Chronicle Of A Death Foretold Literary Analysis

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez employs many authorial techniques, which include motifs, narrative structure, and characterization, that highlight the theme that “fate is inevitable”. The most important of these techniques was the use of biblical allusions, as they pertain directly to the theme that “fate is inevitable” and create an important connection between the target audience, the Colombian people, who are, the majority, Catholic.

The first of these techniques, being the use of motifs, is present throughout the novella. There are two major motifs that exist within the novella, being intestines and flowers, both in relation to Santiago’s death. Marquez includes the motif of intestines in two different places in

In Chapter 1, Victoria Guzman is depicted quartering a rabbit for the dinner, with multiple dogs by her side. Marquez states that “she pulled out the insides of a rabbit by the roots and threw the steaming guts to the dogs”, while Santiago Nasar expresses his horror (190). After this instance, Marquez uses Victoria’s character to discuss how “a man accustomed to killing defenseless animals could suddenly express such horror” (190). Later, in Chapter 5, when Marquez finally unfolds the events surrounding Santiago’s death for the reader, the twins, Pablo and Pedro, are depicted stabbing Santiago, and a single slash hits horizontally across his abdomen, causing his intestines to extrude from his body (274). The twins, who were butchers, and frequented the trade of killing their own livestock. The narrator is said to ask the butchers “whether or not the trade of slaughter didn’t reveal a soul predisposed to killing a human being” (222). This, in connection with Santiago’s obvious horror, does bring up conflicts of morality, external to the book, giving us, the reader, more insight into Marquez as an author and a human being. Marquez later uses flowers as a motif that symbolizes death. Santiago is said to believe that “the smell of closed-in flowers

By blatantly stating that the character will die, yet not depicting his death until the end, his death is made to seem unavoidable. It also allows the reader to acknowledge instances in which this death may be avoided. To reiterate this, no matter what occurred in the day that was presented to us, Santiago would still die, despite any miniscule changes that could be made. Right from the beginning, Marquez is forthright with the reader with the first sentence, which starts, “on the day they were going to kill (Santiago)” (185). From here he goes on to depict Santiago’s normal life before his death. The story is in no way chronological, as the later section of the novella is set after he has died, and during his autopsy. Although we have not witnessed his death yet, there is proof, if you will, of his impending death, in the description given by those conducting the autopsy. Similarly, the narrative structure of the novella introduces many ‘what if?’ scenarios. What if the door that Santiago tries to flee his assailants through wasn’t locked? What if, when their knives were taken from them, the twins swayed away from their vengeful plans, believing it to be divine intervention? It is these instances, as many more exist, that create the inevitability of Santiago’s death. Every little detail of the story leads directly to the time at which he dies. By using a