Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Chapters 2 & 3: Analysis Questions

While reading the chapters, annotate for the common elements of craft and then answer each of
the following questions in at least 3-4 concise sentences.

DO NOT RESEARCH THESE ONLINE!

CHALLENGE YOUR INTELLECT AND DO THE WORK YOURSELF!

1. Discuss the physical characterization, motivations, and actions of Bayardo San Roman. Why
does he come to town? What do people really know about him? How does the narrator present
him? Etc. Then discuss how his characterization in the novel supports the main theme. Please use
at least two quotes to support your analysis.
- When Bayardo San Roman first arrives he is viewed as a wealthy man By the people.
When everyone looks at him they see “silver that matched the buckle of his belt” and
“golden eyes”(25). This physical description characterizes Roman as an extremely
wealthy and attractive man. He is seen as desirable and in a very positive light.
Magdalena Oliver describes him as if he looked “like a fairy” (26). To her, he was
enchanting and eye-catching. He seemed magical and too good to be true. Bayardo comes
to town “looking for someone to marry” (26). This reveals that he had been to other
towns and had either not found what he was looking for or was forced to leave for some
unknown reason. He is good at creating a persona for people to like. Much is unknown
about him but he puts up a front that leads people to believe that he is good at everything,
highly religious, and extremely wealthy. He makes it seem as if he is the perfect man but
the people of the town can sense that he is hiding something. The narrator presents
Roman as the ideal and perfect man to marry. But he also reveals the Roman had a “way
of speaking that served to conceal rather than reveal” (26). He was suspicious and
mysterious. The more the people got to know him, the more they realized that they were
something off about him. He was too controlling and too perfect. This supports the theme
that people aren’t always what they seem. Bayardo was first seen as perfect and the more
people knew him the more their perceptions changed about him.

2. Now, conversely, discuss the characterization of Angela Vicario and examine her feelings and
those of her family and surrounding community concerning arranged marriages. Also, use a
quote to support your analysis.
- Angela Vicario is the youngest daughter of her family. Her father worked to “maintain
the honor of the house” while her mother “looked like a nun” (30-31). This shows how
her family worked hard and conformed to the standards of Machismo and marianismo.
Their family supported arranged marriages greatly. In fact, they trained their sons and
daughters to be perfect because the girls “were raised to suffer” while the boys “were
brought up to be men” (31). In each case, the children were basically brought up to keep
the honor of the family. To the rest of the town arranged marriages were also ideal. They
treated women like objects and when they came of age it was customary that they would
soon be married. Many families such as Angela’s married into higher social standing to
 benefit the family. Although Angela was raised in a family that supported arranged
marriages, she herself was not fond of it. This is revealed when the narrator describes her
as spending the afternoons “making cloth flowers and singing songs about single women”
(32). This reveals her longing to be free and single. Specific flowers symbolize longing
and sorrow and since she was singing about the single women it shows that she longs to
stay single and be like them instead of getting married so young.

3. Examine the cultural representation of machismo and marianismo gender roles within the
chapter, providing multiple examples with supporting analysis. Also provide at least one quote
per each gender role.

1. Machismo- The machismo gender roles are demonstrated throughout the chapter in the
Vicario family. According to the Machismo role, the man is supposed to provide for, take
care of, and preserve the honor of the family. This is demonstrated through Poncio
Vicario, Angela’s father. Although he was poor and had even lost his sight from working
so much he still wanted to “maintain the honor of the house” (30). You would think that
if you had lost your eyesight at an old age, that you would retire. But he did not retire due
to the fact that men were supposed to provide for the family and if he was not providing
for the family, then who would. The sons also fall into this role of machismo. This is
displayed through the fact that they were “brought up to be men” (31). The role of the
man of the time was to be machismo so this shows how the family conformed to these
roles as men.

2. Marianismo- The marianismo gender role is also demonstrated throughout the chapter in
the Vicario family. According to the Marianismo role the women are to take care of the
house and family. They should cook and clean and provide for the male/husband. This
role is demonstrated through the Vicario daughters. For example, they knew how to do
“screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash, and iron” (31). These are
characteristics that were expected of women at the time in order to fulfill the marianismo
role. They had to be able to do house duties and provide for the husband. The Vicario
girls were also “raised to suffer” (31). This shows how their mother was preparing them
for the hardships of having to be a woman. Since they were expected to be in an arranged
marriage, they would not be married for love and therefore would have a chance of
landing an abusive or controlling husband. This shows how the women had to conform to
the gender role of submitting to the husband and these girls had been taught from a young
age to do this.

4. Using your knowledge of the entire novel, discuss the double irony connected to Bayardo’s
purchase of the widower Xius’s house.
- The double irony of Bayardo purchasing the widower Xius’s house is that Bayardo
thought that he would have a long happy life with his wife just as Xius had. This is ironic
because Xius did have a happy life at the beginning of his marriage but then when his
wife died he was saddened. This is ironic because Bayardo and Angela had an unhappy
start to their marriage and then later in the future met back up and were happy. This
 shows how money cannot buy happiness. Bayardo thought that if he bought a house that
someone else had a happy life in that he would have a happy life, but the total opposite
happened. Another thing that is ironic is that Bayardo promised that he would take care
of the house when he bought it from Xius, but at the end of the novel it is revealed that it
was trashed and decaying. All of the valuables were stolen and the remnants of Xius’s
wife were all gone.

5. Make THREE connections to main ideas or Global Issues between CDF and TGG in Chapter
2. For each, provide an example and support quote, and then brief analysis as to the correlation:

1. Idolizing higher class- This relates to The Great Gatsby because just as people always
idolized the mysterious Gatsby, people were also idolizing Bayardo. This shows how
people are intrigued with those that are wealthy as well as those who are new and
mysterious. The idolization of Bayardo can be seen when he first arrives to town. At a
first glance people determine that he is rich based on what he is wearing and describe him
as having “golden eyes”as well as “look[ing] like a fairy” (25-26). However, later in the
novel his eyes are later described as “reminding [Angela] of the devil” (28). This shows
how people thought that he was amazing at first just because he had money. It is as if the
fact that he was rich made people think better of him. The same thing occurs with Gatsby
because he comes in and people just automatically accept him because he is rich, but we
later find out that he does not actually belong.

2. Gender roles- Gender roles are also a prominent global issue in both The Great Gatsby
and A Chronicle of a Death Foretold. This is seen in The Great Gatsby through the
display of Tom, Daisy, and Myrtle. Tom is displayed as controlling the women in his life.
He always treats them as if they are below him. This is also seen in A Chronicle of a
Death Foretold because the women are forced to fulfill the Marianismo role. By fulfilling
this role the women are forced to take care of the male and the male are basically the boss
of the women. This is displayed when Bayardo first sees Angela and tells someone to
“remind [him] that [he’s] going to marry her” (29). This shows how Angela has no choice
in getting married. The man wants to marry her so she will be forced to get married
whether she likes it or not. The men are raised to believe that they can get any women
with the correct price while the women are raised to take whatever they are given.

3. Corruptness of Higher Class- This is seen in Bayardo as well as Tom and Daisy. Tom and
Daisy choose to hide the murder of Myrtle and avoid the consequences. Because they are
rich everyone believes them. Even though they were both leading other people on they
end up using people that trusted them as scapegoats. For example, even though Daisy
runs Myrtle over, Gatsby is her scapegoat and takes the fall. The abuses the love Gatsby
has toward her. This is also seen in A Chronicle of a Death Foretold because Bayardo
believes he can get anything that he wants because he is rich. This is displayed in the
chapter when he buys Xius’s house, increasing the amount he would pay each time he
asked bargaining, “five thousand pesos” and later increasing to “ten thousand pesos”
(36). This shows how he believes that since he has money he can get whatever he wants.
 Even though Xius says that the house has sentimental value to him, and that it is not for
sale, Bayardo keeps pestering him until he gives in. Bayardo is so used to getting what he
wants just as Daisy and Tom were.

Chapter 3 Questions:

6. Analyze the importance of the passage specifying that “there had never been a death more
foretold” and its relationship to the Bystander Effect throughout the chapter (50). Provide three
specific examples with quotes from the chapter and, last, explain how they support a main theme.

1. This quote could mean that the event was written in the future already. This
relates to the Bystander effect because it shows how it is so predictable that
people would not tell Santiago that he was going to get murdered because it was
such a big rumor that they had assumed someone had told him already. This
interpretation of the quote leaves the reader feeling as if nothing would have
changed the outcome of the day, even if he was warned of the murder. The
Vicario brothers would have found a way to kill him. This is displayed when the
lawyer states that he would be alive “if he had left later by the door on the square
when he went to receive the bishop” (51). This shows how there were many
events that led up to the death of Santiago. There was not just one. This makes it
seem as if the bystander effect is not really a bad thing because if something is
meant to happen, then it will happen no matter what anybody does or says.

2. ​ his can also be interpreted as everyone knew that the death was going to
T
happen but they did not say anything. The Vicario twins were telling everyone
that they were going to kill Santiago. In other words they were fortelling it.
However, it is displayed that nobody did anything with this information even
though they knew that the murder was going to happen. This is displayed when
the Vicario Twins are sharpening their knives and they are announcing to
everyone that they were going to kill Santiago. This is when the Bystander effect
comes into play. When asked why nobody told Santiago, everyone stated that
“they were so drunk” and that they did not think that they would actually go
through with it (51). This accurately displays the bystander effect because
everyone assumed that the rumors were false and did not take them seriously. If
someone tells you that they are going to kill someone, you should warn that
person, but these men thought that it was false and as a result an innocent man
died.

3. Another interpretation of this quote could be that the death was foretold, as in
predicted. This can be seen through the use of Santiago’s dreams and restless
sleep. Santiago had been dreaming that something bad was going to happen and it
is ironic that his mother was a dream interpreter yet she interpreted his dream
wrong. People also just assumed that Santiago was dead already as displayed by
Hortensa Baute who stated that “[she] thought they’d already killed him” (62).
 She thought that he was dead already so she chose to do nothing about it. This
plays into the Bystander effect because if everyone believed that he was dead
already then obviously they would not try to do anything to stop it. This causes
everyone to ignore what they are being told and causes them to be unable to war
Santiago because they believe that he is already dead.

4. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Marquez illustrates the bystander effect because

of disbelief, ignorance, jealousy/ bitterness between classes, or social class
prejudices showing that many individuals rely on others to do the right thing
which brings destruction and chaos. This is displayed because the people that
were sharpening their knives wanted Santiago to die, so they chose not to warn
him and they in turn became bystanders. This is also seen in the people who did
not believe or believed that Santiago was already dead. Obviously, if they did not
believe or thought that he was already dead, they would not help him. Also if
people were jealous of his wealth then that could be a cause of them not wanting
to warn him. They could want to see him fail and this murder could have been
satisfying to them.

7. Find two examples of class prejudice within the chapter and discuss the Global Issue involved.
Please support your examples with direct quotes.

1. ​One example of class prejudice is when the Vicario twins were sharpening their
knives. Faustino Santos asks them why they wanted to kill Santiago Nasar when there
“were so many other rich people who deserved dying first” (53). This shows how
people found it normal that they would want to kill someone because they were of a
higher class. Although it was unknown if Santiago actually had taken the innocence of
Angela, the fact that he was of a higher class may have also driven the Vicario brothers
because they were of a lower class. They may have been jealous and others may have
been jealous or hated him because of his wealth. This could have caused them to be
bystanders and not warn Santiago.

2. ​Class prejudice is seen once again when the Vicario Twins tell Don de la Flor that they
were going to kill Santiago and he responds that they won’t “kill anybody, much less
someone rich”(55). This shows how she was jealous of the rich. She states this with
such an envious tone. She feels as if the rich have nothing to worry about because they
can get everything they want in life. She is jealous of Santiago because he is rich and it
is these views that cause her to not warn Santiago about his impending murder.
Jealousy could have driven many people to want the death of Santiago just because he
was rich. They wanted to finally see him fail and not get everything that he wanted.

8. Make another connection to a main idea or Global Issue shared in both CDF and TTTC.
Provide the example, a quote, and supporting analysis. ​*There is definitely a specific passage
that you should be able to easily identify here…
 - An issue that connects both A Chronicle of a Death Foretold and The Things They
Carried is that the men feel as if they have to conform to social obligation in order to not
be ridiculed. This is seen in The Things They Carried because the soldiers only went to
war because they were pressured by the social expectations that were given to them. This
is similar to Machismo because the men are expected to keep the honor of the family due
to social expectations. This is displayed when the Vicario twins are asked about why they
killed Santiago and they respond, “It was a matter of honor” (49). Since they were
expected to keep the honor of the family, they felt as if they had to kill just so they would
not be ridiculed. This is the same within the things they carried because the men killed
because they were embarrassed not too. Overall, they relate greatly and are very similar
in the reasons that they kill.

9. Finally, examine the relationship dynamic between Santiago and Maria Alejandrina Cervantes.
Be sure to discuss the motif of falconry and further animal symbolism used to describe their
relationship. ​This should be a well-developed response.
- The relationship dynamic between Santiago and Maria was the women that Santiago was
sexually active with for a long while. When Santiago first chooses to pursue Maria he is
warned by his friend that “a falcon who chases a warlike crane can only hope for a life of
pain”(65). In this metaphor Santiago is the falcon while Maria is the warlike crane. This
reveals that it was thought that Santiagow ould spend his whole life chasing something
that he could not have, but instead he got what he wanted and even got the crane to
follow him. They were also “linked by serious affection” (65). This shows how in the
short amount of time they spent before they were separated that Santiago was able to
train Maria to care for him and maybe love him. This is displayed later as well when it is
revealed that she had so much respect for him “that she never went to bed with anyone if
he was present” (65). She did not do this for anyone else. Just Santiago. This reveals how
just like Santiago was able to train his falcon to always come back after it has been set
free, he also trained Maria to always come back once she was set free. She would always
be available for him whenever he wanted her.