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Chronicle Of A Death Foretold Gender Essay

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In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, gender roles play a significant role in the development of the plot. The different characters and personalities we meet throughout the book are used to portray the different societal standards. Characters such as Angela Vicario, Santiago Nasar, Bayardo San Roman and Maria Alejandrina Cervantes display the different aspects of the culture at the time. The story takes places in a Latin American country during the 1950s. This is a time where high expectations are set for both men and women. These expectations and gender roles are deeply focused on in the novel, and are partially responsible for the murder of Santiago Nasar. Even though there were standards needed to be upheld by both men and women, the nature of these standards differed greatly for each gender. Women were expected to be the keepers of the house, they were expected to take care of the children, cook, clean, and be skilled in embroidery. Garcia refers to the Vicario sisters as an example of an ideal women, “The girls had been reared to get married.They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements.(...) Any man will be happy with them because they were raised to suffer.” (Marquez 31) This proves that house cleaning and pleasing a man …show more content…

The different standards are introduced through different characters as we advance throughout the book. Angela Vicario being what was believed as the “ideal woman” and Santiago and San Roman as “ideal men”. The standards are what set the foundation for the novel and support the different climaxes throughout the novel, such as the murder of Santiago Nasar. Overall, the novel depends on the different gender roles in the society to support the plot of the

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