Essay 3 – Chronicle of a Death Foretold Chronicle of a Death Foretold, a narrative written by Gabriel García Márquez, details the bizarre murder of a wealthy man the morning after the town celebrates a wedding. Despite the fact that everybody in town knows about the killers’ plans long before the murder occurs, the majority of the townspeople make little effort to prevent the tragedy from occurring. When a journalist returns twenty years later to delve deeper into the mystery, his report becomes less of a solution to his questions and more of an examination of the townspeople as a whole. Authorities and the power they hold become a major focus point of this text as one tries to comprehend why no one prevented the murder. Márquez builds
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Power and those who hold it become a main topic of this text as Márquez details the town’s inadequacy in precluding the murder from occurring. Wealth acts as a main source of power for several of the townspeople throughout the text. One such instance of this power arises when Clotilde Armenta attempts to persuade her husband, Don Rogelio de la Flor, to approach the Vicario twins: “‘Don’t be silly,’ he said to her. ‘Those two aren’t about to kill anybody, much less someone rich’” [55]. This statement reflects the immense amount of power Don Rogelio de la Flor believes wealth brings, for in this case he presumes wealth will literally provide Santiago with life. The fact that Don Rogelio de la Flor utters this statement and proceeds to fall back asleep attests to the faith he has in the legitimacy of his idea: wealth furnishes Santiago …show more content…
The morning in which Bayardo returns Angela to her house forms one instance that displays masculinity as a source of power. Márquez narrates that Bayardo “grabbed her [Angela] by the arm and brought her into the light. Her satin dress was in shreds and she was wrapped in a towel up to the waist. Pura Vicario thought they’d gone off the road in the car and were lying dead at the bottom of the ravine” [46]. Pura Vicario’s intense reaction to the sight of Angela’s state can only suggest that Bayardo had beaten Angela and torn her dress in his fury at discovering her lack of virginity. Yet Bayardo goes unpunished for his actions, for in this time and setting, a man would have the complete legal right to beat his wife, a clear indication of the power a man held over women. Furthermore, when Pura Vicario proceeds to beat Angela herself, “even that she did with such stealth that her husband and her older daughters … didn’t find out about anything” [46]. The fact that Pura Vicario carried out her punishment in complete silence implies a difference in the way society views Bayardo and Pura Vicario, for Bayardo can openly display his actions against Angela while her mother cannot. Pura Vicario further reinforces this idea of differences in power between genders when outlining the manner in which she raises her children: “The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls had
Power and those who hold it become a main topic of this text as Márquez details the town’s inadequacy in precluding the murder from occurring. Wealth acts as a main source of power for several of the townspeople throughout the text. One such instance of this power arises when Clotilde Armenta attempts to persuade her husband, Don Rogelio de la Flor, to approach the Vicario twins: “‘Don’t be silly,’ he said to her. ‘Those two aren’t about to kill anybody, much less someone rich’” [55]. This statement reflects the immense amount of power Don Rogelio de la Flor believes wealth brings, for in this case he presumes wealth will literally provide Santiago with life. The fact that Don Rogelio de la Flor utters this statement and proceeds to fall back asleep attests to the faith he has in the legitimacy of his idea: wealth furnishes Santiago …show more content…
The morning in which Bayardo returns Angela to her house forms one instance that displays masculinity as a source of power. Márquez narrates that Bayardo “grabbed her [Angela] by the arm and brought her into the light. Her satin dress was in shreds and she was wrapped in a towel up to the waist. Pura Vicario thought they’d gone off the road in the car and were lying dead at the bottom of the ravine” [46]. Pura Vicario’s intense reaction to the sight of Angela’s state can only suggest that Bayardo had beaten Angela and torn her dress in his fury at discovering her lack of virginity. Yet Bayardo goes unpunished for his actions, for in this time and setting, a man would have the complete legal right to beat his wife, a clear indication of the power a man held over women. Furthermore, when Pura Vicario proceeds to beat Angela herself, “even that she did with such stealth that her husband and her older daughters … didn’t find out about anything” [46]. The fact that Pura Vicario carried out her punishment in complete silence implies a difference in the way society views Bayardo and Pura Vicario, for Bayardo can openly display his actions against Angela while her mother cannot. Pura Vicario further reinforces this idea of differences in power between genders when outlining the manner in which she raises her children: “The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls had