Chronicle of a Death Foretold: A Literary Analysis
Chronicle of a Death Foretold: A Literary Analysis
Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a thriller by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, first published in 1981. The story is based on an actual event that occurred in 1951.
Summary
In a small, virtually isolated town near the Caribbean coast, whose only connection to the outside world is a river, Bayardo San Roman, a rich newcomer, marries Angela Vicario. After their wedding, the newlyweds retire to their new home. Bayardo discovers that his wife is not a virgin. He returns Angela Vicario to her parents’ house, where her mother beats her. Angela blames Santiago Nasar, a dear young villager, for what happened.
Years later, Angela Vicario begins writing to Bayardo every day, asking him to return. First, she writes formal letters, then letters of a young lover, and finally, she feigns illness. Bayardo San Roman eventually returns, clearly deteriorated, with all of Angela’s correspondence unopened.
Angela’s brothers, Pedro and Pablo Vicario, forced to defend the family honor, announce to everyone that they will kill Santiago Nasar. Curiously, Santiago does not know of the Vicario brothers’ intentions until minutes before dying. After considering it several times, they kill him just outside his house, in view of the people who did not or could not do anything about it. More than twenty years later, a reporter investigates the incident and reconstructs, step by step, the events that would end in Santiago’s death.
The novel is structured like a chronicle, and from the beginning, the narrator seeks to collect data and testimonies that can help explain the murder of Santiago Nasar, the inevitability of it, and the human and psychological profiles of all the characters who were, by act or omission, involved in the fatal incident.
Characters
- Santiago Nasar: A 21-year-old man who dropped out of school after his father’s death to lead “The Divine Face,” an estate that his father bequeathed him. He is a dreamer, happy, and does not get into trouble. He is killed by the Vicario brothers after being identified by their sister as the one who stole her virginity. He is much loved by the people.
- Bayardo San Roman: A stranger who married Angela Vicario.
- Angela Vicario: The wife of Bayardo San Roman, who was returned on her wedding night for not being a virgin at marriage, supposedly because of Santiago Nasar.
- Ibrahim Nasar: Santiago Nasar’s deceased father, who was of Arabic descent.
- Pedro Vicario and Pablo Vicario: Brothers of Angela Vicario and murderers of Santiago Nasar.
Themes
The novel addresses themes such as the lack of access to the truth, violence, honor, religion, and the beliefs of individuals.
Timeline
The story’s timeline is condensed into less than 24 hours, from Sunday’s wedding to the crime on Monday. The account of the event takes place 27 years after the death of Santiago Nasar, when the narrator meets with Santiago’s mother on the 27th anniversary of her son’s death and reconstructs the entire history of Santiago Nasar’s death.
Narrative Style
The novel is presented as the reconstruction of a story by a first-person narrator. The story is divided into five parts.