Honor killings in India make the headlines in our newspapers often and people in our country are horrified because it is so different from what we do. It is always the girl who gets assassinated by her own family and this is a normal custom. The custom of honor killing exists in other parts of the world as well and it is a central theme of the novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Marquez uses the murder of Santiago Nasar to illustrate how the honor code connected rituals controlled the lives of everyone. Bayardo San Roman marries a woman named Angela Vicario, but rejects her on their wedding night because she is not a virgin. She’s forced to name the man who took her virginity and she names Santiago Nasar. Although
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Arranged marriage is a ritual that existed at this time in Columbia and it decided Angela Vicario’s fate. She was forced to marry a wealthy man she hardly knew and did not love. Bayardo San Roman chose Angela and she had no choice in the matter. The ritual was so strong that she was powerless. “Angela Vicario never forgot the horror of the night on which her parents and her older older sisters with their husbands, gathered together in the parlor, imposed on her the obligation to marry a man whom she had barely seen” (34). For the honor of her family, Angela had to marry him and had to surrender and give up her life and her future all because of the Columbian honor code. This was imperative for women in that society to obey this code. This code controlled and dominated all of the women’s lives during that time. Virginity was also part of the code of honor for women and any young woman who was not a virgin was a disgrace to her family. Angela knew she was not a virgin and she was frightened that this would destroy her marriage and ultimately lead her to having to indirectly kill a man. After she told her mother she received help from other women. “ ‘The only thing they believe is what they see on the sheet’, they told her” …show more content…
On her wedding night, Angela’s brothers demanded to know who had taken her virginity so that they could murder him. Pedro Vicario, Angela’s brother, forced her to give them a name. “‘All right girl,’ he said to her, trembling with rage, ‘tell us who is it was’” (47). At this time in Columbia, it was considered the man's fault if a girl was not a virgin and although she suffered a lot of shame, he had to give up his life. During the autopsy, Santiago’s fatal wounds were being described. His murder was a revenge killing and it was all technically Angela’s fault because he was innocent. “Seven of the many wounds were fatal. The liver was almost sliced in pieces by two deep cuts on the anterior side. He had four incisions in the stomach, one of them so deep that it went completely through, and destroyed, the pancreas” (75). The way he was killed reflected the rage that the brothers felt towards the man they thought had dishonored their sister and their family. These wounds show how strong the honor code affected individuals in that society and how it controlled their lives. The honor code was so strong that is caused a gruesome murder. Ironically, once Santiago Nasar had been assassinated, the status quo had been returned to normal. The narrator explains how this worked. “Santiago Nasar had expiated the insult, the brothers Vicario had proved their
Arranged marriage is a ritual that existed at this time in Columbia and it decided Angela Vicario’s fate. She was forced to marry a wealthy man she hardly knew and did not love. Bayardo San Roman chose Angela and she had no choice in the matter. The ritual was so strong that she was powerless. “Angela Vicario never forgot the horror of the night on which her parents and her older older sisters with their husbands, gathered together in the parlor, imposed on her the obligation to marry a man whom she had barely seen” (34). For the honor of her family, Angela had to marry him and had to surrender and give up her life and her future all because of the Columbian honor code. This was imperative for women in that society to obey this code. This code controlled and dominated all of the women’s lives during that time. Virginity was also part of the code of honor for women and any young woman who was not a virgin was a disgrace to her family. Angela knew she was not a virgin and she was frightened that this would destroy her marriage and ultimately lead her to having to indirectly kill a man. After she told her mother she received help from other women. “ ‘The only thing they believe is what they see on the sheet’, they told her” …show more content…
On her wedding night, Angela’s brothers demanded to know who had taken her virginity so that they could murder him. Pedro Vicario, Angela’s brother, forced her to give them a name. “‘All right girl,’ he said to her, trembling with rage, ‘tell us who is it was’” (47). At this time in Columbia, it was considered the man's fault if a girl was not a virgin and although she suffered a lot of shame, he had to give up his life. During the autopsy, Santiago’s fatal wounds were being described. His murder was a revenge killing and it was all technically Angela’s fault because he was innocent. “Seven of the many wounds were fatal. The liver was almost sliced in pieces by two deep cuts on the anterior side. He had four incisions in the stomach, one of them so deep that it went completely through, and destroyed, the pancreas” (75). The way he was killed reflected the rage that the brothers felt towards the man they thought had dishonored their sister and their family. These wounds show how strong the honor code affected individuals in that society and how it controlled their lives. The honor code was so strong that is caused a gruesome murder. Ironically, once Santiago Nasar had been assassinated, the status quo had been returned to normal. The narrator explains how this worked. “Santiago Nasar had expiated the insult, the brothers Vicario had proved their