Chronicle of a Death Foretold Free Essays

Sarah Winter Silver 1 World Literature 4/27/09 Angela Vicario is responsible for the murder of Santiago Nasar. Although it was her twin brothers that committed the actual crime, the reasons behind their murder come directly from their beautiful sister Angela. While it wasn’t Angela who directly murdered Santiago, she is just as guilty as the rest. We will write a custom essay sample on Chronicle of a Death Foretold or any similar topic only for you Order Now Angela is complacent and also participated in the solicitation of the murder of Santiago Nasar. The marriage between Bayardo San Roman and Angela Vicario set a strong foundation for the murder. If the marriage between Bayardo and Angela had never occurred, Santiago Nasar would still be alive. Ever since Angela was a child, she faced a strong pressure to get married. â€Å"The girls had been reared to get married. † (Page 31) It is notable that Angela was the prettiest of her three sisters and several men desired her. Many men were interested in marrying her, especially Bayardo San Roman, but Angela was not interested in marrying unless she was in love. â€Å"Angela Vicario never forgot the horror of the night on which her parents and her older sisters with their husbands gathered together in the parlor, imposed on her the obligation to marry a man whom she had barely seen. (Page 24) Bayardo, on the other hand, was determined to marry her and in a hurry to do so. Their engagement lasted only six months, and their marriage lasted not even one night. â€Å"No one would have thought, nor did anyone say, that Angela Vicario wasn’t a virgin. † (Page 37) Her family was incredibly protective of her and â€Å"She’d grown up along with her sisters unde r the rigor of a mother of iron. † (Page 37) Angela Vicario was terribly naive for going into this marriage without her virginity. She had been distressed but eventually listened to her two confidantes. They assured her that almost all women lost their virginity in childhood accidents and that even the most difficult of husbands resigned themselves to anything as long as nobody knew about it. † (Page 38) Apparently Bayardo San Roman was an exception. Only four hours after the extravagant wedding and dancing festivities, Pura Vicario (Angela’s mother) was woken by three very slow knocks. â€Å"Her [Angela Vicario] satin dress was in shreds and she was wrapped in a towel up to the waist. † (Page 46) Bayardo San Roman was there to return his wife because she was not a virgin. Pura Vicario beat her daughter mercilessly and urgently ummoned her twin sons home. â€Å"They found Angela Vicario lying face down on the dining room couch, her face all bruised†¦P edro Vicario, the more forceful of the brothers picked her up by the waist and sat her on the dining room table. ‘All right, girls,’ he said to her, trembling with rage, ‘tell us who it was. ’ She only took the time necessary to say the name. She looked for it in the shadows, she found it at first sight among the many, many easily confused names from this world and the other, and she nailed it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence had always been written. Santiago Nasar. ’ she said. † (Page 47) Angela Vicario named Santiago Nasar as the perpetrator and whether he did it or not, Angela gave him a death sentence the moment his name escaped her lips. When Angela’s brothers asked who took her virginity, she could have named any man in town. It is never confirmed nor denied whether Santiago Nasar had sex with Angela Vicario or not. However, if he was not the man to take her virginity, then why woul d Angela Vicario give his name? This raises many new questions, for instance, did they have consensual sex? Did Santiago rape her? Were they in love but never had sex, and was Angela only trying to protect Santiago? Or was the entire sexual encounter made up? Marquez never answers these questions, and the reader has to make several inferences. The image of a butterfly pinned to a wall is symbolic of both Angela Vicario and Santiago Nasar’s situation. Once she had stated that Santiago is the one who took her virginity, both of their fates became pinned. If Angela did not give her brothers a name, they would have become furious at her for protecting the man who had dishonored her. She â€Å"pins† Santiago with her words, but she is also pinning herself by the sexism of the culture. The description of Angela’s thought process when she spoke Santiago’s name suggests that Angela is not only thinking of people who are alive but also those who are dead (â€Å"many easily confused names from this world and the other. †) This is not a proven fact, but this strongly implies that Angela chose his name at random, which would mean Angela Vicario sanctioned the murder of an innocent man. Like almost all of the townspeople, Angela Vicario is complacent. â€Å"There had never been a death more foretold. † (Page 50) Everybody knew of the Vicario twin’s intentions, â€Å"The Vicario brothers had told their plans to more than a dozen people who had gone to buy milk, and these had spread the news everywhere before six o’clock. † (Page 58) Yet the only person out of the whole town to attempt stopping the Vicario twins was Colonel Aponte. The murder of Santiago Nasar never would have happened if Angela had done several things differently. If Angela had kept her virginity, the disaster never would have surfaced. Angela could have simply given a different name, and Santiago would still be alive. It also would have been fairly easy for her to stop her brothers from murdering Santiago. Not only is she complacent in the murder, but she also gave the solicitation of murder. Pablo and Pedro Vicario are innocent; they were murdering simply to protect their sister, something any brother would have done without a question. Angela Vicario is clearly responsible for the gruesome murder of Santiago Nasar. How to cite Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Papers Chronicle of a Death Foretold Free Essays William L. Richman Professor Cranston HUM 2641 March 31, 2013 Chronicle of a Death Foretold For starters, I would really love to point out that this short novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, really pulled me in. I’m going to discuss the role the women played throughout this story. We will write a custom essay sample on Chronicle of a Death Foretold or any similar topic only for you Order Now First, I want to touch on the fact that it seemed a lot of important women played a very large part in the main characters, Santiago Nasar’s, life. Secondly, I want to discuss the knowledge these women knew of what was to happen to Santiago and the opportunities they had to intervene and possibly change the outcome. Last but not least, I want to get into the fact the Angela Vicario seemed to have held most of the power over Santiago’s fate in this novel. In my opinion, women played very important roles in this novel. As I stated earlier, women seemed to have played a large part in Santiago Nasar’s life. In the little time that takes place before Santiago’s dreadful death it seemed there was more of a presence of women than men in his life. Of course it goes without saying that an important figure in his life was his mother Placida Linero whom he lived with. In addition, he had women servants who lived with him as well. These women were Victoria Guzman, the cook, and Divina Flor, her daughter. Next we’re introduced to a woman named Clotilde Armenta who was the owner of the milk shop in the square. There’s also Margot, who was a close friend of Santiago’s as well as the sister of the narrator of the story. Flora Miguel, Santiago’s fiance, played a large role in Santiago’s life for obvious reasons. Now, there’s Angelia Vicario, but I’ll get into more detail as to what role she played in his life in just a bit. Continuing, we’re introduced to Luisa Santiaga. Luisa Santiaga was Santiago’s godmother, Margot’s mother, and blood relative of Pura Vicario, Angela Vicario’s mother. Pura was also referred to as Purisima del Carmen in the novel. Last but not least, there was Maria Alejandrina Cervantes who was introduced later in the novel and even more notably as his mistress when he was 15 years old. As you can see, women had an extremely large presence in Santiago’s life throughout the novel. Throughout the story it’s obvious that most of these women knew of what was to come and had plenty of opportunities to intervene and possibly save Santiago’s life. As for as his mother, Placida Linero, she knew nothing of what was to happen to him. Unfortunately, when the time came it was the fact that she locked the door of the house to the square that sealed his fate. However, Placida was misled by her servant Divina Flor. When asked whether Santiago had made it home Divina replied stating that he had made it home. When Placida got word of what was to happen to her son it was pretty much about the time the murder was taking place. When she saw the Vicario brothers, who were going to murder Santiago, running towards her home she locked the door locking her son out of the house not knowing he was running toward the house. Because of what Divina had told her, she assumed her son was already in the house upstairs shouting out at the Vicario brothers. Its stating in the reading that both servants have a dislike for Santiago. Divina Flor had the opportunities to speak up and warn Santiago of what was going to happen to him. Instead, she kept it to herself out of her dislike for him. Despite this missed opportunity, the one women I feel had the most potential to save Santiago was Clotilde Armenta. This woman knew of the ordeal practically the entire time. She learned of the brothers intentions while they waited at her shop for Santiago to come out of his home. I feel no one took the matter serious but, this women allowed the boys to stay in her shop even with the weapons intended to murder Santiago. By letting the twins sleep and wait in her shop she basically helped them. She did reach out to others for help and just the same they didn’t take her seriously. Even when Santiago did leave his home to go see the bishop she could have warned him. Instead she spoke under her breath out of fear of what was about to happen and convinced the brothers to kill him after the bishops arrival. His fiance, Flora Miguel, chose a bad time to have an argument and to wish him ill. It was when all the confusion of everything else was weighing on him and she abandoned him. Now, Angela Vicario is the reason this all took place in the first place. These women had plenty of opportunity to save Santiago’s life. Lastly, there’s this total sense of control portrayed that Angela Vicario seemed to have held over this situation. To begin, she’s the reason her brothers Pedro and Pablo Vicario were out to kill Santiago in the first place. Angela was married to a man named Bayardo San Roman. When the two were married and finally made it home after all the festivities, the two were to consummate heir marriage. When it was discovered that Angela was not a virgin, Bayardo brought her home and no longer wanted the marriage. The brothers asked who it was who took her virginity and she claimed the perpetrator was Santiago Nasar. Now, as the story goes on, it’s questioned whether this was true or not. Through details of the story its quite clear to see that by everyone’s knowledge the two never had a relationship or any opportunity to h ave had any kind of relationship in that manner. Lots of questions arise. It’s even questioned whether she was protecting someone who loved her and she loved and said it was Santiago assuming her brother wouldn’t bother someone with money. Even till the end of the novel the narrator tries to find out and questions Angela. Even till the end it goes without saying that it’s one of those unanswered questions. If Angela was lying she could have come clean at any point and saved Santiago’s life. Angela was the women who held the most power in this novel. How to cite Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Papers Chronicle of a Death Foretold Free Essays Chronicle of a Death Foretold Free Essays Animals: Humor, Symbolism, and other Literary Devices in Chronicle of a Death Foretold In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, utilizes the motif of animals as symbols: pigs for ironic humor, rabbits as foreshadowing, and many other animals to aid in description, characterization, and establishment of theme. ?Marquez uses pigs as motifs the novel. He makes a big deal out of the knives that Pablo and Pedro use while describing the murder. We will write a custom essay sample on Chronicle of a Death Foretold or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Vicario twins went to the bin in the pigsty where they kept their sacrificial tools and picked out the two best knives: one for quartering, ten inches long and two and a half inches wide, and the other for trimming, seven inches long and one and a half inches wide. They wrapped them in a rag and went to sharpen them at the meat market. † Marquez then goes into great detail about how they are pig knives used for killing pigs. This adds insult to injury for Santiago, being an Arab, thus being part of is a culture that considers pigs to be filthy. This is an example of the author’s ironic style of humor. ?Marquez provides an additional bit of ironic humor while Nasar is being slaughtered during the murder scene. â€Å"Trying to finish it once and for all, Pedro Vicario sought his heart, but he looked for it almost in the armpit, where pigs have it. † This further develops the cruel, ironic humor established by killing Nasar with pig knives, and is now being killed like a pig as well. Another use of pigs in the novel occurs when the Vicarios insist on having the wedding at their home, and in doing so are forced to have the ceremony in the pigpen. ‘[The] daughters would be married in the pigpen or they wouldn’t be married at all’†¦ The twins took the pigs off elsewhere and sanitized the pigsty with quicklime. † The Arab culture considers pigs to be filthy creatures, so Marquez continues to play on this belief by using the pigsty as a metaphor for the impurity of the marriage. Addition ally, the parents rely upon the brothers to clean up both before the marriage, and after it’s destroyed by their sister’s untraditional actions, adding to the metaphor. Marquez also utilizes a rabbit similarly to the pig. Santiago walks into the kitchen for breakfast where Victoria Guzman, â€Å"had been quartering three rabbits for lunch. † â€Å"[Victoria Guzman] couldn’t avoid a wave of fright as she remembered Santiago Nasar’s horror when she pulled out the insides of a rabbit by the roots and threw the steaming guts to the dogs. † In this scene not only is Marquez is foreshadowing the killing of Nasar, but he’s also using irony to emphasize details of his violent and cruel demise. Marquez then adds to additional irony by showing Nasar’s opposition to this treatment of living or dead things when Guzman wonders how â€Å"a man accustomed to killing defenseless animals could suddenly express such horror†¦ She went on feeding the dogs with the insides of the other rabbits, just to embitter Santiago Nasar’s breakfast. † The emotions expressed by Nasar in this scene add to his and Victoria Guzman’s characterization: Nasar’s opposition to violence, and Guzman’s hidden despise for Nasar. Dogs are also a motif used by Marquez in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. One of the first scenes that Marquez utilizes the dogs in is the previously mentioned scene with Victoria Guzman feeding the guts of the rabbits to the dogs. But before she does this, Nasar tells her with regards to her actions, â€Å" ‘Don’t be a savage†¦ Make believe it was a human being. ’† This scene foreshadows Nasar’s killing, but then Marquez uses the dogs in a similar way on page 73, after the actual killing has occurred: â€Å"The dogs, aroused by the smell of death, increased the uneasiness. They hadn’t stopped howling since I [the narrator] went into the house, when Santiago Nasar was still in his death throes in the kitchen and I found Divina Flor weeping in great howls and holding them off with a stick. ‘Help me,’ she shouted to me. ‘What they want is to eat his guts. ’† The parallels between the two scenes add to the ironic humor Marquez creates. The dogs are often also used as a motif for the people in the town, especially regarding to their gossip and the way word spreads. As the Vicario brothers are leaving their house to sharpen their knives in preparation for killing Nasar, â€Å"they left by way of the pigpen gate, with their knives unwrapped, trailed by the uproar of the dogs in the yards. † It’s as if the dogs are people gossiping and spreading the word that Nasar is to be killed. This motif continues on page 67, where â€Å"The dogs barked at [Santiago Nasar] as usual when they heard him come in, but he calmed them down in the half light with the tinkling of his keys. In this instance it’s as if people have the intent of warning Nasar, but nobody seems to be able to, and the word is continuing to spread to everyone but him. The dogs also represent the population when they are â€Å"aroused by the smell of death. † The people throughout the story get excited with the idea of a murder, and while many are opposed to the actual act of killing Nasar, they still find excitement in the event and act in accordance with their feelings: they spread the word like wildfire, nobody takes time to warn Nasar until it is too late, and then they gather to watch the act. They treat the entire thing like some exciting, thrilling event, not like a tragic and cruel act, as one would expect. They act like dogs with their animalistic group reactions to the events that take place. Marquez sums up these animalistic reactions on the last page of the book, as Nasar is walking through the neighbors’ house carrying his entrails. Poncho Lanao, the neighbor, recalls â€Å"‘the terrible smell of shit. ’† This recollection carries two related meanings. The first being the entire event ‘smelled bad’. It showed a terrible side of human behavior and leaves bad impressions on people who hear of it. This relates to the second, which comes back to people acting like animals. Animals are often described as smelling bad, or ‘like shit’, and from the way Nasar was killed to the way the people in the story acted, this entire event was extremely animalistic. Birds, in particular falcons, are also a motif in the story. In the dedication of Chronicle of a Death Foretold there is a quote from Gil Vicente, â€Å"The pursuit of love is like falconry. † This could mean that like in falconry, where the falcon learns to accept its role under its master, a woman must learn to accept its role as wife and lover under her husband. This belief, however, is one of tradition, and this novel is constantly bringing into question whether or not tradition is good or bad, right or wrong. This quote could also mean that it is up to somebody to go out and find a suitable lover, one will not just show up, just as a falconer must go out and seek a falcon. Another use of the falcon is on page 65, where the narrator, a friend of Nasar’s, warns him he should not sleep with Maria Alejandro Cervantes, someone who slept with many men his age. He tells Nasar, â€Å" ‘A falcon who chases a warlike crane can only hope for a life of pain. ’† This is again relating the falcon to love. This time, however, the falcon is the one doing the pursuing. Santiago’s friend is warning him that should he choose to be with this woman who sleeps with many men, he can expect to be hurt as a result. Similarly to the falcon, Marquez uses a hawk to characterize Nasar. When Nasar grabs Divina Flor in the front room, Marquez describes his hand as â€Å"the butcher hawk hand. † This goes back to the falcon motif with love. The description of Nasar as a hawk again is used on page 90: â€Å"He was a sparrow hawk. He went about alone, just like his father, nipping the bud of any wayward virgin who began showing up in those woods. This similar to the last, compares Nasar to a hawk, a predatory animal that survives by preying on helpless animals. Nasar is being described as a man who goes from virgin to virgin, taking advantage of them, but never actually engaging in extended relationships with any of them. Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses animals as motifs frequently throughout Chronicle of a Death Foretold to aid in his establishment of theme, characterization, emphasis of events, foreshadowing, and as means of humor. He utilizes a variety of animals, in particular the pig, rabbit, and birds to carry out this variety of literary functions. How to cite Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Essay examples