposite, one could say that in fact his wealth is what put the target on his back, hoping that it would protect him, ultimately it was what brought about his downfall.

Again, Garcia Marquez employs realistic fiction as his journalistic style in order to produce a seemingly more authentic and credible work. In the Colombian culture, it is believed that of the virginity every woman is of utmost importance as such every woman should ensure that she keeps herself until marriage. Based upon a real life tragedy, the novel seeks to ‘chronicle’ a murder committed twenty-seven years ago. This is evident in the novel, after a dignified wedding party, Bayardo San Roman returns Angela Vicario (the bride) to her parents because she is not a virgin. This arouse a furious fight between the Vicario brothers and Santiago who is allegedly the victim of deflowering Angela.

The use of the five W’s (What, Who, where, when, why), are interrogative words that journalists use to gather information which helps in informing the readers of what is to happen in the future, for instance when Santiago is going to die? where it is going to happen? who is going to kill him? Marquez use of these five “W’s” is the backbone of the novel as he effectively answers the questions the narrator asks in the novel without directly asking that these were the answers he seeks. The opening sentence, ‘On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on’ (Marquez, 169) answers many of the ‘five W’s.’ From the very beginning, we are made to know the “who” which is the identity of the victim, Nasar (and shortly thereafter the identity of his murderers), the where, the when, and what transpired. The opening sentence and subsequently the whole novel cannot answer why, or under what circumstances a murder could have happened in broad daylight. This invoked the reader’s curiosity and suspense to read further to find out why Santiago went through that pain and disgrace.

Moreover, Marquez uses conflict between religion and culture in the development of the novel. The Religion practiced in the novel is Christianity and 70% of Colombian population are Catholics. Marquez is born and raised Catholic. According to the Catholic, culture in Colonial Latin America, morals and values were impacted by religion. It offers women lots of rights while the society do not follow this practice. Catholicism also stresses upon how a woman’s virginity is sacred and must be persevered for marriage. Marquez later in his life became an atheist due to the conflict between religious beliefs and cultural beliefs in the country. His refusal to accept the way of life is employed in the development of the novel as it brings up the theme Virginity as a god, in the Colombian culture a woman’s virginity is not something to be joked with, it is of high value to both the women and their respective families and as reflected in the novel, Angela Vicario losing her virginity before marriage and had to fake it on her day of marriage, “douche of alum water to fake virginity” (Marquez, 90), when this was discovered she was said to have brought dishonor to the Vicario family.

Again, in the novel, Angela is a prominent example; when her husband San Roman discovered that she was not a virgin, he returned her to her family and this caused his brothers in venturing to murder Santiago. Again, religion negatively shapes the novel’s culture as some characters depended upon ancient communal values of justifying one’s honor and raising saint-like daughters rather than adapting to the changing societal values. (Marquez, 31). Gracias religious life stresses on honor and this affected the development of the novel as it is used to justify some characters’ irrational actions. The Vicario brothers killed Santiago all in the name of honor.

Furthermore, the Catholicism has deep roots within Colombian society. Prior to 1991 reform, there was little discernment between church and state Catholic beliefs such as the emphasis on chastity plays a major role in the development of the novel. The church believes that every individual should be treated equally and fairly regardless of the sex of the person. Unfortunately, the Colombian society believe the opposite of this as they place more respect on machismo which is linked to pride and honour. Machismo is central theme of in the society within the novel reflects Marquez’s own society; Hispanic culture has been for the most part male dominated. Machismo emphasizes the dominance of males in both social and familial roles. Since the society is male dominated, more opportunities are given to the males than the women as to the role their play in the society. Pre-marital sex was taboo for women, but was a widely encouraged act for men. This is evident in the novel when Santiago was referred to as a “pig” (Marquez, 69) because he was sleeping around with women. He flirts around with Divina Flor but with respect to herself, she rejected his advances. (Marquez, 13). For the sake of the pride of Angela who could not have the power and strength to fight for herself because she is woman, her brothers adventured and killed Santiago.

The concept and belief of honour within Columbian society within the novella is a critical focal point in the decision making, actions and motives of the characters. So entrenched is this belief that nobody questions the actions taken to preserve one’s honour as it is regarded as such an important moral trait that one must hold dear. In this patriarchal society a man or woman that does not display honour is considered an outcast to the community and the culture. Within the novella the two twin brothers are burdened with defending this tradition of honour. The two brothers discover that their sister has lost her virginity before marriage (a huge taboo for the time) and is forced to slander an individual’s name and the most believable candidate was Santiago Nasar. Therefore, to regain the honour of their sister, and their family the brothers believe it is their fate and duty to kill Santiago Nasar. Forcing the twins down a path they reluctantly and begrudgingly follow tragically resulting in the premature end of Santiago Nasar.

This feeling of upholding the traditional honour system is fuelled as well as supported by the community who work as the foundations of this archaic value. Pablo’s wife, Prudencia Cotes justifies and values that the boys followed through with the murder by saying, “I never would have married him if he hadn’t done what a man should do”, when she was referring to Santiago Nasar’s death. A rampant problem within the novella that resulted in Santiago’s death was that many characters prove the pressure honour must be sustained within a family. However there a few beacons of catenation within the town, one such being Clotilide Armenta, who tried to directly warn Santiago, but most fail to involve themselves in any way. A very reprobate of a case was in fact such a case that involve Santiago’s own fiancée, instead of warning her soon to be husband, she only thinks about herself and her own honour; “She went through a crisis of humiliation”, ashamed due to the status quo dictating that Santiago must marry Angela to uphold Angela’s and the Vicario family’s honour which he had so “maliciously” took away.

The town shows further support of these values by the fact that the Vicario twins only spend three years in prison. These values are so entrenched in the psyche of the denizens of the town that it even transcends the law of the land itself, as the twins go to speak to the priest, they say the that they had committed murder, but there is no crime. Here the narrator explains that, in the days following the murder, Santiago’s burial, the arrest of the Vicario twins, and the flight of the Vicario family, the townspeople reserve all their pity for Bayardo, who is left the most unscathed by the tragedy. Their concern for him illustrates their bizarre, backwards value system, and their obsession with honour and dignity at the expense of common humanity. To the townspeople, Angela, Santiago, and the Vicario twins are actors, and they are to be congratulated for how well they played their roles-never mind if the performance cost all of them their lives. “For the immense majority of people even in the courthouse this disease of a mindset had percolated even into the lawyer himself as “the lawyer stood by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defence of honour.” Even the church does nothing to prevent the crime, the narrator presses Father Amador to explain why he did nothing to prevent this crime when it was completely in his power to do so, and this is the answer Father Amador offers. His complacence in the face of impending violence is shocking, especially given that he is the spiritual leader of the town. Unfortunately, it is also typical-his feeling that the murder “wasn’t any business” of his is common among the townspeople who did not prevent the crime. Further, by using the Bishop’s arrival to arrival to explain his distractedness, Amador adds a layer of irony to his excuse: he was so caught up in organising a grand display of sacredness that he did not prevent something evil and profane from occurring right under his nose.

“For years we couldn’t talk about anything else. Our daily conduct, dominated then by so many linear habits…” In this paragraph, which opens the concluding chapter, the Narrator explains the lasting effects of Santiago’s murder, and the community’s methods of confronting their own complicity in it. While their lives before the murder had been driven by daily rituals, “linear habits,” now their lives are dominated by a single, cyclical ritual: trying to make sense of the senseless and highly preventable crime. The townsfolk’s anxiety over the murder is existential: everyone feels they were “assigned” a role in the tragedy by fate, and yet they are also forced to reckon with their own choices that, in total, resulted in Santiago’s death. The honour system is intertwined with this tradition of ritual as the murder of Santiago Nasar is an extension-and a perversion- of this culture of ritual. Pedro and Pablo Vicario’s vow to kill Santiago is an empty gesture that suddenly becomes all too real. It seems that no one, not even the brothers themselves, believe they will follow through their plan until, of course, it is too late. The Vicario brothers’ pronouncements and showy knife-sharpening have the quality of performance. They are, in a sense, “faking it” but somehow, in faking it, they find it within themselves to kill, or, to put it another way, they find themselves forced to follow through with the role they have taken on. At last, there is something ritualistic about the Narrator’s engagement with his story. His efforts to find the facts of the murder so many years after it happened have a mournful and obsessive character, in what can be described as an obsession of honour. This can be viewed as the narrator trying to regain the honour of Santiago Nasar long after his death. Falling unintentionally into the value he so condemned.

However, Chronicle of a Death foretold can be seen as a critique of archaic values as a whole such as the concept of fate is embedded in the very title of the novel, and introduced again in its first sentence: “On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on.” Santiago Nasar’s death is “foretold” in two senses. First, Pablo and Pedro Vicario announce their intentions literally “foretelling” the death to anyone who will listen, and soon nearly everyone in the village knows that Santiago is doomed. Second, in another, more cosmic sense, Santiago’s death seems predestined from the start, the result of a tragic alignment of chance occurrences. Looked at one way, Santiago’s murder is a clearly intentional act, committed (and enabled) by people in the world. Certainly, the Vicario twins choose to kill him, one can argue. Further, many characters such as Victoria Guzmán, Santiago’s cook, and her daughter, Divina Flor have the chance to warn Santiago but choose not to, either not understanding the seriousness of the threat or actively wanting Santiago dead. To put it simply: the Vicario twins and their enablers act with free will. Indeed, some of the Narrator’s language supports this interpretation of the tragedy, notably his insistence on calling the murder a “crime.” At other points he even suggests that the entire community, not just the Vicario twins, is culpable.

This is in conjunction with the theme of the sacred and the profane. As eluded to earlier this theme works in close conjunction with honour. Chronicle of a Death foretold is impressive for the way it depicts a world in which religious seriousness commingles with out-and-out debauchery. Nearly every character in the novel moves freely between these two opposite poles of experience, poles that might be labelled as the “sacred” and the “profane.” God seems to have left the village in which the novel takes place. The Bishop, whom everyone is eager to see on the morning of the murder, will not set foot in the town, choosing instead to pass by on his boat and deliver his blessing from afar. Everyone takes part in the wedding festivities; even the Narrator’s sister, a nun, gets drunk. The Narrator has been frequenting a local brothel for his entire adult life. Santiago Nasar, though described as “peaceful” by the Narrator, gropes the teenaged Divina Flor whenever he gets the chance. Pedro Vicario returns from the military sporting a nasty case of gonorrhoea. And yet, most members of the community are deeply Catholic as proved by their enthusiasm over the Bishop’s visit and cling dearly to traditional ideals of purity and honour. As soon as Angela Vicario accuses Santiago Nasar of deflowering her, her brothers Pablo and Pedro Vicario set out to murder him as a matter of course: by their logic, he has stolen the honour of their sister, of their whole family, and so must repay them in blood. By that same token, a fair number of the townspeople accept Santiago’s doom as a foregone conclusion: nothing can or should be done to save him. Angela Vicario’s purity is seen by everyone including Angela herself as a matter of life and death. The community’s draconian values find fullest expression in the verdict delivered three years after the murder. Despite the gruesome and public nature of their crime, and despite the clear innocence of their victim, the Vicario brothers are found innocent “by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defence of honour.”

The narrative Chronicle of a death foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez outlines the events surrounding Santiago Nasar’s murder. He is the man who allegedly took Angela Vicario’s virginity. Bayardo San, Angela’s husband to discover that she was not a virgin on their wedding night, and takes her back to her house. Disgusted by the shame brought into their family, Pablo Vicario and Pedro Vicario, twin brothers to Angela, force her to say who took her virginity. The brothers then decide to kill Santiago and execute the plan on the day the Bishop was to visit to bless the marriage of Angela and Bayardo. Garcia work incorporates imagery, analogy, and uses the characters to portray the role of gender and fate to build up the story.

Garcia displays different roles of men and women through the various characters in the Latin American Society setting. She demonstrates the role of men as that of taking care of the family while protecting its dignity, while women are to marry and keep households. Pablo and Pedro murder the perpetrator of their sister to protect the woman’s honour in the family. Regardless of the cost involved, the men must uphold the family’s reputation. With that gender role in mind, Garcia created the twin brothers to the perpetrated bride. The author uses these characters to portray the culture of gender roles within the 1950’s social setting.

Through Pablo and Pedro, Garcia also exemplifies the men’s expectations and commitment to upholding honour within the society. The Vicario brothers think that killing Santiago was very necessary to redeem the lost reputation of their family. However, they hesitate to execute the murder, but the cultural norms have so much gravity and force them to do it. The author, through Clotilde, shows that the twins were not into the idea of committing the murder when the narrator says, “She was certain that the Vicario brothers were not as eager to carry out the sentence as to find someone who would do them the favour of stopping them”. The boys’ actions before the murder confirm this statement. The announcements they make about the murder plan, even in the market place, shows that they were seeking someone’s prevention not to do it. Twenty-two people already know the murder plan. This struggle to make the act known displays the battle they were going through in weighing between going to jail for murder or upholding Angela’s honour. While boys are more concerned with the status of their family’s reputation, Pablo’s girlfriend only thinks of being associated with them, that is, maintaining a household. Garcia treats men and women differently. Men put cultural norms before their emotions, while women only mind about keeping the family together.

Garcia creates men as dominant over women. Santiago Nasar is one of the main characters of Chronicles of a Death Foretold. By taking away the virginity of Angela, he destroys her reputation. n. Santiago is throughout the show to have sexual aggressiveness, with the second case being his pushy behaviour on Divina Flor. Garcia created his character as one filled with sexual advances to illustrate the culture of men in using women as objects. Bayardo also reveals the same theme by forcing Angela to marry, even without meeting each other. Bayardo buys expensive things for her but does not take time to be with her. The author builds the Bayardo’s love for Angela on money and good looks, showing women as inferior and marriage as their only expectation. People blame fate when they experience misfortunes in their lives, and Garcia proves it in the investigation of the events before Santiago’s murder. She uses chance and coincidence in the narrative to reveal the murder incident and what happens afterwards. Garcia uses an accident as the leading factor to Santiago’s death. However, the actual cause is miscommunication brought about by the events occurring before his murder. Everyone focused their attention to the coming of the Bishop, a chance used by the Vicario twins to trace Santiago. Regardless, people viewed his death as fate through the claim, “there had never been a death more foretold”. The town priest also attributes the murder to coincidence, “the bishop was coming”. It is so ironic that the priest was aware of the murder plot, but it did not alarm him regardless of his knowledge and role in religious precepts. Through him, Garcia shows and criticizes the flawed society, and people’s behaviour to blame fate and coincidence instead of their actions. At least twenty two people knew of the plan, and if they took steps, maybe the brothers would not have killed Santiago. Although the priest blames fate, he goes through “despair and [is] so disgusted with himself” . Garcia’s narrative shows how responsible people suffer guilt, although they may blame it on fate.

Throughout the novel, Garcia uses imagery of animals such as pigs, butterflies and birds to characterize and foreshadow the fateful death of Santiago. The narrative began with a particular morning when Nasar met is death. On that morning, he dreamt oddly, “dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for instance, he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit”. This dream represents his life story. The people who knew the murder plans death were the timber trees, the brief happiness moment shows his natural life, and the bird’s shit represents his death. The use of the butterfly analogy is in the scene when Pedro forces Angela to say the person responsible for taking away her virginity. It goes, “…like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has always been written. ‘Santiago Nasar,’ she said.” The imagery represents Nasar’s fate in cultural bounds after the revelation. It also shows Angela in the furious hands of his brothers if she did not give the name of the man who took away the family honour. Garcia also uses dogs which feature when the Vicario brothers leave Nasar’s body laid in his room. The dogs are agitated of the death to show they are lamenting it with their howls.

In summary, Garcia uses the characters and imagery to build the various themes in his narrative. The role of men and women portrays through the aspects of Santiago, Bayardo and Vicario twins. Men are generally dominant over women and bound by culture to protect family dignity. In Contrast, he associates women with family and men use them as sexual objects. Garcia criticizes the character’s blame of Santiago’s death on fate because most of them knew the plot and took no actions. Also, the imagery of dogs, birds and butterflies build the story by representing the characters situation and foreshadowing events.

Through the utilization of the repetition of honour, the situational irony of love, and the stereotypes of gender roles in society—that men are dominant while women are seen as weak and submissive—Marquéz unveils the global issue of gender inequality and it’s correlation with honour in a society (the machismo and marianismo roles of men and women respectively and its connection to one’s honour in a society). In the town, there is the concept of machismo, as men are expected to have aggressive behavior and in an honourable manner. Women are the property of men, as their purity is found in their virginity—not in their actions. Marquez is criticizing the double standard of how men are rewarded in society for seeking out extramarital adventure, being dominant, and having virility, whereas women are shunned and punished for such acts. Women, on the other hand, are rewarded for being loyal, subservient, and a virgin.

Throughout the passage, Marquez uses the repetition of honour to expose the inequality in the roles of men versus the roles of women. Marquez invariably compares the status of women to the honour they must uphold within their society. Even just two months before Angela got married to Bayardo, Pura and “the blind father accompanied her to watch over her honour”. The concept of guarding her chastity is so important within this town that Angela is required to have a blind father as a chaperone. Marquez is ridiculing the preconception of pre-marital virginity by making a blind man “watch” over Angela’s virginity which is absurd. Furthermore, when Angela was interviewed by the narrator, she admits that the “only thing [she] prayed to God for was to give [her] the courage to kill [herself]”. Angela’s reaction to the fact that she’s getting married without being a virgin shows that society values the virginity of a woman over her life. Playing into the marianismo role placed on women’s shoulders is key to living in this kind of society and by losing it, she believes she should’ve killed herself, which in this society, is basically equivalent to the loss of virginity as a woman.

Marquez also utilizes the situational irony of love to further explicate his problem with the inequality of roles between men and women in society. After getting advice from her two confidantes, she understands that marriage is a symbol of honour with the narrator claiming “she got married with that illusion”. Angela didn’t marry Bayardo out of love for him, but rather to maintain the honour she contributes to the family name. Marquez is criticizing the fact that women are obligated to marry men of wealth and power to keep a higher reputation within society. Throughout the entirety of the book, Marquez consistently utilizes false love and marriage to convey his point, as shown through the various women of the town. Shown through the Vicario sisters and her mother, Pura, they’ve all succumb to the normalities of their town, thus fitting into the marianismo role near flawlessly. Pura goes as far as to beat Angela later in the story for simply not being pure, dishonouring the family and falling out of the role placed upon her. Love doesn’t exist in this town. It’s replaced by the demand for honour and a requirement to fit the machismo and marianismo functions of the culture during the 1950s.

Another key device Marquez employs is the stereotypes of gender roles in society. Angela’s two confidantes, after reassuring her that “they [are] experts in men’s tricks,” teach “her to feign her lost possession” so Bayardo San Roman won’t notice her impurity. The fact that how to deceive one’s husband on the first night of marriage exists as such common knowledge among these women shows the severity of the stress of marianismo on women and reveals that they always have to find a way to work around the unfair limits placed upon them by society. Marquez is emphasizing the burdens women must persevere through to stay afloat in a society so strictly based on the gender inequalities of the mid-twentieth century. Shortly after this statement, her two confidantes claim they’re aiding in Angela’s preparation for the wedding so that “on the first morning as a newlywed she could display open under the sun in the courtyard of her house the linen sheet with a stain of honour”. Public opinion is far more important than the private truth in this town, as illustrated by the custom of hanging the bloody wedding sheets outside in the sun for all to see. Henceforth even in the unlikely event that her husband is perceptive enough to notice her lack of virginity, he won’t say anything for fear of public embarrassment, further emphasizing the gender role stereotypes and how living unlike your given role means dishonour in society.

All in all, Marquez utilizes various literary techniques to explicitly make a statement about how honour and the gender role stereotypes of society are nearly indifferent from one another as well as how they combine to create one abomination of inequality. He is devising a call to action for men and women to lessen their strict views on honour in order to generate a more equal society.

Motives are the driving force of any human, and these motives persist to develop under circumstantial stress. Magical realism novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Marcia Marquez takes this notion into account throughout the plot development of the story. It is made obvious to the reader that certain motives are developed largely due to the circumstances the characters are faced with resulting in creation of a conflict but not a resolution. For example, with respect to the townspeople, economic and social circumstances pervade the society in which the general population resides in. Most are impoverished while Santiago Nasar remains privileged, maintaining a fortune among other intangible values bestowed upon him by his father. In this way, when Faustino Stanos heard of the Vicario brothers’ intentions, he inquired “… why they had to kill Santiago Nasar since there were so many other rich people who deserved to die first” (Marquez, 52).

Without any knowledge of the brothers’ motivations, a citizen automatically assumed the murder would be a form of taking a stance for social reform and call for anarchy. For this reason, it can be concluded that the circumstances of the time the public presided in motivates them to remain hushed when it comes to cautioning Nasar. Another critical piece of exposition that follows the model of circumstances founding a motive is derived from the proposal “that Angela Vicario was protecting someone who really loved her and she had chosen Santiago” (Marquez, 90), as the culprit for taking her purity. This idea proposed by the narrator suggests that this alleged character was the one who stole her virginity, not Nasar, but the circumstances would not permit both adultery and divorce. Furthermore, she had recently been heavily abused by her mother and as to appease her family “she looked for it [the name of who took her virginity], she found it at first sight among the many, many easily confused names” (Marquez, 47). To resolve her predicaments, Angela was motivated to pluck Santiago from her improvised reservoir of names.

With respect to the actual assassination of Santiago Nasar, two circumstances revolve around both the killing and conclusion made at the end of the novel, thus creating three underlying motives. First are the Vicario brothers, who were entrapped in the philosophy that “affairs of honors are sacred monopolies” (Marquez, 67), as this was what was perceived by the townspeople. With this impact, the brothers claim “it was a matter of honor” (Marquez, 49). This idea of preserving familial ties through an arbitrary term such as honor leads to the production of the main conflict, the murder of Santiago Nasar for violating said honor. The final circumstance in place is the bond shared between the narrator and Nasar. The narrator has been identified as a close companion of Nasar’s, whose death initiated a journey spent “trying to understand something of myself” (Marquez, 88), as a means for consolation for his loss. For this reason, the narrator can be seen as unreliable or biased, giving a perspective that may favor the idea that Nasar was never the one to blame for Angela’s virginity, ultimately leading to a lack of a conclusion at the end of the novel.

The narrator is unsure of Nasar’s ostensible misdeed, even prompting him to ask Angela if she was sure it was Nasar, “‘Don’t beat it to death cousin. It was him’” (Marquez, 90). The circumstances of his previous relationship with Nasar leads to an ill-defined recount and summation of Nasar’s death, empowered by obvious motivations to keep an ideology of perfection in the narrator’s mind. All in all, it can be well argued that the entire plot development of Chronicle of a Death Foretold is accredited to the circumstances provided and the motives that arise from it, from the exposition to the main dilemma and the eventual culmination.

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez portrays different roles of men and women in the Latin American culture through various characters in the novel. In Latin American culture, women were designated to be serviceable wives restricted by strict cultural traditions. They were solely responsible for cooking, cleaning and chores while having no mention of pursuing careers or education. Men were expected to take care of the family and protect family honour. Women suffered in marriage and had no consent over who they wanted to marry. Furthermore, this shows how the expectations of Latin American culture are crucially strict and how women are forced to follow these strict rules with no freedom in their life. In this essay, I will be exploring in different female characters and their perspectives/decisions as well how social expectations are undermined.

The traditional expectation of how women were demanded to be virgins contradicts with the reality of how women develop ways to cheat ‘this system’ such as the character Angela in a chronicle of a death foretold.

Angela Vicario is the daughter of Poncio Vicario, a goldsmith, and Purisima Del Carmen, a retired school teacher. Who was a poor girl, she is described as an impotent little girl living with “A poverty of spirit with helpless air” which foreshadows an uncertain future for her. However, Angela was soon discovered by a wealthy man called Bayardo San Roman and forced into a marriage arranged by her parents who were excited. Although Angela had an opportunity to get rid of the “poverty spirit” and marry a rich man, she was apprehensive with the marriage, she feared that Bayardo will discover the truth of her not being a virgin on the wedding night as women were demanded to be virgins and should not have premarital sex before marriage as it is disrespectful and dishonourable to the family and themselves.

However, most women develop ways to cheat this ‘system’ as “They assured her that almost all women lost their virginity in childhood accidents.” Moreover, it is believed that The only thing they believe is what they see on the sheet, they told her. And they taught her old wives’ tricks to feign her lost possession so that on her first morning as a newlywed she could display open under the sun in the courtyard of her house the linen sheet with the stain of honour”. This quote depicts the idea of how women use this ‘trick’ to cheat the system and men to believe them.

In Latin American culture, it is believed that women would tear their Hymen and bleed when having their first sex. Therefore, leaving “Stain of honour” on the sheet. This stain proves that the women were a virgin. However, the fact that “almost all women lost their virginity in childhood accidents” suggests that they are not virgins before marriage which presents social hypocrisy revealing the reality of how women develop ways to cheat ‘this system’ in order to avoid the shame that will be received as consequences such as Angela in the novella. Women are demanded to be a virgin before marriage. However, this “trick” opposes the idea against societal expectations. Yet, Angela does not remain a virgin marrying Bayardo. Moreover, Marquez reveals the trust within the relationship as the husband will only believe what he sees “on the sheet” emphasizing how in the Latin American society, women are seen as undependable and unreliable. Furthermore, Marquez also suggests that Men does not always portray their masculine gender roles. “Most men came to their wedding night so frightened that they were incapable of doing anything without the woman’s help”. Although men are described as machismo and powerful, this quote illustrates the reality of men and how impotent they are in reality.

Female characters are presented as burdened to protect their family despite the society considering them as weak in order to reveal the hypocrisy of men in Latin American society who claim to be responsible for difficulties.

For example, one of the characters that demonstrate this idea is Victoria Guzman. She is Santiago Nasar’s cook. She had a love affair with Ibrahim Nasar and he took her virginity when she was a teenager. She has a daughter called Divina Flor and Santiago is sexually wanting her. “When Santiago Nasar grabbed her by the wrist when she came to take the empty mug from him. ‘The time has come for you to be tamed,’ he told her. However, Victoria Guzman portrays a powerful and protective character in order to fight against this cycle to avoid her daughter experiencing the same situation and losing her virginity. ‘Let go of her, a white man,’ she ordered him seriously. ‘You won’t have a drink of that water as long as I’m alive.’ This quote depicts how much guts Victoria has as she is standing against her employer crucially in order to protect her daughter. Nevertheless, this displays social hypocrisy as Victoria has been seduced by Ibrahim Nasar, yet she is not willing to let her daughter go through the same cycle as she did. Therefore, she stands against Santiago using any method her while daughter resists to fight and remain silent.

Women are presented as protectors of traditional belief of Honour as being the most significant aspect of the Latin American culture despite it going against the teachings of religion practised in society.

Clotilde Armenta is the owner of the milk shop where the Vicario twins waited to kill Santiago. She understands the reason behind why Vicario twins have killed Santiago. Clotilde stated, “It’s to spare those poor boys from the horrible duty that’s fallen on them.’ This quote demonstrates the idea that not only Santiago and Angela are the victims. The twins were also partially victims as well as they killed Santiago in order to “restore the honour of their sister”. Additionally, the twins also acknowledge that it was their duty to defend their sister’s honour. It was claimed that the twin’s act was “Homicide in legitimate defence of honour” in the court and the priest states the twins as “an act of great dignity”. This portrays how the society views the twin brother as victims more than murderers.

However, this shows social hypocrisy as regaining the honour for the loss of virginity (religion) is more important than death in the culture. Although people in the village try to prevent the death occurring, most people believed that Santiago deserves this punishment and considered that it was a reasonable consequence.

On the other hand, the boys have attempted to avoid the situation by killing Santiago. The Vicario twins claimed that they were going to kill Santiago at the market. As well, “..twenty-two people declared they had heard everything said”. Therefore, the death of Santiago could have been avoided if people in the village was more aware. Moreover, Pedro Vicario also refused to kill Santiago at one point. However, Pablo convinces Pedro and “dragged him off almost by force to search for their sister’s lost honour”. This emphasizes how regaining the honour by killing someone is more significant than religious beliefs such as virginity.

The portrayal of the relationship is characterized as angels and devils. When the Narrator’s mom first saw Bayardo, She described him “ It also seems like he is swimming in gold”. She expressed her admiration and praised him stating he was “not only was Capable of doing everything, and doing it quite well, but also had access to endless resources”. Yet, after the unfortunate wedding. Her impression on Bayardo changes as she claims “he reminded me of the devil”. However, during her first impression, she sensed a foreboding feeling about him. But, she did not reveal her true feelings until after the wedding.

Overall, Marquez portrays different female characters in order to communicate his argument of social hypocrisy in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. He uses Angela to reveal the expectations of Latin American society in women and reveals the reality of the situations women are overcoming, Victoria Guzman protects her daughter from Santiago in order to avoid her daughter experiencing the same cycle (losing her virginity), regaining honour is more important than traditional religion values. Moreover, how the impression of people differs on Bayardo after the unfortunate wedding happens.

The role of pride in “Chronicles of A Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez has multiple facets which create a deeply embellished and distorted image of power and defiance in the minds of many. Marquez creates a universe that mirrors the society and individual behaviours in a specific environment that can be anyway extrapolated both in time and location.

Such beliefs and feelings and even law regulations towards such beliefs and feelings were not yet over and are not yet over in some countries. For these reasons the novel is still very actual and it has had considerable success while being published in 1981. The reader is able to understand and reflect upon each character’s emotions and sentiments that are transmitted through the events and the development of the novel. Not a secondary message of story, originated by the same routes, is the final reconciliation between Angela Vicario and the killer of Santiago, Bayardo San Roman.

Marquez’s disordered storytelling is quite unique to this story. His non-chronological order is unorthodox but drives the reader to focus not the destination (the murder) but the journey to it. The term “Foretold” utilised by the writer in the title is somehow already suggesting that, according to the given “environment”, there was no way-out from the Santiago Nazar’s inevitable fate that each actor of the story was building up with his own position in the community, individual past, believes, image and actions.

Social culture, individual nature and distorted sense of “honor” (pride) have the main lead roles that develops and characterises the different players and drive to the tragic conclusion. The responsibility of the occurred and the death of Santiago is charged, by the writer, not only to the killers but to all and every member of the community and all main characters of the novel. Nobody is innocent ! Not even the victim.

The “pride” to which the writer is referring to, is nothing else than the “Honor Killing” that has deep routes in some community culture (still) and even law applications.

Generally the victim is the women that is killed because she was unfaithful and has ‘brought shame and dishonour upon the family, or has violated the principles of the community or the religion’. So we are still speaking about “pride”! Just about the concrete motivation from which the novel is taking it’s its start is that Angela is not a virgin anymore when she marries Bayardo.

It is a very actual motivation for killing still in many societies : Central to the code of honor, in many societies, is a woman’s virginity , which must be preserved until marriage. Suzanne Ruggi, a Middle East journalist, writes, ‘A woman’s virginity is the property of the men around her, first her father, later a gift for her husband”. – Note that in Italy, till 1981 the killing of an unfaithful woman or of his lover was subject to a specific law that was drastically limiting the penalties for this category of homicide. So the “pride” of Bayardo and of Angela’s family is deeply hurt in front of the community and has to be avenged!

During the discovery of Angela having lost her virginity her brothers now “trembling with rage” demand the name of the one that is the culprit. The implications of the Vicario brothers trembling with rage towards the culprit and not placing any emotional feelings of a family to their younger sister depicts the emotional reality of Angela and her brothers.

The most important occurrence at the moment for them being to know the culprit (and not about Angela herself) depicting a vivid and cruel reality of the weight of pride and most importantly the reputation of the family. In the culture of the town in which the narrative takes place, pride is taken very seriously. Nobody in the novel ever questions any action that is taken to preserve someone’s “honor”, since it is commonly believed to be a fundamental moral trait that is vital to keep intact. A person without pride is an outcast in the community. Such a reality can also be described as restricting and oppressing in a way as it defines how and in what way should one act in the community.

As this is the actual local universe of the real world, than the murder of Santiago and the emotional believes of the brothers can be fully explained and they can also be even relieved of their crime as it was the communal pressure around them and their own culture that forced them to take the “necessary” actions to protect their “honor’, pride and reputation.

All of the characters in the novel are strongly influenced by this powerful construction of honor, pride and reputation. The defense of this ideal is directly responsible for Santiago Nasar’s murder. The Vicario brothers kill Santiago in order to ‘restore the virginity’ of their sister and therefore the position of the family within the society. Angela dishonours herself and her family by marrying when she already had an unconfessed sexual relationship with another man.

In order for this wrong to be righted, her brothers must kill Santiago, the man who supposedly took her virginity. Though a few people in the community, like Clothilde Armenta and Yamil Shaium, try -very weakly- to prevent the death from occurring, most people turn their backs to the case, because they believed that the severity of the crime deserved a cruel punishment. Death was considered a reasonable retribution for the crime of taking a girl’s virginity out from the sacraments. This indicates how much criminalised in the mentality of the people it was for a women to have a sexual relationship before the marriage that was considered the only decent door to enter, in a honourable way, in the community.

Quite interesting -again the great ability of the writer in the introspection of the characters- the reaction of Angela in development of the drama where, let’s not forget, she has the role of “Elena” in the Trojan war : at the end she falls in love with Bayardo. We can just guess : because he was ‘behaving as a real man’ ? Because he is the only one that, according to the rules, can “restore” her prides and give her back to the community in a honourable “shape” ? To the reader Marquez is endorsing its own free interpretation.