Examples Of Timelessness In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

What is literature? Is it a plethora of words put together on a page? Or is it a story that has to have characters, a plot, tone, etc. What makes a good story? These are all good questions that a writer can ask themselves when brainstorming for the perfect novel or short story. However, the ultimate asset that a writer has to have is the sense of timelessness within their work. Timelessness in literature is remarkable because that is how now, readers across the globe can still analyze and learn from a work that was written decades or even centuries ago. So what occurs if a novel is not timeless? Does that mean it is deemed unremarkable? In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the novel takes place in a small knit community in Colombia, in the 1950s.

Young adults who read this novel might not fully understand what Garcia-Marquez was trying to convey and all his use of symbolism, magical realism, and his themes. They cannot easily relate to why it is so prominent and pronounced that Angela did not remain pure. After all, her brothers murdered a man to regain their family’s honor, which is unheard of nowadays. Religion took on a major role in this novel, because sex before marriage is a mortal sin in the Catholic Church, which is what most Colombians practice. For this reason, the people in the small town Angela lived in were in complete shock when they realized this woman had committed such a sin. In the 2010s only 11% of people in the Catholic Church believe that sex before marriage is a mortal sin and should be ashamed of (Fisher, “61% of Christian Singles Approve Sex Before Marriage”). Sexuality is so open nowadays that the Church itself is reconsidering sex before marriage as being such a frowned upon sin. So where is the line