Santiago Nasar Victim

The novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, is filled with such colorful characters. Gabriel García Márquez does a phenomenal job in describing the many layers of each individual to show their similarities. Many times when a victim is brought to attention it seems unlikely for the people involved in the incident to be victims as well. Garía Marquez clearly goes into depth about the possibility that a perpetrator can be a victim. Although Santiago Nasar is the obvious victim, the author, Gabriel García Márquez, nonchalantly identifies many other victims in the novel.

Santiago Nasar was an unnecessary victim as he was falsely accused of being responsible for Angela losing her virginity. According to the text, Santiago “was dressed in white linen

In the novel, it is stated that “they had feigned a much more unforgiving bloodthirstiness than really was true, to such an extreme that it was necessary to use public funds to repair the main door of Placida Linero's house, which was all chipped with knife thrusts” (García Márquez; p.49). Honor was an essential piece to Colombian society. The Honor Code influenced Santiago’s murder by the Vicario twins. The Honor Code simply entailed that the men of a family must protect and defend the honor of their family at all costs. In order to fulfill the machismo role in society the brothers killed Santiago, even though the deed was uncalled for. In a convoluted way, Pedro and Pablo Vicario are perceived as victims to the society that they reside in. The idea to murder Santiago was a duty instead of a choice. If the murder had not taken place there would of been a more severe punishment for the Vicario brothers as they failed to live up to masculine role in society. Considering the patriarch of the Vicario family is disabled, the brothers were forced to fight for the honor of their family. García Márquez describes the murderer's actions as honoring Angela as peer pressure to commit a crime so that they could conform to Colombia’s society standards. They went above and beyond to create a perception that could not be denied and looked at as justice for

To support the concept of Angela being victimized, as indicated in the novel, "The only thing I prayed to God for was to give me the courage to kill myself," Angela Vicario told me. "But he didn't give it to me." ( García Márquez; p.37-38). Angela Vicario feels a sense of regret for losing her virginity. Angela values her virginity over her life, as she would be more than willing to end her life rather than face the backlash and consequences from the loss of her innocence. During this time period women were held to an unrealistic standard to maintain their purity, not based on their wants and needs, but based on society's view of the ideal woman. It is ironic that García Márquez uses the phrase, “courage to kill myself” leading the reader to believe that the act of committing suicide is a strength rather than a weakness. The foundation of Catholicism is the belief that life is sacred. Angela’s call for help in this moment of despair truly identifies her as a victim. Indicated by the novel, “On the other hand, the fact that Angela Vicario dared put on the veil and the orange blossoms” without being a virgin would be interpreted afterwards as a profanation of the symbols of purity ( García Márquez; p.41). The author clearly depicts societies view on Angela’s attire on her wedding day. Society has cast a shadow of shame on Angela for her choice to wear a veil and orange blossoms, which