Chronicles of a
Death Foretold
Gabriel
Garcia Marquez
In one of his interviews, Garcia Marquez was
asked which aspect of journalism he liked the best and he answered reporting [1].
Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a
perfect example of his love for journalism blended with his astute literary
skills. He has even started the novel like a report - ‘The day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five
thirty..’.[2] Everything in the novel is written as a collection of records
of witnesses’ statements which are then combined with symbolism, magical
realism, characters, irony and other literary devices dexterously to create a
masterpiece.
The story is set in 20th century
Latin America where honor, rituals, family and morals have huge influence on
the culture. Santiago Nasar is a wealthy Arab who is murdered the day Bishop is
supposed to visit the town and bless the marriage of Angela Vicario and Bayardo
Son Roman. Angela Vicario is the sister of Pedro and Pablo Vicario who is sent
back to her parents’ home on the night of her wedding by her husband Bayardo as
she wasn’t a virgin. Her brothers then decide to avenge the honor of their
sister by murdering Santiago who is accused of disgracing her. Even though they
repeatedly announce their intention to kill Santiago, the police officer, the
Colonel and the butcher believe that they are largely bluffing. After the
murder, the Vicario brothers are sentenced to three years of prison. Though
Angela never loved Bayardo before their marriage, she falls in love with him after
he leaves her and she starts writing him weekly letter professing her love for
him. After 17 years, Bayardo returns to her, even though he has never opened any
one of her letters. In the final chapter, the author describes how Santiago
Nasar was killed by Vicario brothers [2].
The narrative style is non-linear. By the end
of the first chapter we know about Santiago and that he is to be killed by the
Vicario brothers. In the subsequent chapter, through various witnesses the
reader is told why Santiago is to be killed. In the last paragraph, the act of
murder is explained. The author tells you about the death of Santiago in bits
and pieces, keeping the mystery alive till the very end. Unlike other stories
where there is a clear plot, scenes move in chronology and there is an ultimate
climax, this novel is written in non-chronological order. The journalistic
style of writing has been used where through witnesses (mainly seven) the story
unfolds without delving out too many details and letting the reader draw
conclusions. This is one of the characteristics of modernist writing. This is a
pleasing change from the traditional way of story writing. It helps the novel to transgress from fiction
to a text more factual and real. Though the plot is revealed in the first few
pages, the enigma around the story is upheld till the end.
Even though the work is journalistic and
factual in nature, there are many symbols used by Garcia Marquez in the text to
signify the death of Santiago Nasar. Santiago’s mother Placida, who can
interpret dreams and read symbols, misinterprets her son’s dream. The weather
on the day Santiago dies is described as funereal, cloudy, rainy and gloomy.
One of the characters Clotilde Armenta says in the text that Santiago already
looked like a ghost when she saw him on the day of his death. The wedding party
floral decorations reminded Santiago of the funeral and he confided in his friend
that the smell of closed-in flowers had an immediate relation to death for him
[2].
There are many things that are ambiguous and
uncertain in this twisted plot. First, it’s never made clear to the reader if
Santiago is the actual culprit who dishonored Angela. When Santiago is first
told that Vicario brothers were looking for him to kill him, he was more
perplexed than afraid. When Angela is asked by her brothers the name of the
person who had offended her, the text says –
‘she
looked for it in the shadows, she found it at first sight among the many, many
easily confused names in 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 has
always been written’[2]
Santiago’s character has the image of a
seducer, womanizer who is a symbol of machismo [4] and therefore, no one ever
really probes into the authenticity of the claim made. However his fate was
joined to that of Angela Vicario the instant she blurted out his name. The reader is presented with a surreal version
of what Angela thought, but never finds out if what she said was true [1]
Garcia Marquez has used magical realism as a tool to present
social realities in a refreshing way in this novel. He describes the house of a
prostitute, Maria Alejandrina Cervantes like some sort of paradise with colored
lamps. She is not depicted as a shameful women but a beautiful one who taught
other men about sex. The mundane setting which is considered degraded is
described by almost fantastical imagery which makes it a very apt example of
magical realism [4]. In another instance, Divina Flor says that she had the vision of Santiago
inside the house with something that looked like a bouquet of roses before his
death. This is interesting before Santiago dies, he carries in his blood soaked
clothes roots of his entrails to his house, which is similar to the vision
Divina had. However, knowing that Divina never liked Santiago and dreaded his
motives of wanting to make her his mistress, there is a possibility that she
might have lied about this vision to Placida to keep Santiago outside.
There are also instances where the author
says something only to contradict it later. In the initial part one is told how
Santiago Nasar is an open-hearted, peaceful and merry person. His death might look
as a tragedy to the reader however in the very next moment the author describes
him as a philanderer like his father who wanted to make his servant’s young
daughter his mistress. As a reader you are fooled into thinking that he wasn’t
a good person and probably did the offense. However after reading Angela’s part
and his reaction to the news, it’s clear that he might not have done it. Due to the limitations imposed by the journalistic
type of writing, the author doesn’t do any kind of psychoanalytic analysis of
any of his characters and maintains a distance from the characters in the text.
In the text, Garcia Marquez has given a very
subtle hint to indicate the time period around which these events occur in
Santiago’s life –
‘When
Ibrahim Nasar came with the last Arabs at the end of the civl war…’[2]
The story is most probably set in the Latin
American country of Colombia. With the Colombian civil war ending in 1902 [8],
Santiago’s father must have settled in the town somewhere around the beginning
of the 20th century. And with Santiago being 21 years old [2], the
readers are given the luxury to conclude that the story occurs sometimes around
the early or middle part of the 19th century.
Rituals and honor code are an essential part
of Latin culture and can be seen in abundance in the text. “My son
never went down the back door when he was dressed up” [2] says Placida in
one of the scenes. As soon as the Vicario brothers knew it was Santiago, they
knew that they had to kill him and follow the unwritten moral code. Angela routinely
sends letters to Bayardo and expresses that the only thing that concerns her is
he was receiving them. Even Bayardo never
opened them, the fact that Angela was writing letters to him was enough for him
and he decided to return to her when he was sure that she is in love with him. It
also shows that the concept of love was firmly rooted in their actions, as
opposed to understanding between them [6]. The novel itself is a ritual
repletion of the events surrounding a crime. It can be seen as a ritual of
investigation with no results or discoveries in the end. Also during these
rituals there is a general disinterest in the knowledge of the content. Angela
never cared about what she was writing and Bayardo never cared about what is
written in the letter yet they kept sending letters, contrary to the very
purpose of sending letters (to exchange information). The narrator too in
general was uninterested in finding out the truth about the event, contrary to
the essence of journalistic writing but an important part of Latin culture.
The best illustration of the importance of
honor in Hispanic culture is the statement by Prudencia Cotes, fiancé of Pablo
Vicario, that she wouldn’t have married him had he not killed Santiago Nasar
[2]. She marries him after he returns from jail, imprisoned for only three
years for killing a man. Everyone in the town knew about it the murder but the
moral code was so strong that nobody found the punishment of death for sleeping
with a woman too much. Deep in their hearts, they agreed and knew it was just
for the Vicario brothers to take such an extreme step to restore their sister’s
honor. Also evident in the text is the very strong gender roles for both man
and woman in Latin America. “The brothers
were brought up to be men. The girls were brought up to be married” [2].
The worth of a woman was by her beauty and her ability to do household works. Angela’s
mother has brought her and her sisters up to be the perfect wives teaching them
every household work. Men were the supreme authority in the house. They also
shoulder the responsibility of protecting their women and fighting for their
honor. The Vicario brothers had to kill Santiago to restore their sister’s
honor. Baraydo had to return Angela to her house to save his honor. On a serious note the novel in a way
questions the honor code and dark side of Hispanic culture
One of the critiques, Mr. Anthony Burgess
believes that the fact that the novel is written in Spanish originally makes it
difficult to critique. He says “Mr Rabassa’s (who translated it from
Spanish) renderings is smooth and strong with an inevitable North American
flavor, but it is English, and Garcia Marquez writes in a very pungent and
individual Spanish”[3]. It is believed that that are scenes in the novel
which certain Latin American traditions can’t be translated for English readers
and therefore those accustomed to Hispanic culture and traditions can
appreciate the text better [4]. The Indian culture is however similar to Latin
Americans in terms of conservativeness and importance to family, religion,
honor and moral code in achieving social respect. In general, the book is one
of the best works of Garcia Marquez and a great read.
References:
1)
Rabassa, Gregory; “Garcia Marquez’s
New Book: Literature or Journalism?”; World Literature Today, Vol. 56, No. 1,
Varia Issue; 1982
2)
Garcia Marquez, Gabriel; “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”; 1981
3)
Burgess, Anthony; “Macho in
Minor Key”; New Republic; 1983
4)
Méndez , Aldo; “Thematic Analysis
of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’”
5)
Williams, Raymond L;
“Chapter 7: ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ (1981) and Journalism.”; Gabriel García Márquez (Twayne's World
Authors, No. 749); 1984