Chronicle of a death foretold: summary, analysis and personals of the novel

A Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a short novel by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1981. Taking elements of magical realism and the detective story, the novel tells the death of Santiago Nasar at the hands of the Vicario brothers.

The play is inspired by a real crime that took place in Colombia. From fiction, Gabriel García Márquez manages to build a chronicle, which he stands out for the original and creative use of literary and journalistic resources.

Summary of A Chronicle of a Death Foretold

A Chronicle of a Death Foretold tells the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar, a 21-year-old young man of Arab and Catholic descent, who ruled the ranch of his late father and was engaged to Flora Miguel. Here is a chronological summary of the story.

The marriage of Bayardo San Román and Ángela Vicario

Bayardo San Román, a wealthy, professional and talented man, had come to town in search of a wife. She very quickly gained the sympathy of the locals. Among them were the Vicario family who, given their precarious economic situation, did not hesitate to arrange the marriage between him and the young Angela Vicario. But Angela opposed the idea of ​​marrying without love.

The wedding party, held on a Sunday, was a real waste, so much so that Santiago Nasar playfully speculated on the economic costs of that exaggeration. On the wedding night, Bayardo San Román discovered that his maiden was not a virgin. Feeling disgraced, he beat her up and returned her to her parents' house in the middle of the morning.

Revenge of the Vicario twins

When the twins Pedro and Pablo asked her sister, Angela, who had been responsible for disgracing her, she accused Santiago Nasar. To safeguard the honor of his sister, the Vicario twins decided to assassinate him. Immediately, they had their knives to kill pigs and went to the market to sharpen them.

Indiscreet, they told everyone they encountered his plans. At six in the morning, the rumor had already spread, but a series of unfortunate coincidences, assumptions, prejudices and omissions prevented it from reaching Santiago Nasar's ears directly.

That Monday morning

On Monday morning, the Bishop's visit to the town was expected, who would arrive by ship to bless the marriage of Bayardo and Angela. Santiago Nasar wanted to go to greet him, so after the party, he barely rested for an hour and put on clean clothes according to the formality of the occasion.

If at the beginning the news of the town was the visit of the bishop, in a few hours the attention was redirected to Santiago Nasar, whom everyone knew they were going to kill, but whom no one had seen to warn. Cristo Bedoya, Santiago Nasar's partying partner that night, learned of the rumor as soon as she separated from him. He went out to look for him immediately but the search for him was fruitless.

The last moments of Santiago Nasar

Innocent of what was happening, Santiago Nasar passed by the house of his girlfriend, Flora, who, in an unusual way, made him enter the house, despite the strict rules of his conservative family. Flora had found out about everything and she was outraged by Santiago's alleged infidelity, so she returned her love letters, and she wished they would kill him. Santiago did not understand what was happening. It was Nahir Miguel, Flora's father who, after speaking with her, warned Santiago about the threat from the Vicario.

Santiago Nasar left for his house. Fate's doom made him go out the front door, which he never did, where the Vicario twins were waiting for him. Thus, at the door of his mother's house, Santiago Nasar was brutally stabbed to death. The twins surrendered to the authorities under the plea of ​​defense of honor. They spent three years in prison.

An unexpected reunion

Bayardo San Román was not heard from again, as he had left. Nor was more known about Angela Vicario, since her mother tried to bury her in her oblivion. However, the narrator managed to meet his cousin Angela over 20 years later, who told him details about his fate in those years.

He finally knew that, after that abandonment, Angela ended up falling in love with Bayardo San Román. Throughout more than two decades, she wrote him letters tirelessly begging for her return, until one day, already overcome by the passage of time, Bayardo returned to her to stay.

Analysis of A Chronicle of a Death Foretold

On A Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez surprised his readers with a literary story that mixes elements of the journalistic chronicle, the detective novel and magical realism.

Several aspects stand out: first, the breakdown of temporal linearity, since the author begins by announcing the end of the story. Second, the role of the narrator, who sometimes describes the events with the objectivity of an investigator, and occasionally appears involved as one more witness to that episode. Third, the construction of a kind of collective character, the people who, for various reasons, are incapable of stopping a public and notorious announcement.

Break of temporal linearity

The breakdown of temporal linearity occurs from the beginning, when the narrator announces what will be an unavoidable event: the murder of Santiago Nasar. Through this resource, the narrator manages to keep the viewer in suspense when faced with questions about how and why the events unfolded.

In this way, it is very clear that the importance of the story does not reside in the death of Santiago Nasar itself, but in the circumstances, the events that caused it and its meaning. Perhaps it could have been someone else, and not Santiago Nasar. What is clear is that no one avoided it.

This aspect is fundamental: it is the sacrifice of a man, probably innocent, but in any case, subjected to a disproportionate sentence, which could have been avoided by anyone in the town. The reasons for this are various.

We see two opposing forces in the story: on the one hand, collective responsibility for violence. On the other, the fatality of destiny. Does one win over the other or do they feed?

The role of the narrator

The narrator plays with the elements of the investigative journalistic story, at the same time that he offers himself as a participant "witness" in the events. Indeed, the narrator is also a cousin of the Vicario, who decided to reconstruct the events surrounding the murder of Santiago Nasar.

For this, he exposes the data of his investigation, obtained by reading reports and through interviews with those involved. Therefore, he knows what the characters tell him, and also what he can testify.

In this way, the narrator breaks the limits between reality and fiction, as well as between the chronicle and the testimony. As a character incorporated in that prejudiced town, the narrator is also part of the group that could do nothing to save Santiago Nasar. He couldn't even "clear" his memory.

The collective character

Collective responsibility can be broken down into several aspects. First, the culture of honor, which calls for sacrificial blood to restore the lost order. This culture is tied directly to prejudice, which consumes each and every character in the novel.

Sacrificial blood is specified in two aspects: first, the blood that supposedly certifies the virginity of a woman, which Bayardo San Román hopes to obtain on the wedding night. Second, symbolically the absence of this blood is claimed by the Vicario twins when they set out to stab Santiago Nasar.

Prejudice is collective. The girlfriend of the youngest of the brothers, Prudencia Cotes, is the clear representation of this. For this character, it is only a worthy man who is capable of avenging the "disgrace" of a woman. It is, therefore, a patriarchal society that has assigned men dominion and control over women's bodies, using blood as a bargaining chip.

Along with this, we find the rumor, which is nothing more than a noisy and complicit silence, which makes the person indicated a victim, since for this there is hardly any silence. Sincerity, the will for good and the proclamation of the truth are hidden. Thus, silence is presented in the novel as a fatal weapon. Silence is the other side of the violence that leads Santiago to his death. Silence is nothing other than a sin of omission of the collective character.

"Fate makes us invisible"

The judge investigating the case does not delay in concluding: "Give me a prejudice and I will move the world," and that moves the strings of destiny in the novel. Not the gods, not the oracle. It is the prejudices that determine the fatal destiny, and their weapons are the rumor and the omission.

While it is true that most of the characters do nothing to prevent Santiago's death, some do try, although their efforts are insufficient. Mayor Lázaro Aponte tries when he takes the knives from the twins, but he does not foresee that they can look for others. Cristo Bedoya does it when he looks for Santiago, but Prospera Arango asks him for help for her convalescing father.

As if it were a Greek tragedy, the young Santiago Nasar succumbs to the misfortune of fate. He is invisible in the eyes of anyone who wants to help him. Everything seems to hide it in plain sight. Nobody sees him in time, nor does he see the signs of fatal coincidences.

Santiago is handed over as a sacrifice and, finally, his spilled blood, perhaps that of an innocent, causes order to be restored. Therefore, the death of Santiago Nasar is not the result of an individual act. It is the blood mark of a culture.

Characters of A Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Main characters

Santiago Nasar: 21-year-old man, in charge of his father's farm. Promised to Flora Miguel and accused of taking Angela Vicario's virginity. He is killed by the Vicario twins to restore his sister's honor.

Bayardo San Roman: adventurous, prosperous and talented young man who comes to town in search of a suitable woman to marry. He instantly falls in love with Angela Vicario and takes advantage of her economic resources to obtain it, as well as to obtain the most beautiful house in town, owned by the Widower of Xius.

Angela Vicario: daughter of Purísima del Carmen and Poncio Vicario, whose financial situation encourages them to promise her in marriage to Bayardo San Román. She is the sister of twins Pedro and Pablo Vicario.

Pedro Vicario: Pablo Vicario's older twin and Ángela's brother. 24 years old. He works in a pig slaughterhouse. He takes the initiative to kill Santiago Nasar, but he does not feel convinced to do so. He was a military man while on duty and re-enlisted after jail time.

Pablo Vicario: Pedro's younger twin and Angela's brother. 24 years. He works in a pig slaughterhouse with his brother. He is the one who insists on assassinating Santiago when Pedro hesitates. Upon leaving prison, he marries Prudencia Cotes.

Storyteller: journalist. Cousin of the Vicario brothers, son of Luisa Santiaga and brother of Margot, the Nun, Jaime and Luis Enrique.

Secondary characters

Nasar family home

• Plácida Linero: mother of Santiago.
• Ibrahim Nasar: Arab, late father of Santiago. She abused the house's cook, Victoria Guzmán.
• Victoria Guzmán: cook of the Nasar. She perceives Santiago as a threat to her daughter.
• Divina Flor: pubescent daughter of Victoria Guzmán. She feels sexually threatened by Santiago Nasar.

Vicario family house

• Poncio Vicario: father of Angela and twins Pedro and Pablo. Goldsmith who loses his sight because of her trade, which is why the economic situation worsens and the twins have to work in a pig slaughterhouse.
• Pura Vicario: wife of Poncio Vicario and mother of Angela, Pedro and Pablo. She is a conservative woman who watches over her daughter.

Narrator's Family

• Luisa Santiaga: mother of the narrator and godmother of the baptism of Santiago.
• Margot: sister of the narrator, always in love with Santiago Nasar.
• The nun: sister of the narrator.
• Jaime: brother of the narrator.
• Luis Enrique: brother of the narrator.
• Wenefrida Márquez: aunt of the narrator, lives next to Santiago Nasar.

Miguel family house

• Flora Miguel: Santiago Nasar's girlfriend.
• Nahir Miguel: Father of Flora Miguel, girlfriend of Santiago Nasar.

Authorities

• Father Carmen Amador: local priest. He studied medicine before becoming a priest.
• Leonardo Pornoy: police officer, who informs Lárazo Aponte of the twins' intentions.
• Lázaro Aponte: retired academy colonel and municipal mayor.
• Investigating Judge: judge with little experience and a philosophical character. He doubts that Santiago Nasar was guilty of Angela's disgrace, but he cannot find information to prove it.
• Bishop: he has a scheduled visit to the town, which coincides with the day of Santiago Nasar's death. On his visit, he does not get off the ship, since he hates the people.

Other characters of the town

• Suseme Abdala: matriarch of the local Arab community.
• Yamil Shaium: member of the local Arab community.
• María Alejandrina Cervantes: owner of a brothel. Santiago Nasar lost her virginity to her and fell in love with María Alejandrina in his teens.
• Doctor Dionisio Iguarán: doctor.
• Prudencia Cotes: Pablo Vicario's girlfriend. He believes that he must avenge the disgrace of his sister.
• Faustino Santos: butcher.
• Xius's widower: husband of the diffuse Yolanda, and former owner of the house that will be owned by Bayardo San Román.
• Cristo Bedoya: friend of Santiago Nasar.
• Clotilde Armenta: owner of the milk store.
• Rogelio de la Flor: husband of Clotilde Armenta.
• Polo Carrillo: owner of the power plant.
• Fausta López: wife of Polo Carrillo.
• Aura Villeros: midwife.
• Sara Noriega: shopkeeper.
• Poncho Lanao: neighbor. He lives next door to the Nasar.
• Argenida Lanao: daughter of Poncho Lanao.
• Prospera Arango: neighbor.
• Mercedes: neighbor.
• Magdalena Oliva: neighbor.
• Hortensia Baute: neighbor.
• Mercedes Barcha: neighbor.
• Indalecio Pardo: neighbor.
• Meme Loiza: neighbor.
• Escolástica Cisnero: neighbor.
• Celeste Dangond: neighbor.

San Roman Family

• General Petronio San Román: father of Bayardo San Román.
• Alberta Simonds: mother of Bayardo San Román.

It may interest you:

• Biography and works of Gabriel García Márquez
• One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Mázquez
• The colonel has no one to write to him, by Gabriel García Mázquez
• Magical realism