Chronicle of a death foretold :: English Literature:

Chronicle of a death foretoldChronicle of a death foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a off-key novel. It was originally written in Spanish but was latertranslated to English.The story began on the morning of Santiago Nasars murder. We arbeing told the story in first person view by an unnamed narrator whohas witness the events that occurred. I think there is a surreal andrepetitive tone I get the feeling that the narrator is investigatingthe murder because we are told the story years later from anomniscient point of view and all the characters thoughts are shared. in that location were two main themes that I noticed. The main theme was howunpowerful the women are in the story. This is shown when MarquezwritesThe brothers were brought up to be men. The girls were brought up tobe married.This excerpt shows the severity of the lives women lead in thereserved Colombian culture of the town. A womans worthiness as a wifewas measured by her beauty in conjunction with her ability togracio usly run all aspects of a household. The idea that the woman ina marriage is expected to suffer is significant-no woman entersmarriage expecting to be happiness unless she is rosy enough tolove whichever man decides to court her. In this Spanish culture,unlike Western culture, marriage is not based on love.There is also the richness of cultural traditions like honor. Thetwin brothers murder Santiago Nasar because he took their sistersvirginity away. Also, I became aware the there in an emphasis on the ideate that Santiago had, with the trees and the weather on the day hewas murdered. Some recalled that it rained and some said that it wassunny.One technique used in the story as a motif as magic realism. This isthe incorporation of fantastic or mythical into realistic fiction. Inoticed that Marquez keeps on repeating the murder before it occurred,this helped to work up suspense.From the second chapter I understood that the narrator implies thatSantiago is innocent for the crime he dies for. But if he is innocent,then who took Angela Vicarios virginity?The brutality of the social conventions meet women becomesclear in this chapter. Because she was not a virgin when she married,not only is Angela abandoned by her husband, but she is beaten by hermother. The double standards of her culture are highlighted by thefact that the narrator, Santiago and some other friends are all at awhorehouse doing whatever they please.This novel reminded me of the difficulty of understanding events.