Close Passage Analysis Essay

Close Passage Analysis Essay: Chronicle of a Death Foretold In the fiction novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez presents the unique narrative of an honor killing that occurs within a small Colombian town. Much of the novel revolves around the society’s commitment to Latin American culture, specifically the notions of machismo and marianismo, which emphasize certain virtues of masculinity and femininity respectively. In being so exceedingly devoted to their culture, the town becomes blinded to the evils that derive from striving to protect facets associated with Colombian society— and thus fall victim to said ills. Within the novel, the author often emphasizes the townspeople’s determination to preserve

The disparaging of both Bayardo San Román’s and Angela Vicario’s honor is depicted through the description of their clothing and features, “[...]his silk shirt unbuttoned and his fancy pants held up by the elastic suspender. ‘He had that green color of dreams,’[...]Angela Vicario was in the shadows[...] Her satin dress was in shreds and she was wrapped in a towel up to the waist. Pura Vicarios thought they’d gone off the road in the car[...]” (45). Garcia Marquez illustrates the idea that Bayardo San Román had rejected Angela Vicario due to her disregard for the emphasis of purity in the notion of marianismo by describing her clothing as being torn and dishevelled. Additionally, the ideals of machismo are also related in the sense that Bayardo San Román’s honor has clearly been undermined and this is depicted through the fact that his clothing is additionally

Pura Vicario believes that the two defaced figures that appear on her doorstep are of another realm, “Pura Vicario thought they’d gone off the road in the car and were lying dead at the bottom of the ravine. ‘Holy Mother of God,’ she said in terror. ‘Answer me if you’re still of this world’” (46). Due to the strong Latin American belief in the supernatural, Pura Vicario is led to believe that both Bayardo San Román and Angel Vicario are spirits, or ghosts, of an alternative world. Moreover, the strong influence of the supernatural ideology of Christianity within Latin American society is also evident. This concept is encouraged by the underlying cultural belief in the supernatural. In other words, Pura Vicario’s misconception is primarily conjectured by preexisting notions within Colombian and Latin American