Michael Syed

13 Juno

English

There had never been a death more foretold. (page 50)

Discuss the presentation of the fate and inevitability in
chapter 3
There are numerous clues, scattered throughout the third chapter, which
hint

at

the

unavoidability

of

Santiago

Nasars

death.

Through

coincidences, and events that, ironically, turn out to help his death rather
than to save him from it, we can see that his demise had been foretold, as
if his name had been written in a death note. The inevitability of his death
is what makes the reader think that it was destiny, and there are so many
coincidences, not only in the third chapter, but also in the first two, that it
cannot just be by chance that the main character met his tragic end.
The first hint we have that the crime cannot be avoided, at the start
of the chapter, is that the brothers didnt really want to kill him. They
had done so much than could be imagined for someone to stop them
from killing him, and they failed (p49). There just wasnt any way out, for
them, and nothing they couldnt have done anything more to stop
themselves from killing the man. Here Gabriel Garcia Marquez presents
the theme of inevitability through the Vicario brothers, and their attempts
to be absolved of having to murder Santiago Nasar.
To consolidate this point, Marquez tells us the same thing through the
character of Clotilde Armenta. She was certain that the Vicario brothers
were not so anxious to fulfil the sentence as to find someone who would
do them the favor of stopping them. (p57). It is fate that made it so that
no one stopped the brothers, and even Officer Leandro Pornoy did not try
to stop the Vicario brothers from murdering Santiago Nasar. Hed settled
so many fights between friends the night before that he was in no hurry
for another one. (p56). This, again, is ironic and dark humour he was

Michael Syed

13 Juno

English

the only one who could have done something about the murder, who could
have stopped the twins, and they wanted to be stopped, but he decided
not to trouble himself with that particular incident.
A way Marquez presents the theme of fate is through strange
coincidences. What were the chances that Santiago Nasar would choose to
go through the door the cousins were waiting at for him, when he never
used that door? He passed through that door, in fact, for such an
unforeseen reason that the investigator who drew up the brief never did
understand it. (p50). This is a very uncanny coincidence, which can be
defined as dark humour. The coincidence that Nasar decided to go
through that door adds to the readers suspicion that his death really way
unavoidable. No one understands or knows why Santiago Nasar chose that
door, but he did, and that sealed his fate.
Another coincidence that proves that the death was inevitable is
that the Colonel Aponte, even though he was the only one to have actually
done something, did not do much to stop the twins. He took away their
knives and sent them off to sleep, claiming that No one is arrested just
on suspicion (p57). This shows that the death was inevitable, and shows
that it was fate, because had he arrested them, they wouldnt have been
able to kill him. But Colonel Aponte was at peace with his soul (p57).
This highlights fate, because the people who could have had an effect on
the whole story, didnt, because they didnt feel like it or thought they had
done enough already. He also forgot to tell him, he didnt think of
Santiago Nasar again until he saw him on the docks.
It is also interesting to note that the twins had drunk two bottles of
cane liquor, apart from everything else from the wedding party before,

Michael Syed

13 Juno

English

they were still good enough to do the killing. Their blood pressure was so
high, and they couldnt have gotten it up even with lamp oil. Maybe, since
they drank the whole bottle in two long swings, they had hoped to get
drunk in order to not have to go and murder the man.
Moreover, it is fate, and a bizarre coincidence that everyone knew
about the murder intent apart from Santiago Nasar himself, and that their
reputation as good people was so well founded that no one paid any
attention to them (p52). It was fate that no one bothered to tell Santiago
Nasar, because every one thought that since he was so rich, for one, and
every one assumed that he had been told already.
However, the biggest clue Marquez gives us, that Santiago Nasar
was going to die, no matter what, was the quotation: There had never
been a death more foretold (p50). The reader has the power of foresight
we know that the protagonist is dead, and by saying that Marquez wants
us to think that actually they were not coincidences, that everything was
destiny, and that nothing could have changed that.
Throughout the chapter we are given hints of hope, as Marquez
keeps bringing in situations in which Santiago Nasar could have been
warned, or situations in which the Vicario brothers could have been
stopped. The author presents the themes of inevitability and fate through
these means, through irony, dark humour, and through happenstance. The
fate of the main character is what causes the dark humour, and the irony,
and after all these coincidences, joined with all that happened in the first
two chapters, the reader cannot but think that there must have been some
sort of divine intervention, that it really was destiny, and that the death
was inevitable after all.

Michael Syed

13 Juno

English