In his novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez establishes his setting in Sucre, a small town of Bolivia. In this Bolivian society, all of the townspeople’s actions focus upon a theocentric outlook and derive conclusions based on guidance from hierarchal figures. Through his use of ironical and biblical references, Marquez implements satire to portray the societal members’ lack of adherence to the Catholic morals, and eventually leads up to Santiago Nasar’s murder.
In doing so, Marquez forces the reader to question the morality behind the viewpoints of the religious figures of the novella including the priest’s indifference to Catholic ethics, revealing the hypocrisy of the church. Primarily, Marquez satirizes the theocentric outlook the society withholds by presenting the antithetical attitude of Father Carmen Amador. Father Amador provides little input on Santiago Nasar’s autopsy, due to his prior, incomplete studies of medicine and surgery.
Despite the fact the priest assumes the responsibility of undergoing the rites and administration of a deceased individual, they are restricted from opposing the traditions of Catholicism and acquire the responsibility of blessing the departed in the name of Christ. During the autopsy process, Marquez notes, “the priest had pulled out the sliced-up intestines by the roots, but in the end he didn’t know what to do with them, and he gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage pail” (Marquez 76). Marquez implements the paradox to demonstrate the insignificance of Father Amador’s true value and contribution in society.
As a priest, Father Amador should instruct, guide, and encourage holiness among the people of God. Instead, the priest contradicts the morals of Christianity and disrespects the deceased Santiago Nasar. Additionally, he portrays authoritarian worship towards the citizens. The act of carelessly handling the intestines represents how ignorantly the priest dealt with the remains of Santiago Nasar, although he was well aware the parts could possibly be used for further claims against the Vicario brothers in court, and perhaps lead to new evidence in the future.
Instead, the priest threw away necessary evidence because he did not perceive it necessary and granted them an unnatural and obligatory blessing. Moreover, Marquez implements irony through his discarding of the intestines scene to further satirize the Catholic religious figures because he implies the priest believes in authority worship, his superiority above all other citizens and how his power supersedes the court, a belief not preached in Catholic society. Furthermore, Marquez capitalizes the satire of Catholicism through his emphasis on the credulous nature of the townspeople.
Marquez presents Santiago Nasar’s mother, Placida Linero, as one of the few characters in the novella that contradicts societies norms of a strict adherence to the Catholic values. She reveals a sense of impassivity towards the Bishop’s arrival, unlike the compassion the crowds of people withhold while waiting for the relinquishment of their sins. Before Santiago Nasar leaves to the church pomp, his mother acknowledges, “He’ll give an obligatory blessing, as always, and go back the way he came”(Marquez 8).
Marquez presents this satire to indicate the absence of grace and value from the arrival of the Bishop on a routinely and predetermined basis. In fact, it now portrays such an ordinary act, that people are beginning to realize the vacancy of the full-hearted devotion a priest should promote to the followers with his deliverance of blessings and spiritual advice. The priest makes a hasty, incumbent visit only to make an appearance to the masses adoring him.
Most of the townspeople are unaware of the Bishop’s foolish actions, and wholeheartedly devote their time and resources to the Bishop in hopes of salvation, but are clearly taken advantage of. Overall, Marquez exhibits the satire through the spiritual authorities in the Bolivian society and discusses how many hierarchal figures are strictly concerned with completing their duty to society rather then displaying the Catholic ethics of valuing acceptance, forgiveness, and love. Marquez critiques the Catholic Church for their principles and hypocrisy.
Marquez implies this involuntary action, to exhibit the satire in that the Bishop does not preach what he believes as a Catholic hierarchal figure, which assumes the responsibility of settling conflicts between individuals in society. Linero’s hasty remark towards the irrelevance of the visit from the Bishop appeared legitimate as seen in Marquez’s description, “It was a fleeting illusion: the Bishop began to make the sign of the cross in the air opposite the crowd on the pier, and he kept on doing it mechanically afterwards, without malice, or inspiration, until the boat was lost from view…” (Marquez 17).
Marquez clearly critiques the Church for its hypocrisy and deception exclusively through his clarification on what actually occurred once the Bishop made his appearance to the people of Sucre. The ephemeral visit reflects an illusionary and automated action. The crowd gathered for the arrival of the Bishop expected the Bishop to descend from the boat and minimally greet the people. This action presents a form of respect and consideration, but Bishop stayed on the boat with no intentions of honorable acknowledgement.
As the Bishop disappeared into the horizon, he continued to make the sign of the cross in the air, demonstrating the lack of adherence the Bishop upholds in promoting the morals of Catholicism within the masses of people that consumed their time and effort to respect the grace of the Bishop. Instead, they “felt cheated” and their contributions and brief excitement went to waste. (Marquez 17) Marquez’s placement of the Bishop’s in the novella is one of the most decisive representations of satire behind the hierarchal figures of the Catholic Church that guide individuals of Latin American culture.
Marquez’s novella principally attacks and criticizes Catholicism and the communal values observed from the code of honor the townspeople adhere. Marquez distinguishes the satire through the representation of the Vicario family and the return of Angela Vicario to her home. The Catholic beliefs reflect a pivotal aspect of the Vicario’s lifestyle. When Angela returns from Bayardo San Roman’s place, Roman thanks Pura Vicario and says, “You’re a saint” (Marquez 46).
Marquez suggests the Vicario’s represent the values of Christianity within the society because of the metaphor comparing Pura Vicario to a holy angel. Virginity denoting a pure woman is one of the beliefs they upheld and this is revealed through Pura Vicario’s beating of her daughter. Catholicism advocates love and devotion to believing in the generosity of oneself towards others. However, it does not advocate abuse for sins previously committed. In this instance, Angela Vicario is not forgiven of her sins and therefore, she is beaten violently.
Likewise, the twin brothers silenced their opposition, Santiago Nasar, because they thought killing him was the only honorable option that would keep the Vicario families reputation at a high level. Marquez incorporates the scene of silencing opposition to parallel the action of the church. For example, Galileo was found guilty of heresy, so the Roman Inquisition put him under house arrest. This is significant to the representation Marquez presents because the Vicario brothers silenced their skeptic, Santiago Nasar, in the same way as the Roman Inquisition silenced their rival.
This satirizes the lack of adherence to Catholic morals because even though the Vicario family sustained great devotion to the Catholic beliefs, they opposed it and silenced their opposition to maintain their vastly regarded respect in society. In Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the implementation of ironical and biblical references further satirizes the Catholic Church as contradictory and unreliable, furthers his criticism of the Latin American cultural beliefs.
Through Marquez’s use of satire, the novel investigates the communal values represented by the primitive code of honor the town withholds and attacks the Church for its principles and hypocrisy. Although at first glance it may appear as a common practice in Bolivian society, Marquez’s implementation of satire ultimately serves as an effective technique to skillfully enrich the content and themes of the novel and express a newfound understanding of the diminishing values of a theocentric society beginning to flourish as a result of the conflicts, political activity, and revolts during the time of the novel’s publication.
