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

to give him their blessing and her family “impose[s] the obligation to marry [Bayardo],” (34). The use of “impose” and “obligation” illuminates the idea that women's surroundings pressure them to do certain things, like getting married, to the point where they don’t have a choice. Marrying a man that they love is a value that many women hold and it has to be neglected because their families strip them of the option to marry someone they really love. Society agrees that women are supposed to be married and this agreement forces many women to let go of what they feel is right so they can satisfy the expectations that are imposed by their community. Similarly, men are victims to this kind of demand to fit a certain role. Pablo Vicario’s wife, Prudencia Cortes, pressures him into acquiescing the expectations of men to kill for honor. The narrator interviews her about the day Santiago was murdered when she admits that she “never would’ve married him if he hadn’t done what a man should do,” (62). Pablo was pressured into killing Santiago because if he didn’t, Prudencia would not have agreed to be his wife. In this culture, along with many others, being a man is defined by carrying out honor killings. Honor killings are a predetermined event by society given the circumstances that fornication occurs. They have to kill because it is “what a man should do” and if they don’t, they are not accepted by their family or community. This cultural expectation is one that conflicts with almost everyone’s morals because most people don’t believe that killing is right. Men have to abandon this moral for them to be accepted by their families and, in this case, significant others. The idea of what a man and woman should be is determined by society and upheld by others, causing people to change their ways so they can please those who surround them.
These predisposed roles appointed to men and women cause them to portray the person that society wants them to be while disregarding their authentic identity.

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

advantage.
Gender roles are often used as an excuse for inexcusable behavior. Divina Flor uses the fact that she is a girl to justify not telling Santiago that the Vicario brothers were going to kill him. She tells the narrator that she did not tell Santiago because she was “nothing but a frightened child… incapable of making a decision,” (13). Others will accept this claim because she is a female and her reasoning equates with how society thinks women are incapable of having a voice, specifically at a younger age. The Vicario brothers also use their gender roles to explain their behavior. The brothers tell the priest that they are “innocent,” (49) and that “it was a matter of honor,” (49). The author uses the word “innocent” to express how men can easily avoid consequences for murder to unmask how some culture’s values are so distorted. Men are unquestionably innocent when a murder is motivated by defending honor because it is their obligation assigned by their culture and no one expects anything less from them. Gender roles are convenient for others when used to pardon one’s self for poor behavior.
Marquez uses coherent words to express the negative effects that conformity has on people. Societal expectations cause people to be dishonest with themselves, relinquish their personal beliefs, and get out of things they should take responsibility for. Fighting against those who pressure individuals to conform is important because without nonconformists, there would be no advancements in society since progress can only occur when people speak their minds. In addition, when women and men remain silent, they are giving into those who pressure them and slowly become a product of society rather than a person with real thoughts and feelings. The consequential price of conforming to society’s values while betraying one’s personal beliefs and convictions is an unequivocal cost that no one should be willing to pay.