Animal Imagery In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

“He’s a Pig” Animal Imagery in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez presents the story of the murder of a young man, Santiago Nasar. Throughout the novel there are significant events utilizing animal imagery in order to emphasize the story. The author’s careful choice of imagery within the novel is used to tie the beginning and the end of the novel together, foreshadowing significant events as shown by the use of animal-based imagery, which occurs in a cyclical manner.

The rabbit is perhaps the most significant animal that appears in the novel. At the very beginning of the novel, Santiago wakes up disoriented and with a headache, feeling generally in poor health. He walks into the kitchen where two servants, Victoria Guzman and her Daughter Divina Flor are disemboweling rabbits. Santiago makes several suggestive comments directed towards Victoria’s daughter, Victoria “pulled out the insides of a rabbit by the roots and threw

the steaming guts to the dogs” (10). To this, Santiago reacts with what Victoria in retrospect describes as “a wave of horror” (10).
There are two elements that emphasize a foreshadowing of Santiago’s death. Santiago is described as holding the “roots of his entrails” (120) after the Vicario brothers stabbed him. The parallels between his death and the gutting of the rabbit allows the reader to connect the two events in a manner which makes the rabbit appear to be the beginning, foreshadowing element of the novel and Santiago’s death appear as the concluding factor, or even resolution. The use of guts specifically to describe his injuries is significant, as it brings out the idea of exposing what is kept inside and hidden from the outside world. This highlights the complexity of his character and calls into question more regarding his morals and actions.
Another animal, which occurs in both the beginning and the end of the novel, is the dog. The dogs are also crucial for interpreting the significance of Santiago’s death. The guts from the rabbit that were removed in the beginning of the novel were thrown to the dogs. After Santiago’s death, the same dogs from the beginning of the novel were trying to “eat his guts” (73) while his body lay inside the house. This is crucial to the nature of the story because it ties the beginning and the ending together, and exemplifies the significance of animals in the novel by using them to foreshadow Santiago’s fate. The use of dogs is also significant to the meaning of the novel, as the dogs can be seen as representative of the townsfolk, making them appear to be cruel and aggressive, causing Santiago’s death.

This is not only foreshadowing the events that occur later in the novel (perhaps a foreboding sense of Santiago’s own mortality and death?), but it also serves as the beginning to a cyclical cycle in the plot of the story. The story is opened with the image of the rabbit dying, and is closed with Santiago’s own death. The violent imagery not only alludes to the manner by which Santiago dies, but we also see the dogs again after his death.
The image of the guts resurfaces when Santiago is murdered, and once more when the dogs reappear. When the Vicario twins stab Santiago to death, his entrails are ripped out of his stomach. This ties back into the image of the rabbit having its entrails removed in the beginning of the book, which furthers the idea that the rabbit was used as a way to foreshadow following events.
The use of animalistic imagery can also be seen as a reflection of what the people around him see Santiago as. Victoria’s dislike is made apparent by her treatment of Santiago, and his death is a result of an allegation that he slept with Angela Vicario out of wedlock. Whether or not that allegation was true, the way that people perceived him after hearing it was changed drastically. A rabbit is a symbol for a messenger. In this case, the significance of the rabbit could be both as a messenger who is foreshadowing Santiago’s fate, and a representation of Santiago himself as an “animal”. By comparing him to an animal, the reader may develop associations that he is lowly or below the rest of the town, making him appear to be a disliked character. Aside from the reader, it may also be an indicator of how the town sees him in a negative manner, as an unsavory character with little worth or value.
The rabbit can also be seen as a symbol of innocence and purity, due to its appearance (small, delicate and even weak). If the image of the rabbit is examined from the perspective of it being both a messenger and also as an innocent creature, then it can be interpreted as Santiago being a scapegoat used by Angela to protect someone else. He could still be disliked by society and thought of as being guilty, but the use of the rabbit may allude to his innocence. With this, there is a juxtaposition between Santiago’s innocence and the hatred that his community had for him. This has deeper implications regarding the skewed perceptions of society and how the people around him singled himself out as an outsider, which relates back to the idea of him being of Arab descent.
The image of the dogs appears again after Santiago’s death. This time, the dogs were described as being “aroused by the smell of death” (73), and “wanting to eat his guts” (73). This animalistic imagery once again ties into the image of the rabbit’s guts being fed to the dogs earlier in the novel, as Santiago is representative of the rabbit as previously stated. The significance of the dogs is that they degrade Santiago by trying to eat the remnants of his body. This ties into the representation of how the town sees him, as the rabbit is representative of Santiago and the Dogs are representative of the townsfolk. The aggression that the dogs display directly relates to the fact that the townsfolk do not accept him, and do not place value on his life.
Finally, the last significant animal that appears within the novel is the pig. Pigs are brought up both when referring to Santiago, and the Vicario twins. When referring to Santiago, the narrator states “he was carved up like a pig an hour later” (4). Pigs are often associated with being dirty, vulgar or even rude. This association gives the impression that Santiago encompassed some of these characteristics, further complicating his character and making it more difficult to establish his motives and personality. This juxtaposes with the idea of Santiago being associated with a rabbit. This leaves his character largely up for interpretation, allowing the reader to cultivate his or her own impressions of Santiago.
The Vicario twins were experienced butchers, who conveniently enough killed pigs. This also foreshadows Santiago’s fate, as he is referred to as the very animal that the Vicario twins slaughter. On page 188, the narrator even states that while attacking Santiago, Pedro Vicario “sought his heart, but he looked for it almost in the armpit, where pigs have it”. This further aligns Santiago with the pig, shaping the viewer’s interpretation of him. I can also be interpreted that the choice of animal relates to how the different people around Santiago saw him. For example, the reader may view him as more of a rabbit, innocent and unfairly targeted, while the Vicario twins may see him as a pig for supposedly sleeping with their sister, Angela Vicario.
The cyclical nature of how the events unfold is also significant to the element of foreshadowing which occurs in the novel. The novel begins with the rabbit and ends with Santiago. The rabbit in the beginning foreshadows Santiago’s fate and his death concludes what was predicted in the beginning. This concludes the cycle of events and wraps up the novel as a whole, creating a sound conclusion to the story. By creating such a conclusion, the story appears to be “resolved”, as what has been foreshadowed occurred as it was predicted earlier. Foreshadowing adds dramatic tension by creating a sense of anticipation. In the case of this novel, it is also used to draw attention to important imagery and elements of the novel itself.

Overall, the animalistic imagery in the novel alludes to Santiago’s fate and represents his character and how others, impacting how the reader reads the story by perceiving his character in a negative manner When examined deeper however, the rabbit can be interpreted as a creature of innocence who was unfairly targeted for something that he did not do.

It also impacts how the town perceives Santiago, alluding that he is an outsider who is targeted and accused of a crime worth killing for.

The different elements tie into each other and create a clear story outlined by the function of the characters and how they are perceived. The function of this is to give the reader different perspectives on the individuals, allowing the reader to garner a deeper understanding of the novel as a whole. Through this cycle, which occurs, the novel is also able to conclude in a manner that leaves the plot largely resolved, creating a well-balanced story with a strong resolution, which ties into the

beginning.