Chronicle Of A Death Foretold Literary Analysis

1242 Words5 Pages

Imagine all of your peers are not held responsible for anything, however, you are held accountable for your actions as well as those of others around you. The Vicario family faces this dilemma throughout Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The Vicario brothers, the leaders of the family, must uphold the honor of their family and kill Santiago because he was accused of taking the virginity of their sister Angela. Angela Vicario was ostracized for losing her virginity, while Santiago and his friends shamelessly frequented the whorehouse. In the book Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Márquez the author illustrates the lack of accountability held to Bayardo and Santiago by their objectification of women throughout the book and still asking for pity. This is contrasted to the Vicario family needing to be perfect and having the twins be the leader of the house, in order to make the reader question their biases by making the reader feel sympathetic to Bayardo and Santiago despite their sexism. Santiago thinks he is invincible due to his wealth and abuses his power and high social class in contrast to the Vicario brothers, who have to be the leaders of their house although they are the same age. Throughout the book, Santiago is shown to be a frequent customer of the whorehouse and seeks to have sex with Divina Flor, the adolescent daughter of his maid. …show more content…

Throughout Chronicle of a Death Foretold double standards are shown between the sexes and the wealthy and the working class. Márquez asks the reader to feel sympathetic to someone who cheats on his fiancé and sexually assaults a minor. Additionally, he illustrates the misogynistic culture of machismo in Bayardo san Roman and has Angela Vicario show him pity and still love the man who treated her as beneath him. Through asking for sympathy towards two sexist and misogynistic men, Márquez forces the reader to question how much wrongdoing and prejudice they will allow in themselves and those