One theme that is emphasized in Chronicle of a Death Foretold is the interpretation of dreams. From the very first paragraph of this novella, it is evident that dreams play an important role in the fate of Santiago Nasar, the main protagonist.
The earliest event involving superstition of dreams is when Santiago’s mother attempts to comprehend Santiago’s dream, but, ends up misinterpreting it. In the morning of Santiago's death, Santiago’s mother looks back on that “he’d dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit” (Márquez 3).
The juxtaposition of the calm dream and the reality of waking
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The imagery provides a very somber, and dark tone, helps sets up the scene for the murder
There are many deadly omens and one such example is when Divina Flor recalls for the narrator that Santiago “grabbed her by the wrist with a hand that felt frozen and stony, like the hand of a deadman” (8). dramatic irony due to the fact that the reader is aware of that Santiago’s loss of life is meanwhile pre-planned even though neither him nor Divina are aware.
These deathly omens continue at some point of the novel, certain as when Clotilde Armenta, the the milk store owner also notes as Santiago “already looked like a ghost” (Márquez 9). The word ghost means that the person has passed away, foreshadowing Santiago’s unlucky passing
On page 42, Santiago Nasar had often told me that the smell of closed-in flowers had an immediate relation to him…’I don’t want any flowers at my
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goes against tradition since the symbol of flowers serve as a final tribute of life. Flowers have a rich history of meaning and symbolism at funerals.
Later on in the novella, the reader learns about the violent nightmares of the Vicario brothers have. The Vicario brothers had “gone three nights without sleep, but they couldn’t rest because as soon as they began to fall asleep they would commit the crime all over again” (pg. 79).
Exhibits dreams/ values they no longer had the luxury to escape the murder they committed, haunted
In spite of the fact that they were convinced ‘they had nothing to repent’ (pg. 83) Pedro Vicario remained ‘awake for eleven months’ (pg. 80). it’s clear they felt some bottled-up guilt for the crime they committed.
Supernatural elements such as superstition of dreams and omens that Márquez incorporates into Chronicle of a Death Foretold serve as a linking point between what is/ what is not real. Average reader, it is clear that the supernatural elements present in the novella are not reality. Nevertheless, to the characters in the novella, those elements serve as their reality by which they are surrounded resulting them to place more emphasis on what is unreal rather than the reality of Santiago’s murder. Thank