Examples Of Contradiction In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

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Collapse SubdiscussionBrandon Alvarado
Brandon Alvarado
FridayJan 20 at 2:49pm
Throughout chapter two of the novel "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" by Gabriel García Márquez, Bayardo San Román is characterized as this holy, wealthy, and masculine man whom any woman would fall for. These traits of San Román are shown to the audience through the literary use of contradictions and details. García Márquez uses these literary techniques to support the book’s overarching theme of societal persuasion and its religious connections. García Márquez uses details in his physical description of Bayardo San Román during his introduction. One of the first of many descriptions of San Román’s face we see in the book is purely focused

When speaking of San Román’s boat trip, a woman named Magdalena Oliver described him as looking “like a fairy” which shows both the character’s looks of innocence and purity whilst also showing its religious connections because as we all know, a fairy is something of a beautiful and pure character in religion. San Román’s appearance may look pure, however, this is directly contradicted in line 6 which states “Bayardo San Román was not a man to be known at first sight” which reveals his inner impure, ugly characteristics that are not shown over his hardened, pure surface. This contradiction we see in Bayardo as a character puts an emphasis on how Latin American society pushes its holy facades onto its citizens in order for them to believe that in order to marry the woman you want, you must then have a pure, machismo

To continue further upon this idea, Marquez paints Bayardo as a sinister and unmerciful man who makes power and control his primary motive. Marquez utilizes symbolism in his description of Bayardo and mentions that "He had the waist of a novice bullfighter golden eyes and skin slowly roasted by saltpeter "(Marquez 1). Garcia not only describes him in a masculine way to foreshadow his character but to provide imagery that aligns him with the stereotypical Machismo figure. In angela's situation, Garcia provides more emphasis on the outcome of Bayardo or on a broader scale of how toxic masculine roles damage women similar to angela. Garcia emphasizes Angela's thoughts to further characterize both characters in a cause-and-effect fashion when Angela says The only thing pray to god for is to kill me (Marquez). The significance is it is a paradox in the sense that angela a Mariamanismo figure strongly wants to kill herself through her religious and societal standards. The third and final biblical reference that symbolically portrays Bayardo's idea is when Angela mentions that " He reminded me of the devil" but you yourself told me things like that shouldn't be put into writing" (Marquez 5).