How did Garcia Marques use social construct to influence the central action and intended message of the novel?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel A Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella that illustrates the flaws in the “perfect Christian society” through the death of the protagonist Santiago Nasar. The novella is centered around the recurring images of religion, machismo and marianismo which help to convey the message of flaws behind the societies mask of perfection.
In the beginning of Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold a key aspect of Mexican culture, Catholicism is introduced through the protagonist of the novel Santiago. Santiago is said to have wear his best outfit, reserved usually for special occasions like …show more content…
The notion of marianismo, which is the female gender roles in Mexican culture became more prominent. Although men are portrayed as dominant throughout the novel the reader is able to understand the reasoning behind their motives. This is shown through Prudencia Cotes, she explains that she wouldn't have married Pablo Vicario if he hadn't done what was “right”. The right thing being the brutal murder of Santiago to restore his sister Victoria's honor. Through this statement, Prudencia shows how much women at that time influenced most of the decisions that men made. Men at that time had to conform to whatever romanticized version of what a man should be and what duties he had to perform that women at that time had come up with. This was due to the fact that Women, at that time were raised to be totally dependant on the man they would marry, they as such developed very idealistic theories of what they thought men should do. This caused a major problem for most of the women because once the men did not fulfill their fantasies they didn't know how to handle the situation and most times it would lead to an ultimatum like in the case of Prudencia. Prudencia recounts to the author that she knew that her fiance and his twin brother were planning to brutally murder Santiago and that even if she had known what was going on she would have instigated …show more content…
He does this by implementing the reoccurring theme of machismo throughout the novel. This is seen prominently when the men are allowed to go to a whore house and Angela isn't allowed to not get married without being married according to tradition and is returned to her parents home. “She was his mad passion, his mistress of tears at the age of fifteen until Ibrahim Nasar drove him out of the bed with a whip and shut him up for more than a year on The Divine Face”( Marquez 5). In this quote we see that Santiago isn't as innocent as he seems and this could have influenced the reader into believing that Santiago did indeed take away Angela's innocence and that his death was justified in that sense. Bayardo also showed some elements of Machismo when he returns Angela back to her parents because she was not a virgin and that did not conform to the norms of the society at that time .”Bayardo San Roman didn't enter but softly pushed his wife into the house without speaking a word” (Marquez 28). In a society of rigid standards and hierarchies, Bayardo is forced to return his bride back to her parents, he only does this because society dictates that he should. At this time Women are expected to be pure and give their virginity to their husbands, by doing so they give their husbands pride and honor. By not being a virgin Angela has
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel A Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a novella that illustrates the flaws in the “perfect Christian society” through the death of the protagonist Santiago Nasar. The novella is centered around the recurring images of religion, machismo and marianismo which help to convey the message of flaws behind the societies mask of perfection.
In the beginning of Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold a key aspect of Mexican culture, Catholicism is introduced through the protagonist of the novel Santiago. Santiago is said to have wear his best outfit, reserved usually for special occasions like …show more content…
The notion of marianismo, which is the female gender roles in Mexican culture became more prominent. Although men are portrayed as dominant throughout the novel the reader is able to understand the reasoning behind their motives. This is shown through Prudencia Cotes, she explains that she wouldn't have married Pablo Vicario if he hadn't done what was “right”. The right thing being the brutal murder of Santiago to restore his sister Victoria's honor. Through this statement, Prudencia shows how much women at that time influenced most of the decisions that men made. Men at that time had to conform to whatever romanticized version of what a man should be and what duties he had to perform that women at that time had come up with. This was due to the fact that Women, at that time were raised to be totally dependant on the man they would marry, they as such developed very idealistic theories of what they thought men should do. This caused a major problem for most of the women because once the men did not fulfill their fantasies they didn't know how to handle the situation and most times it would lead to an ultimatum like in the case of Prudencia. Prudencia recounts to the author that she knew that her fiance and his twin brother were planning to brutally murder Santiago and that even if she had known what was going on she would have instigated …show more content…
He does this by implementing the reoccurring theme of machismo throughout the novel. This is seen prominently when the men are allowed to go to a whore house and Angela isn't allowed to not get married without being married according to tradition and is returned to her parents home. “She was his mad passion, his mistress of tears at the age of fifteen until Ibrahim Nasar drove him out of the bed with a whip and shut him up for more than a year on The Divine Face”( Marquez 5). In this quote we see that Santiago isn't as innocent as he seems and this could have influenced the reader into believing that Santiago did indeed take away Angela's innocence and that his death was justified in that sense. Bayardo also showed some elements of Machismo when he returns Angela back to her parents because she was not a virgin and that did not conform to the norms of the society at that time .”Bayardo San Roman didn't enter but softly pushed his wife into the house without speaking a word” (Marquez 28). In a society of rigid standards and hierarchies, Bayardo is forced to return his bride back to her parents, he only does this because society dictates that he should. At this time Women are expected to be pure and give their virginity to their husbands, by doing so they give their husbands pride and honor. By not being a virgin Angela has