Chronicles of a Death Foretold

Themes that stand out:

The theme and issue of virginity
Leading to the question of honour; was Santiago Nasar
responsible for taking the virginity of Angela Vicario? (Virginity
is extremely important in the Columbian catholic culture)
Parallel treatment of men and women
Men use whores while women must remain pure until their
wedding night
Santiago Nasar as a character:
Hes an outsider
Easy target? Is he likely to be guilty>
Why are there so many characters?
Each distinctly identified by full names
To show that so many people had the opportunuity to save
him but no one did
Shows the failure of society as a whole
Criticises how people gossip but are unable to take affirmative
action

The pursuit of love is like falconry

Falconry hunting with falcons
-

Do they want to or have to? They told everyone as if they

wanted someone to stop them. They were obliged to do it
the fact that they were twins also meant that they were
always arguing back and forth

S.N. is a hunter & a falconer

o The hunter becoming the hunted
o Innocence?
o The Vicario twins becoming the hunters

Victims?
o Two sides to the action

Why is falconry a metaphor in the book?

Hunter (society) -> falcon ->Victim

Does society/ community kill him?
-

They let him down

In a sense they do because many people knew but no one
tried to stop him

The pursuit
-

Trying to get love?

E.g. Bayardo? Buying the house?
Vicario twins reluctant pursuit for Santiago Nasar
Angela Vicarios pursuit for love reluctant to marry but
eventually falls in love

Analysis of the opening - Chapter 1:

Immediately introduces us to the what; a murder.
Leaving us with they why, when and whom but why reveal the
what?
What leads to the death and the circumstances of the death are far
more important, it is the whole point of the book.
The drop that leads to a series of events what does something like
this say about our society..
The book allows us to be the judge of whos responsible HOW?
WHY?
do we also judge Santiago Nasar? Theres a reason why people
believed immediately that he was guilty.
The title Chronicles of a death foretold - everyone knew about
it, the community, us the readers everyone except him
The importance of religion he is waiting for the bishop.
-

Foreshadowing? Is it the bishops fault? This event allowed the

coincidential series of events leading up to his death
Religion was the catalyst
Marquez blaming religion for his death??
For the very same reason that he was persecuted for taking
Angela Vicarios virginity

The significance of dreams?

 He felt splattered with bird shit why did he have this dream?
Showing how he was going to die because he was going to be
hunted by the falcons
One of the consequences of being a falconer
His society has shit on him allowing him to die
-

Is it a prophecy?

Our dreams represent our subconscious we are less aware of

this region of our minds. We dont give it language. Something in
you somewhere else.
-

Are our dreams our desires? Your inner desire

Everything that happens in our dream is us allows us to
reveal the darker side of our personality, not something we
could face in our waking state. It would be too much.

Ambiguity to dreaming provides the perfect vehicle for

uncertainties. Motives, events, e.t.c.
-

Showing the truth from the darker side of things that S.N.
was innocent from the beginning

Why the sediment of copper stirrup on his palate ? metallic

taste related to
The apostolic lap
Maria Alejandro Cervantes takes an apostolic lap, the prostitute
thats known for being loose (She was quite loyal to S.N.)
why should she be allowed to have an apostolic lap sacredly
religious lap for the bishop
while someone like angela vicarios virginity caused such an
upheaval, showing the inconsistencies in the catholic religion. There
were double standards
Maria links in the idea of irony bringing together the ideas of
sex and religion
Santiagos in love with her, but she wasnt faithful to him was
with the narrator on the morning of his death.
The Bishop/ religion
The community didnt try to stop the murder even though the
bishops coming
-

Irony
They dont display the Christian morals because its become
an unholy place

S.N. is likely to be innocent of this crime, but hes guilty of

many other things e.g. sexually assaulting the cooks
daughter. She has a motive not to stop the murder. He seems
to be generally immoral, hes engaged but fraternises with
prostitutes has religion given up on S.N.
Hes not killed for the right crimes but does it matter? Did he
deserve to die anyways?
Do we or should we judge him? How about in terms of a
religious perspective
Is justice achieved in the book?

Pathetic Fallacy the weather

Also notice how the perceptions of people tend to change after 27
years. We see how some people remember it to be a fine day while
others remember it as funereal did his death changes how
people remembered the day?
The low cloudy skies clouds represent uncertainties, you
cannot see through clouds.
Why is there only a thin drizzle? not a downpour. maybe
because only his mother grieves him there isnt really anyone else
that misses him so much
like the one Santiago Nasar had seen in his dream grove he
might have sensed his impending demise because he has done
things to make him an easy target
How the weather is viewed looking back can be distorted by their
feelings and emotions regarding the day. The degree of distortion
can be quite drastic.

Types of dreams
Almond trees You will always dream about trees. But almonds
in particular are significant because almonds are valuable but also
have the potential to be poisonous
Tinfoil airplanes hes in a fragile state (tinfoil is malleable)
Flying through almond trees without bumping into anything not
gaining anything from the rich almonds
Why does even Santiago Nasars mother miss the omen of her
dream that foreshadowed her dreams?

It could show he was innocent because his mother didnt pick

up on his guilty actions further proof that he did not take the
virginity of Angela Vicario.

Is his mother an accurate interpreter of dreams?

Shes well known for being an accurate interpreter of dreams
shes the only one who loves him shes still grieving him 27
years later, but she got over her husband pretty quickly
hes surrounded by women and people but his mothers the only
one who loves him
An intimacy between him and his mother is shown:
-

He speaks to his mother about his dreams

Hes mixed he speaks Arabic but speaks Spanish to his
mother
The foot in the door to the society is his mother

It is also worth noting that:

The research into S. N.s death occurs 27 years later the
chronicles. Based more on what people remember, not what actually
happened.
We read this from a retrospective perspective. Zooming out, we
cannot really trust anything. Human beings are irresponsible; hence
we must be responsible for our own interpretations. Does it mean
that we are alone in the world? Or is it a sign of freedom. There are
inherent positives and negatives with both.
Perhaps Marquezs thesis is telling us that there is no such thing as
truth, but subsequently what hes presenting cannot be true either.

The Twins on Trial (p.59)

Character Analysis things they do? Things they say? Things
people say about them? The way people act around them?
Close language analysis
literal/symbolic/implications/significance
Twins:

They're quite indecisive

Perhaps given unwanted responsibility, unclear position in family
Driven by honour and tradition
Two different personalities constantly switching positions
Symbolic of all humans
Temptation?
One twin is more aggressive, the other more empathetic
Relating to the way people act around them, one of the wives
push him to commit the murder, (I wouldnt have married him if
he didnt kill him)
One twin has vinereals diseaseinability to urinate. Its an STD
but why does he wear his bandage around his genitals with
honour
Shows his promiscuity
Hes killing S.N. for something he himself engages in. Hes
a hypocrite.
People around the twins dont actually believe that theyll carry
out the murder
Clotilde Armenta for example
Is the killing justified? Perhaps Marquez wanted to show
that everyone, even the most unlikely of us are capable of
carrying out the murder.
Should they be punished? Or is murder, murder regardless of the
circumstances. What are your moral instincts in this? Is it
immoral because of the lack of evidence (or should you take
Angelas word for it)?
Morals are subjective and in the twins context the
murder was justified, the loss of a virginity before marriage
was as important.
Do you sympathise with the twins for the societal pressures they
faced to carry out the murder?

Why twins?

Same but different

Balance out each other out they keep each other at an
equilibrium
So their switching positions represent their conscience?
6

Duality (two forces; you cant have good without bad) relating to
human behaviour, you wont know the contrast without
experience.
Complications with killing someone. You wont know how
hard it is until youve done it before

Analysis Page 59:

Were they shouting out to be stopped?

Can revenge ever be justified? (Hurting bad people) Weve
deduced that S.N. isnt the best of people; there was a threat that
he could rape the cooks daughter.
The cycle of revenge was broken; both twins liven on to lead
good lives. One of the twins died in the army later on a
honourable event for someone in his culture. No one sought
revenge from the twins.

Ending:
- The final warnings

Perhaps zooms in more on the role of Victoria Guzman in the

death of S.N.
Bedroom door was locked because he went out through his
mothers bedroom, shows overdependence on his mum (allows
us to empathise with him more). Does this proximity kill him?
Because his relationship with his mother prevents him from
building up close relations with anyone else in the community.
Cristo Bedoya:
o She was an apparition
o With a bright hand on her cheek
What is the significance of exact times? E.g. 6.58
Uselessness of an unloaded gun futility of Cristo Bedoyas
attempts to save S.N.? Is it because no one wants to save him?
Possibly because hes an outsider. Or do the people in the
community just lack the courage to tell him?
It was as if he was already dead
Drawing into the theme of inevitability. Things will happen
because they are meant to happen.
The bishops the son of the worst kind of mother the book
comes to the theme of maternal influence again.
If I knew how to shoot a revolver S.N. would have been alive
today false! Back to the idea of fatality. People always think
they can change their fate.

Cristo Bedoya didnt try to take a shot and there werent any
bullets.
S.N. had many idiosyncrasies that were cultural and traditional
these rituals derived from his fathers path may have killed him.
E.g. he only carried arms when he wore riding clothes.
Are humans gladiatorial? They all turned up in the square like
an audience to watch the murder performance.
Individual societies vs. collectivist societies. You may think youre
in a collectivist society but if you rather arrange dominoes before
stopping the murder (i.e. my needs come before yours) you are
in fact an individualist.
Or, it could have been a collectivist society; just that S.N. was an
outsider.
Why does flora Miguel not even remember who told her about
her fiances death? Significantly shows how little it affected her
Emotions override memories of people.
Fear of humiliation prevented her from warning him in case he
was forced to marry angela vicario instead.
Letters in floras lap ironic because of the letters angela will later
send bayardo
Floras father was a Bedouin.
Perhaps her family was an outsider as well
S.N.s first response to an actual warning from floras father was
confusion, not fear. Insinuates innocence.
Wet bird stalled by an action, no longer the hunter but the
hunted. Cant fly as easilt e.t.c.
Is the dream coming back to him at this point?
Significance of a door duality of the door. Safety, opportunity,
entrapment.