Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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Recommended: Gender and role of women

Are women still known to be the weaker sex? Today, women think they can get the same recognition as men with hard work and determination. Although this idea is true, certain cultures still emphasis the idea that men will always be the more powerful sex, showing that sexism still plays a part in society. Gabriel Garcia Marquez shows the same type of prejudice throughout his novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Set in a small Columbian town, Angela Vicario was returned home after her wedding night by her husband, Bayardo San Roman, when he found out that she is not a virgin. Her actions put her family in shame. When asked who the man was who took her virginity, Angela claimed it was Santiago Nasar. Santiago Nasar was a well-known and wealthy man in the town. Angela’s brothers’, Pablo and Pedro Vicario planned to murder Santiago Nasar for the sake of their family’s honor. Many townspeople were warned about the plan to kill Santiago but no one succeeded to tell him before the murder occurred. Some did not take the Vicario brothers’ seriously when they were told about the murder plan. Even the mayor, Colonel Lazaro Aponte, found out about the brothers’ plan and still did nothing to stop Santiago from getting brutally stabbed to death. The reasons behind the death of Santiago Nasar’s murder were the passive actions from the townspeople, the Vicario brothers’ need to protect their family’s honor, and the double-standard around gender roles played within the town.
The townspeople who were warned about the Vicario brothers’ plan to murder Santiago Nasar were responsible for the crime due to their negligence. As more and more people were becoming aware of the plan, they all decided not to get involved so they would not have to put their ...

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...people in the town, protecting a family’s honor, and the lack of freedom women had in the town. Women have finally gained their freedom. Women are now running for president, playing the same sports as men, and do not have their reputation based on the number of men they have slept with. Garcia Marquez shows readers how culture and society can make a difference in one’s life. If Angela had lost her virginity before marriage now rather than when the story took place, it would have not been made into a huge deal, and no man would be allowed to take another man’s life for any excuse. If society did not change, women would have still been treated as house slaves with very little education and dependent on a man their whole life.

Works Cited

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicles of a Death Foretold. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York:
Vintage International, 2003. Print.

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