Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born March 6, 1927, Aracataca, Colombia, he’s a Colombian novelist and known to be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Marquez was awarded the Nobel prize in the year 1982. He wrote the novel Chronicle of a death foretold in 1981. The book is about the murder of the main character named Santiago Nasar, who is rich, a handsome guy living in the small Colombian town. In the novel the author Marquez plays a character of himself interviewing people, and getting information from other characters who was involved with the murder of Santiago.
My understanding of the book through the interactive oral was when Marquez told the story from information by using the dream as a symbol throughout the whole novel. The reader was first introduced with a symbolism which was Santiago dream where he was flying the night before his death. This is symbolic to this novel because flying in a dream can be interpreted to move on forward to the next level of your life, which when he woke up the next day he was murdered. This demonstrates the significance of symbol in the novel and how Santiago dream was connected with his real life situation.
In class, we also discussed how Columbian culture value honor and they would kill to show the importance of honor. In the beginning, the readers find out that one of the main character named Angela Vicario blames Santiago Nasar for taking her virginity. She was going to marry another man named Bayardo San Roman, who later found out that she wasn’t a virgin. In this type of culture, many believe that Angela is disrespecting her family reputation. The Vicario brothers kill Santiago in order to renew their families honor and reputation. I ind that to be really sad because they rather protect their honor than kill and take away life. The Vicar brother didn’t even give Santiago a chance to tell his side of the story and sentenced a death for a sin he might not have committed. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s shaped the whole novel with symbolism and Colombian culture belief on honor. It helped the readers understand the importance of Colombian culture. How did Marquez use the effects of religion to illustrate the Chronicle of a Death Foretold? The novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold takes place in a small Colombian town.
The narrative illustrates the events surrounding the murder of Santiago Nasar, who is described to be a rich and handsome guy. The character Angela Vicario is perceived as the center of the mystery because she is the only person who knows the truth about Santiago Nasar and if he took her virginity or not. Angela was planning on marrying another man named Bayardo San Roman, who later in the novel found out that she was not a virgin. In a Colombian culture, when the marriage takes place, men feel that it is important that their bride is a virgin.
Many believe that Angela is disgracing her family honor by losing her virginity before marriage. As a result, Pablo and Pedro Vicario kills Santiago in order to renew their family honor and reputation. Religion plays a fundamental role that continued throughout the text. Most of them are Roman Catholic and have a strong belief in the trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the Holy Bible. Marquez uses symbolism, imagery, and biblical references to portray Santiago Nasar as a Christ figure in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
Gabriel Jose Garcia Marquez was born on March 6, 1927, in Aracataca, Colombia. In 1981, Marquez published Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the novel originally was written in Spanish. He is an author who is known for telling a story through magic realism. Magical realism is an artistic genre in which fantasy element appear in a normal setting. In the novel, Marquez plays a character of himself reconstructing the events by interviewing people, and collecting information from other characters who were involved with the murder of Santiago death.
Marquez’s Colombian culture influences his use of magical realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold connecting reality with fantasy. Colombians are a superstitious people, who believe in many myths. In the novel, Santiago had a dream where he was flying the night before his death. This magical realism is significant to this novel because flying in a drean be interpreted to moving forward to the next level of your life. The next morning everything fell into place, the prophecy was completed and Santiago Nasar blood was in the hands of the community.
The Bible is the description of God’s action and his creation of people in our world that took place in the sixteenth centuries. The Bible has a significant role in Chronicle of a Death Foretold because of the way Marquez uses characters names in the novel to connect with the Bible. Many can compare the main character Santiago Nasar’s death to the crucifixion of Christ. “Mortally wounded three times, Santiago Nasar turned frontward again and leaned his back against his mother’s door, without the slightest resistance, as if he only wanted to help them finish killing him by his own contribution” (Marquez, 118 ).
The way he was pressed against the wooden door, it could be seen as the way Christ was put on the wooden cross in the Bible. This demonstrated how Santiago in the novel can be seen as a Christ figure. Angela can be seen as another biblical figure; the meaning of Angela’s name is “Messenger of God” which also can be interpreted as “Angel” from the Bible. She is seen as the messenger because she message about Santiago taking her virginity which led to Santiago’s death. Pablo and Pedro plays a role of disciples of Christ saint Peter and Paul from the Bible.
In the novel Pablo and Peter are the villains who murdered Santiago, this relates to the Bible because Peter and Paul were Jesus’ closest followers, who he trusted to spread the message of Christianity when he is no longer around, but in the end, Peter and Paul betrayed Jesus by not acknowledging him. Pablo and Pedro were not as close to Santiago other than their mother being the godmother of Santiago, but in the Bible Peter and Paul were Jesus’ closest followers. The character’s name is significant to Chronicle of a Death Foretold seeing that they have resemblance in the Bible.
The language of the Bible is rich with many symbols, that are used to tell the spiritual truth. Symbolism is a literary device that represents something, whereas in the novel white symbolizes innocence. “Santiago Nasar put on a shirt and pants ts of white linen” (Marquez, 5) This quote from the novel relates to the Bible because when Jesus was crucified he wore tunic of white linen. Take for example the use of color white connects with light, goodness, and purity relating to Jesus. Santiago can be seen as Jesus because they both were murdered the day they wore white, which represents their innocence.
Another symbol in the novel is the mother who helps to portray Santiago as a Christ figure. Before Santiago was crucified he said, “oh mother of mine” (Marquez, 117), same as when Jesus said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son” (John, 19:26). Santiago mother Placida Linero was an interpreter of his dream, she failed to pay attention to the trees in his dream, but however Placida had a great love for her son. On the day of Santiago’s death, Divina Flor told Placida that her son is going to be killed, to prevent that she locked the upstairs door thinking that he was in his room.
Jesus’ mother Mary Magdalene also loved her son, she followed him as a disciple, and she was a witness when Jesus arose from death. Jesus and Santiago both declared their mother’s name represents the important role their mother play in their crucifixion. Marquez uses imagery to bring his story to the reader’s imagination. Imagery is the use of language that appeals to readers to feel, smell, see, hear or taste. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, imagery had a huge effect because readers had a way of connecting with the Bible.
It looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ” (Marquez, 75 ) This quote from novel helps the readers picture Santiago Nasar into a direct parallel to Jesus Christ. When Jesus was killed his hands and feet were pinned to the crosses and was looked as a disgrace, same when Santiago was crucified. In the Bible, Jesus had to die to pay the penalty for all mankind sin, whereas Santiago was crucified for someone else’s sin, and his blood was in the hands of the community. This is an important aspect in the novel because both Santiago and Jesus were portrayed to rid the sins of the town.
The imagery in the Bible helped the readers make a judgment about Santiago through lesus Christ. Nevertheless religion plays a significant role that continued throughout the whole novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The novel is filled with a resemblance that connects with the Bible such as the character names, the symbols and imagery to prove the connection between Jesus Christ and Santiago Nasar of how it illustrates Santiago as a Christ figure. All of these religious symbols and imagery helped the readers get a clear picture of what the authors was trying to represent and made the experience of the novel more enjoyable as a whole.
