In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of

a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

Line of Inquiry

In what ways are violence and honor in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel

“Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

Word Count: 1,494

The novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” speaks of, within a pseudo-journalistic

reconstruction, how the Vicario twins murdered Santiago Nasar, and was revealed to the public

in the year 1981. In permitting its publication, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, its author, disturbed a

voluntary "publication strike," underneath which, for decades, he had rejected to publish any

novel till the Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, stepped down. “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”

had an astonishing and sudden success as an estimated 1,000,000 copies of the novel were sold..

The major fame of this novel raises the question: “In what ways are violence and honor in the

Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia

Marquez? Engaging in a thorough analysis, throughout which the author’s use of imagery,

diction, symbolism, and foreshadowing are closely studied, it will come to be understood how

the ingratiation of honor and violence in the novel set the foundation for the message to its

audience.

To begin with, the importance of violence and honor inside the events and their outcomes are

most significantly showcased in the event wherein the object that is being fixed up by the Vicario

twins was at one point in Angela Vicario’s possession accentuated by Garcia’s use of images and

diction. Garcia paints vivid images with his prose to vary the polarizing tones of the novel,

ranging from detached to disturbed, so as to portray the grotesque murder of Santiago Nasar.

Garcia Marquez’s florid descriptions within the text help narrate the episodes of the homocide to
In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of
a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
the readers as they happen. In expressing the foremost monstrous scenes in the novel, the author

utilizes that sort of imagery to indicate for readers the severity of such actions and the

consequences they would bring forth. The narrator describes the violent murder on page 119 as

follows, “Pablo Vicario gave him a horizontal slash on the stomach, and all his intestines

exploded out. […], but his wrist twisted with horror and he gave him a wild cut on the thigh.”

(Marquez) During this transit of the novel, Marquez illustrates the violent nature of the manner

in which the Vicario brothers committed their crime, extrapolating every detail. Readers are

therefore pushed to visualize the victim’s intestines detonating out and one of the Vicario twin’s

joint crumpling in terror in response. By contributing this evocative description, Gabriel

stimulates the reader’s imagination and creates graphic depictions within the novel that helps the

reader to actualize the violent extent of the Vicario Brothers’ actions to avenge their sister, as it

is heavily revered and cherished within the Colombian culture. Imagery greatly contributes to

Marquez’s technique of portraying the virtue and tragedy of honor and violence in “Chronicle of

a Death Foretold”. He conjointly employs diction to accentuate on the importance of violence

and honor undertaken by the Vicario brothers. Gabriel Garcia Marquez uses diction to explain

the scene in a manner that will have the reader comprehending the implications of the event

occurring, and, in turn, relaying the Vicario brothers’ violent threats towards their sister because

it is what is best for her. "Pedro Vicario, the more forceful of the brothers, […]. ‘All right, girl,'

he said to her, trembling with rage, 'tell us who it was.'” (Marquez). By narrating the segment

using victimizing and belittling words such as “forceful” and “trembling”, the readers are thusly

invested in the anxious tonality of the excerpt and perceive what Gabriel desires to conduct

through the struggles and emotions a family undergo as one’s honor has been dragged through

the mud. The narrator uses diction to convey descriptions of the events of the story. He
In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of
a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
particularly uses this method to explain murderous act itself, “Then they both kept on knifing

him […], floating in the dazzling backwater they had found on the other side of fear.”

(Marquez). Through the usage of illustrative terms with a significant overtone like “knifing” and

“dazzling”, Gabriel produces a rigid tone within the book. In this manner of employing imagery

and diction, Gabriel Garcia Marquez selects specific words to supplicate a particular response

and elucidation by the reader. The distinct imagery and diction assist Marquez in describing the

grotesque death of Santiago Nasar and therefore the violence exerted upon him, and the honor

that has been requited through the consequence of death.

Moving on, the crucial use of symbolism within the novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”

shines a light on the role that violence and honor play inside the story. Readers tend to learn that

both the narrator's and Santiago Nasar's mothers interpret symbols from dreams. This is often

mindfully regarded, due to the fact that the work is meant to be perceived as literal and

straightforward, thus any such symbols work against the narrator's desired intent of elucidating

the events close Santiago Nasar's death, which therefore change the manner in which they are

presented from a matter-of-fact account into a strictly anecdotal aside. As a result, these sorts of

discourses occur indiscriminately and with no discernible purpose, it is difficult to tell apart any

revenant image that encompasses a bigger significance within the text as a full from a literal

representation within itself. The constant inclusions of birds and references to birds seem to be

scattered in the text, typically to a somewhat enigmatic impact. The main character conceives of

birds the night prior to his assassination, and Plácida Linero does not acknowledge the dream as

a foul omen. The affiliation linking birds and bad luck locates the novel inside the heritages of

Greek tragedy, within which soothsayers scan the longer term by looking at birds migrating in

the sky. Primarily, Santiago conjointly promotes falcons. The epigraph of the bookl, a quote by
In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of
a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
famous Portuguese author Gil Vicente, informs the reader that “the pursuit of love is like

falconry.” (Marquez) It would be aforesaid that the appearance of birds, just like the appearance

of flowers, is supposed to both highlight and connect the disparate realms of affection and

violence into an interconnected relationship. As it stands, the particular relation of the image of

the bird and honor manifests in the form of the feather. Within the Colombian culture, the feather

stands as an indication of a powerful image that signifies honor and an affiliation between

humanity, the Creator, and therefore the bird wherefore the feather came. It symbolizes trust,

honor, strength, wisdom, power, and freedom, and is consequently deeply revered as a symbol of

high honor. Once a feather falls to the world, it's believed to hold all of the bird's energy, and is

perceived as a present from the sky and the trees. The bird that Santiago Nasar saw in his dreams

was therefore symbolic of the recovery of Vicario brothers’ little sister’s honor, returning with a

vengeance, a harbinger of violence, with no mercy employed (Preston). This novel is packed

with nuanced and hidden symbolism, most of which indicate the depth of the use of violence to

uphold honor throughout the entire novel.

Finally, the whole novel is entirely founded upon its inculcation of foreshadowing, boldly

stated in the very title of the novel: “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”. Several foreshadowing

events develop within the story preceding the death of Santiago, such as mentions of his mom's

loneliness and Bayardo's outlandishness. All those events provide the readers with a sense that

the entire story is utterly found out and all things have been set into motion already. The dream,

the weather, and nature all auspicate Santiago's death. The instance most indicative of what’s to

come occurs at the start of the story, being Santiago’s dream; Marquez writes that “The week

before, he'd dream that he was alone inside a tin foil plane and flying through the almond trees

while not bumping into anything” (Marquez). The dream harbors the event of Santiago's death as
In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of
a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
a result of the unending array of trees that crowd about his own body as he careens between

them. Santiago’s death was undoubtedly planned because it was foreshadowed from the very

first line. The municipality square are convinced that Santiago should die, albeit his murder is

completely preventable since honor stood as a proprietor of his fate (Samples). The employment

of foreshadowing is therefore a crucial aspect of the novel because it highlights the extent of

violence conveyed and the honor that’s meant to be relinquished and restored.

In conclusion, no one within the novel ever questions any action that has been undertaken to

preserve someone's honor, since it's usually believed to be an elementary ethical attribute in

Colombian culture, which must remain intact on principle, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez makes

sure to indicate as much by utilizing elevated imagery and diction, symbolism and

foreshadowing. Garcia Marquez, the master of a style known as magic realism, remains Latin

America's most celebrated writer, as he beautifully combines reality and imaginative qualities,

sublimated through multiple aspects such as miraculous and bewitching events and characters;

love and madness; wars, politics, and death.

In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of
a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
Work Cited

Marquez, Gabriel G. 1981. “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” Sxcsrannalibrary.

http://www.sxcsrannalibrary.co.in/sites/default/files/Chronicle%20of%20a%20Death%20Foretol

d-GABRIEL%20GARCIA%20MARQUEZ.pdf

Preston, Oliver. 22 November, 2016. "Chronicle of a Death Foretold Symbol: Birds." LitCharts

LLC.

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/chronicle-of-a-death-foretold/symbols/birds

Preston, Oliver. 22 November, 2016. "Chronicle of a Death Foretold Themes: Violence, Trauma,

and Community." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC.

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/chronicle-of-a-death-foretold/themes/violence-trauma-and-

community#:~:text=Chronicle%20of%20Death%20Foretold%20demonstrates,and%20its%20eff

ects%20are%20irreversible

6 April, 2021. "The Role of Honor in the "Chronicle of a Death Foretold". StudyMoose.

https://studymoose.com/the-role-of-honor-in-the-chronicle-of-a-death-foretold-essay

18 June, 2018. “How Traditions Have Lost Meaning as Illustrated in “Chronicle of a Death

Foretold”.” GradesFixer.

gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/traditions-and-their-loss-of-meaning-use-of-diction-in-

chronicle-of-a-death-foretold/

25 January, 2019. “Symbols to Foreshadow and Characterize Santiago Nasar's Death.” Literature

Essay Samples, Essay Writer.

https://literatureessaysamples.com/symbols-to-foreshadow-and-characterize-santiago/
In what ways are honor and fate in the Colombian culture interpreted in the novel “Chronicle of
a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?