chronicle of a death foretold

A detailed Summary of chronicle of a death foretold

In the novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold by, Gabriel Marguez, the characters lack individualization and the communal values determine the events of the town. The characters in this novel only watch what happens but never try to stop it. The character's thought that nothing evil could happen when the bishop was coming to their town. Therefore they never believed all the threats that were made toward the main character, Nasro Santiago. The communal values evolve around religious events, having family honor and virginity.

"Although the Church's betrayal is multifaceted, the bishop's arrival symbolizes its failure most clearly." (pg 195, Arnold Penuel). Everyone was concerned with his/her own forgiveness and being blessed by the bishop. Even the priest did not prevent the murder because of the distractions from the bishop. It seems that they did a lot of preparations, trying to please the bishop, to free themselves from the sin that was about to happen later that day.

The perfunctoriness of the people's faith matches that of the bishop's blessing as he passes by without stopping: " 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 doing it

The town follows it's old values set by the past and a hypocritical Church. They don't know how to change nor do they want to. They have no true leader to guide them in a positive direction. This town does not prevent evil, but rather waits for evil to occur and only reacts to it. They also do not learn from their mistakes from the past.

Bayordo's code of honor was very strict. He had made sure that he would be respected in the town, therefore he bought a big house and had a spectacular wedding. On his wedding night, when he discovered that his wife had betrayed and had lost her virginity before marriage, he took her home that very night. It was a disgrace for him to have a wife like that and also a dishonor to his family. The town believed that if you violated the code of honor than you must be punished, no matter whom you are. Santiago had to die, Angela had to suffer with her mother and without the one husband she could get, for all this dishonor. The family did not know how to deal with such a problem, so they did whatever they thought was right. " The decline of the Church's hold on the townspeople's imagination underlies their ambivalence, with regard to the cult of virginity and the code of honor."(pg. 195, Arnold Penuel)

" The juxtaposition of a marriage without love and the love of virginity reveals yet another facet of the decadence of the ideal of virginity."(pg 191, Arnold Penuel). Bayardo was looking for a wife that he thought would be pure, that is the only reason why he wanted to marry Angela. There was never any love between them and it was easily seen. They had never spoken to each other about any of their interests, they just got married upon a attraction. He tried to substitute the love by his wealth; he bought the biggest home in town and he had the biggest wedding. That was the tragedy for Bayardo, because he was going to each town to find a pure wife and when he finally finds one, she is not pur

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Arnold Penuel, Gabreil Marguez, Penuel Bayardo, Penuel Religion, Father Carmen, Maria Cervantes, RiesmanArnold Penuel, Gabriel Marguez, Nasro Santiago, Arnold PenuelBoth, code honor, arnold penuel, 195 arnold penuel, 195 arnold, family honor, communal values, dishonor family, love bayardo, gabreil marguez, town believed, father carmen,

Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English