Dr Mark’s The Meaning in a Nutshell
Gabriel García Márquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981)
The novel by Gabriel García Márquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981) (translated by Gregory Rabassa), serves as a critique of prevailing Catholic morality, in particular sexual morality, and the value it places on virgin brides. Santiago Nasar is accused of taking the virginity of Angela Vicario before she was married, thereby dishonouring her family and her new husband Bayardo San Román, who discovered her sexual history on their wedding night after a lavish town wedding. He promptly returned the bride to her family, so the marriage was not consummated and was therefore null and void. According to the prevailing morality, this generated an issue of honour and inspired an honour killing, since Angela Vicario’s brothers sought to kill Santiago Nasar to restore their sister’s and their family’s honour. The townsfolk did little to stop the impending murder that was frequently and openly announced by the avenging twin brothers while seeking out their victim. In regards to who killed Santiago Nasar, it was the Vicario twins who wielded the knives but it was the village that killed him or, more precisely, the prevailing flawed Christian morality that put more value on a notion of sexual propriety than on a man’s life. The novel therefore exposes the moral contradictions in Catholic concepts of moral decency that sees the loss of a man’s life as of less value than the appearance of sexual virtue.
The townsfolk and their Christian morality are the culprits more so than the actual murderers who wielded the knives. They share a collective guilt. Most of the townsfolk believed that because Santiago Nasar had had sex with a virgin whose sexuality was being preserved for marriage he had committed a sin that saw any potential sympathy for him evaporate. Most of them also felt that the avenging twin brothers had a legitimate moral grievance and that Angela Vicario’s fall from respectability could be rectified by the murder of Santiago Nasar.
The novel therefore explores the problem of bystanders’ guilt. Most of the townsfolk are depicted as having morally questionable values and behaviour in this regard. Many quietly agreed with the avenging brothers and were content to leave the matter to the relevant parties to sort out, even though lethal weapons would be involved with one side being armed while the other was not. A few had personal resentments towards Santiago Nasar, like his maids, and felt no desire to do him favours. Other townsfolk are depicted as underestimating the capacity of the twin brothers to commit murder, whom they perceived to be fine upstanding young men. Many did not take the threats of the twin brothers seriously even though they were repeated publicly. Others assumed that Santiago Nasar would be aware of the twin brothers’ grievance and escape, so there was no need to warn or protect him. Others believed that Santiago Nasar had already been warned so they did not have to become involved, or they were too lazy or preoccupied with the visit of the bishop to do anything to assist him. Most of the townsfolk are presented as more concerned with publicly demonstrating their Christian virtue by showing reverence to the visiting bishop, who cruised past in a boat, rather than by doing Christian good deeds, like showing forgiveness and protecting the innocent from harm. After the bishop had gone, many of the townsfolk took positions in the town square to watch the spectacle of the murder rather than try to stop it. There are many occasions and ways Santiago’s death could have been prevented, but it wasn’t. Only a few, a tiny minority, tried to help avert disaster. They represent the most decent elements of the community.
In addition, the novelist complicates matters by speculating that Santiago Nasar may not have had sex with Angela Vicario, so the reason for the honour killing is in doubt. The investigating magistrate found no corroborating evidence to support the claim that Santiago had sex with Angela. In addition, Santiago seemed unaware that the Vicario brothers would want to come after him the morning after the wedding, and he seemed surprised and confused when they cornered and attacked him. If he had been guilty of sexual relations, he would have had an idea this could happen. He made no effort to protect himself. The possibility that Santiago may not have had the sex that got him killed further undermines the credibility of the prevailing Catholic sexual morality targeted by the novel.
Another dimension of the skewed morality of most of the townsfolk is their respect for traditional authority figures who are shown to be undeserving of their status. The local priest, Father Amador, is presented as useless, being more concerned with propriety around the visit of the bishop, or with saving the soul of Santiago Nasar rather than protecting his life. As a man of religious authority, there is much he could have done to dissuade the avenging twin brothers who were devout Catholics. Similarly, the legal authority in the town, the mayor Colonel Aponte, did not consider the threats of murder with sufficient seriousness. He confiscated the knives of the twin brothers and told them to go home, but this only encouraged them to get more knives and resume their quest for vengeance. The mayor Colonel Aponte could have done much more to prevent the murder. Meanwhile, the bishop, who was the focus of so much Christian reverence, did not bother to stop at the village, choosing instead to cruise past in his boat and bless the village from afar. It is an empty gesture that showed his lack of real concern regarding the wellbeing of the villagers. As a socialist, the novelist Gabriel García Márquez depicted traditional authority figures of the conservative establishment as undeserving of the respect of ordinary people.
Only a few villagers did the right thing and tried to warn Santiago Nasar, but through bad luck, failed to help him. This brings in the issue of chance and the role it can play in fateful events. One morally decent man, Cristo Bedoya, who was trying to find and warn Santiago, stopped briefly to help someone else and was therefore too late to prevent the murder. Additionally, Santiago’s mother barred the front door of their home thinking she was protecting her son by keeping the killers outside, but she had unexpectedly barred the door to Santiago who was outside seeking to come inside to escape his assailants.
The Vicario twins believed they were not doing anything wrong, so they did not hide their murderous intentions. They also believed that their actions were in tune with Christian morality, since they crossed themselves before committing the murder and sought refuge in the church afterwards. They knew they risked prison, but there was a sense that they expected lenient treatment from the courts. After short prison terms (three years), they resumed their lives, with one brother being accepted back into the army and the other marrying his sweetheart who dutifully waited for him, unperturbed that he was a murderer. The twins suffered no noticeable rejection from their community for being murderers.
The townsfolk also accepted a notion of sexual double standards regarding the sexual experiences of men and women before marriage, with it being considered acceptable for men to have sexual experiences before marriage but it is unacceptable for women to have engaged in the same behaviour. In addition, there is a sharp distinction made between women considered respectable enough to marry, who are virgins at their weddings, and women who are sexually experienced and considered to be there for a good time. The local brothel madam and her prostitutes are liked in the community but not considered respectable. The avenging Vicario brothers are happily carousing in the brothel with their future victim Santiago before they discover that their sister was not a virgin on her wedding night. And one of the avenging Vicario brothers had a sexually transmitted disease.
As a socialist, the novelist Gabriel García Márquez also sought to portray the rich as distastefully throwing their weight around and using their money to get their way. The offended groom, Bayardo San Román, is wealthy. Rather than court his bride and win her love, he used his money to win his bride by impressing her and her poor family with his wealth, and when he purchased the home in which he expected to reside with his new bride, he used his money to pressure a man to sell him a fine house with which he did not want to part. Bayardo’s wealth is depicted as an undeserved privilege rather than decently aquired. Santiago Nasar, the victim of the crime, is also wealthy. Although presented as a sympathetic character to serve the novel’s purpose of undermining the Christian morality that saw him killed in an honour killing, he is also presented as believing that his privilege gave him the opportunity to potentially sexually exploit his young maid who was the object of his many advances.
The novel also briefly touches upon ethnic prejudice in order to criticise it. The victim of the honour killing, Santiago Nasar, is half Arabic. He is linked to an Arabic minority in the wider Latin-American community. Many townsfolk falsely assume that the Arabs will seek violent revenge after the death of Santiago, but that is not the case. This fear was misplaced and shown to be derived from groundless prejudice.
Student resources by Dr Mark Lopez
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The purpose of the concise notes of Dr Mark’s The Meaning in a Nutshell is to provide much needed help to students seeking to unlock the meaning of the texts with which they have to deal. (More elaborate notes are provided in lessons as part of my private tutoring business.)
Subject: Chronicle of a Death Foretold meaning, Chronicle of a Death Foretold themes, Chronicle of a Death Foretold analysis, Chronicle of a Death Foretold notes