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Magical Realism In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

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Gabriel García Márquez’ Chronicle of a Death Foretold is written in a narrative style that is an amalgam of the journalistic and the fictional style. It is written in the form of the traditional ‘chronicle’, a style particularly popular in Latin America for the purpose of historiography. Márquez takes on the journalistic narration of the chronicle, and adds to it his flair for the artistic elements of magical realism. The objective of this paper is to study the and unearth Márquez’ commentary on society as a cultural unit. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s journalistic novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, makes poignant and striking remarks on the idea of community and how community becomes the reason behind the final act of murder. Gabriel Marquez works on the sentiment of role models, such as the government, the honor in masochism, and the church, in …show more content…

Like General Petronio San Roman, whose being present there forced “everyone to realize that Bayardo San Roman was going to marry whomever he chose”, Gabriel Marquez exposes decorated heroes as bullies and abusers of a general public (34). Although many of the townspeople rush to appease this figurehead, others stick closer to their morals, creating a better example for the common people to follow. More poignantly, Colonel Lazaro Aponte’s is revealed with a long string of missteps and failures throughout the unraveling of the plot that truly calls into question any kind of leadership skill he may possess. As his job likely resulted from patronage between the government and the military, his naivety and foolishness allows him to be “at peace with his soul” even when making fatal errors (53). Through questioning Aponte’s legitimacy, Gabriel Marquez establishes a platform to criticize

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Chronicle of a Death Foretold, a novel written by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, describes the murder of Santiago Nasar, the son of an Arab immigrant living in Colombia, twenty seven years after it took place from the perspective of a journalist. This novel explains how Angela Vicario, after being returned to her family on her wedding night once her husband, Bayardo San Roman, discovered she was not a virgin, names Santiago Nasar as the man who stole her virginity. Angela’s protective, twin older brothers, Pedro and Pablo Vicario, seek out and kill Santiago in an attempt to restore their sister’s honor. Twenty seven years later, the narrator, who was close friends with Santiago, retells this story from the perspective of a journalist. However, the unnamed narrator does more than just the story of Santiago’s death;

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Márquez’s novella ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ tells the story of Santiago Nasar’s murder. It is based on the real-life incident that occurred in the 1950s in a small Colombian town, Sucre. Cayetano Gentile was murdered by the brothers of Margarita Chica for having allegedly stolen her virginity. This was revealed when she was returned to her family after her newlywed husband had discovered that she wasn’t a Virgin. In his novella, Márquez displays the influence of the social mores and shows how these supersede the law of the statute books and the authority of Catholicism, which was otherwise so important and therefore how these social mores affect the characters and their actions.

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When Santiago Nasar dies, his death had to be determined. In the Catholic religion, it is forbidden to do anything with the deceased. Nevertheless, Father Amador results on performing the autopsy of Santiago. Such autopsy can be interpreted as a “second killing”, taking away Santiago 's honour and his identity of a rich man; where Santiago 's “lady-killer face that death had preserved ended up having lost its identity”(Marquez 76), unrecognisable inside a luxurious coffin. Irony plays the role on criticising the church, it questions religion and illustrates the hypocritical values and role of priests in Latin American society.

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Response Paper # 1 The novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1981. This is a non-linear story that told by an unknown narrator, who has a connection with the main character, Santiago Nasar. This book also reveals different kinds of power between men and women in a male-dominated society. According to social norms of Columbian society, women are not allowed to have sex with others before they get married. However, Angela Vicario is a character that found she is not a virgin on her wedding night, and she confesses that Santiago is being held accountable for taking her virginity.

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