Honor In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

In Chronicle of a Death foretold, the concept of honor is very strong and vital in a town’s Latin-American society. The Vicario brothers are forced to commit murder to rebuild the honor of their family, even though they do not have the heart to go through with the crime. Gabriel Marquez discloses the effects of a traditional sense of honor in many Hispanic cultures and how it becomes the downfall of both men and women. The honor of the Vicario family is lost when Angela’s premarital sex and her subsequent failed marriage was made known to the whole community. Angela murders the wrong man, ruins her family, and has Bayardo almost kill himself. The corruptness that honor carries also causes the town to become thirsty for the death of Santiago, although they do not get involved. Nobody questions the Vicario brothers protecting their honor because it is such an essential value in Latino culture that it is naturally cherished, like family, or Sundays at church. In this novella however, Marquez questions the significance of an unchecked reverence for honor, how individuals will inevitably peruse it, especially whether or not it can validate killing a man. …show more content…
The Vicario brother’s sole purpose of killing Santiago was to regain honor, so it does not matter to them if he is the true offender or not. Yes, they were drunk, but also in a hurry to punish the man they believed was responsible for the crime to protect their family. “‘I can imagine my sons’, she said. ‘Honor doesn’t wait’” (Marquez 62). Prudencia Cotes tells the twins she knows they have a job that needs to be done soon as possible, so leaving their coffee for later is understandable. Honor is so important to them that you must retain it at all times. They have no time to just sit around or even time to question Santiago before murdering him. Their initiative is to kill Santiago quickly because of the weight honor holds, causing them to murder the wrong