Chronicle Of A Death Foretold Conformity Essay

Jessa Barendse

IB Junior English

Mr. Dennis

12 December 2015

The Price of Conformity In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez demonstrates the extent that people will go to be accepted by their community. Cultural acceptance is a common goal that people try to achieve, however, it can induce negative effects on a person’s quality of life. The author uses clear diction to expose how family and society force people to abandon their personal values and self honesty to conform to the values of their community.

The author exposes the constant pressure from others to disregard personal values and adjust them according to the principles agreed upon by society. When Bayardo expresses his interest in Angela he convinces her family

Women are expected to be virgins when they get married and if they are not, they have to fake it to be accepted by anyone. Angela was not a virgin before she got married to Bayardo so she felt an obligation to pretend that she was. Two women she works with help her learn how to create the “stain of honor,” (38) for the wedding night. These women “taught… tricks to feign her lost possession,” (38). Marquez uses the word “feign” to emphasize that pressures on women to be virgins are so extreme that they have to disguise their true selves for their community and family to accept them. While women have to fake a physical characteristic, men have to construct an emotional one. The Vicario brothers “had feigned a much more unforgiving bloodthirstiness than really was true, (49). The brothers had to fake their true feelings and attitudes about having to kill Santiago thus ignoring their real emotions that make them who they really are. The author utilizes the word “feign” when talking about both men and women to demonstrate that everyone is pressured into fitting a mold created by their culture which causes them to neglect their genuine character. This mold is often seen as a burden, however, some people use it to their