Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel Garca Mrquez (1928- )

New York: Ballantine Books, 1992

OVERVIEW
Author: Gabriel Garca Mrquez
In the 1970s, Colombian writer Gabriel Garca Mrquez visited Russia. While there, he spent a
few days in a remote village. The villagers were suspicious of the stranger until one night, at a
local bar frequented by all the villagers, the writer's guide explained that his guest was the
creator of Macondo.
Immediately, the villagers surrounded the Colombian, asking him for his autograph. Avid readers
that they were, the villagers knew that Macondo was the fictional town in the novel One
Hundred Years of Solitude. This was their favorite book and Garca Mrquez their favorite author
(Figueredo 36).
Apocryphal or not, the above anecdote demonstrates Garca Mrquez's worldwide popularity. In
fact, he is so well known and loved in Spanish-speaking countries that people say the Colombian
writer is as popular as a great soccer player (McMurray 1329). This fame emerges from the
artistic, critical, and financial success of his many novels and short stories.
Gabriel Garca Mrquez was born in 1928 (some biographers give 1927 as his date of birth) in
the town of Aracataca, on Colombia's Caribbean coast. At the time of his birth, his parents were
undergoing economic difficulties, so they sent the young child to live with his maternal
grandparents. His grandfather was a retired army colonel who had fought during the 1890s in a
brutal conflict known as the war of "a thousand days," his grandmother an avid storyteller who
believed in ghosts and the supernatural. As a child, Garca Mrquez listened intently to his
grandfather's war remembrances and his grandmother's ghost stories. Years later, many of these
tales would surface in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.
By 1935, his parents had prospered enough for Garca Mrquez to move in with them. He
attended a Jesuit high school where he read voraciously, favoring the science fiction and fantasy
novels of Jules Verne and the swashbuckler tomes of Emilio Salgari. Upon graduation in 1946,
Garca Mrquez was admitted to the Law School of the National University in Bogot. While in
the capital, he submitted a short story to the newspaper El Espectador. The story was well
received by the editor, who published it and encouraged the young writer to submit other works.
From then on, Garca Mrquez, who was studying law to please his parents, knew that he wanted
to devote his life to writing.
In 1950, the government shut down the university. It was a turbulent time. Two years before, a
liberal presidential candidate named Jorge Eliecer Gaitan was assassinated. The incident virtually
ignited a civil war with the liberals battling against the conservatives, whom they blamed for
Gaitan's death. Latin American historians call this period "la violencia." It was not uncommon

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for conservative thugs to murder the friends and relatives of a liberal foe, regardless of whether
or not the victims were involved in politics. In return, liberal paramilitaries would respond in
kind.
Over the next two decades, nearly three thousand Colombians were murdered (Current
Biography 146). Garca Mrquez was deeply affected by the violence: "this world we inherited
from our fathers smells of barricades" (Flores 347).
Out of school, Garca Mrquez earned his living as a journalist and film reviewer. In 1955, the
newspaper El Espectador dispatched him to Rome as a foreign correspondent. A year later, he
married Mercedes Bardo Parda, a childhood friend. The year 1959 found him in Cuba, where
Fidel Castro, who had just taken over the government, placed him in charge of Cuba's news
agency, Prensa Latina. In 1961, Garca Mrquez resigned the post and relocated to Mexico City.
From 1962 to 1965, he experienced writer's block and was unable to write fiction. To support his
wife and son, he wrote Spanish subtitles for foreign films, and film scripts for Mexican westerns.
Then, in January 1965, as Garca Mrquez was driving from Mexico City to Acapulco, the
complete first chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude came to him (Current Biography 147).
Eighteen months later, he finished the novel.
One Hundred Years of Solitude became an overnight sensation, winning numerous international
literary awards and becoming an international bestseller. The success of the novel provided
Garca Mrquez financial stability and allowed him to concentrate on fiction writing. From 1966
to 1981, he wrote dozens of short stories and two novels, including Chronicle of a Death
Foretold, which was based on a true incident that occurred in Colombia. By the late 1970s, his
writings made up a large core of the Latin American literary canon. In 1982, he was awarded the
Nobel Prize for literature.
Since then, Garca Mrquez has continued to write novels and works of nonfiction, and has
adapted several of his short stories into films. He has also worked as a journalist.
Garca Mrquez owns a publishing house in Colombia which releases paperbacks sold at
economical prices. He also owns a weekly magazine. Initially, the writer was a fatalist, but over
the years he has adopted a gentler view of the world. At the Nobel Prize ceremonies, he said that
he believed there will be:
"A new and sweeping utopia of life, where no one will be able to decide for others how they die,
where love will prove true and happiness be possible, and where the races condemned to one
hundred years of solitude will have, at last and forever, a second opportunity on earth" (Nobel
Prize Winners 957).

Bibliography
La hojarasca (1955)
El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (1961)
Los funerales de la mam grande (1962)
La mala hora (1962)

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Cien aos de soledad (1967)
Isabel viendo llover en Macondo (1967)
Relato de un naufrago (1970)
La increible y triste historia de la candida Erndira y de su abuela desalmada (1972)
Ojos de perro azul (1972)
El negro que hizo esperar a los angeles (1973)
Cuando era feliz e indocumentado (1974)
Cuatro cuentos (1974)
El otoo del patriarca (1975)
Todos los cuentos de Gabriel Garca Mrquez, 1947-1975 (1975)
Crnicas y reportajes (1976)
Operacion Carlota (1977)
El olor de la guayaba (1982)
Crnica de una muerte anunciada (1981)
El rastro de tu sangre en la nieve: El verano feliz de la seora Forbes (1982)
Viva Sandino (1982)
El amor en los tiempos del clera (1985)
La aventura de Miguel Littn, clandestino en Chile (1986)
Dialogo sobre la novela latinoamericana (1988)
El general en su laberinto (1989)
Doce cuentos peregrinos (1992)
Del amor y otros demonios (1994)
Noticias de un secuestro (1996)
Por un pais al alcance de los ninos (1996)
Translated Works
No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories (1968)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970)
Leaf Storm and Other Stories (1972)
Autumn of the Patriarch (1976)
Innocent Erndira and Other Stories (1978)
In Evil Hour (1979)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981)
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (1986)
Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littn (1987)
Love in the Time of Cholera (1988)
The General in His Labyrinth (1990)
Strange Pilgrims (1992)
Of Love and Other Demons (1994)
News of a Kidnapping (1996)
Collected Novellas (1999)
Collected Stories (1999)

Characters

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The Narrator - Santiago's friend
Santiago Nasar - the victim
Cristo Bedoya - Santiago's best friend
Divina Flor - Santiago's young servant
Victoria Guzman - Santiago's maid and Divina Flor's mother
Placida Linero - Santiago's mother
Flor Miguel - Santiago's fiance
Nahir Miguel - Santiago's would-be father-in-law
Bayardo San Roman - the offended groom
Angela Vicario - the bride
Pablo and Pedro Vicario - the twin killers
Poncio Vicario - the bride's and twins' father
Pura Vicario - the bride's and twins' mother
Luis Enrique - the narrator's brother
Father Carmen Amador - the local priest
Clotilde Armenta - a witness and owner of the general store
Maria Alejandrina Cervantes - the owner of the local brothel
Faustino Santos - a butcher

SUMMARY
Plot
Shame and dishonor befalls the Vicario household when the daughter, Angela Vicario, is returned
to her parents by her new husband, Bayardo San Roman, who claims his bride was not a virgin
when she married him. Embarrassed and enraged, the mother, Pura, gives her daughter a brutal
beating. At the end of the beating, her twin brothers, Pedro and Pablo, return home from a night
of revelry. Pedro wants to know who had deflowered his sister, and Angela accuses Santiago
Nasar, the wealthiest man in town.
The responsibility of restoring honor to the family's name falls to the twins. They can only do so
by murdering Santiago Nasar. Armed with knives, the brothers wait for the appropriate moment
to corner the seducer. As they wait, word spreads throughout the town about Angela's fate and
the twins' plot. Though all the townspeople show concern for Santiago, no one actually warns
him, and the few who want to help him are unable to reach him. Thus, the twins catch up with
Santiago in front of his house and butcher him while the whole town watches the crime.
Twenty-seven years later, one of Santiago's friends returns to the town to piece together the
events of that day.

Style
A narrator, who has limited knowledge of the event, tells the story. Overall, the narrator uses the
third person singular except in the instances when he is part of the action. In those cases he either

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says "I" or "we." The narrator complements the main narrative, which uses flashbacks and asides
to describe the day of the crime.
The actual event described in the narrative, which begins when Santiago comes out of his house
and ends with his murder, is ninety minutes long. The story, however, is told twenty-seven years
later. There are flashbacks to incidents that take place months before the day of the murder.
The novel alludes to four genres: 1) the crnica (see Title section, below), 2) investigative
journalism, 3) detective fiction, and 4) the epistolary novel.

Themes and Motifs

Magical Realism: Gabriel Garca Mrquez is the master of magical realism. A definition
of this literary genre might be the presence of the supernatural in the mundane. This presence
is inserted into realistic, descriptive passages in a matter-of-fact and/or humorous manner;
the supernatural in magical realism is not meant to frighten. Here is an example from
Chronicle of a Death Foretold: "Things had been disappearing little by little [ . . . ] even the
full-length closet with six mirrors that the master craftsmen of Mompox had had to assemble
inside the house because it wouldn't fit through the door. At first the widower Xius was
overjoyed, thinking that all those were the posthumous recourses of his wife in carrying off
what was hers [ . . . ] One night it occurred to him to hold a spiritualist sance in order to
clear up the mystery, and the soul of Yolanda Xius confirmed in her own handwriting that it
was in fact she who was recovering the knick-knacks of her happiness for her house of
death" (100). Garca Mrquez believes that the first paragraph in a novel should let the reader
know what the story is about, should introduce at least one character, should set the
ambiance, and should establish the tone used by the writer. Reread the first paragraph in
Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Consider the ways in which this paragraph meets the
objectives outlined above.

Detective Story: Chronicle of a Death Foretold contains the classic elements of a

detective novel. These elements are 1) a crime, 2) a victim, 3) a suspect, 4) a motive, 5) a
perpetrator, 6) a summary of the investigation, and 7) an arrest and/or a trial (Bell-Villada
181). Yet the novel is not a traditional detective story. Why not? How is Chronicle of a Death
Foretold different from an Agatha Christie novel or a story by Arthur Conan Doyle?

Unsolved Mysteries: We know from the very beginning that Santiago Nasar will be
murdered. We also know who his killers are. But there are still several unsolved mysteries in
the novel. For example, the narrator suggests that someone else besides Nasar is the real
victim. Note who that victim might be. Also, the reader never learns who actually made love
to Angela, nor Angela's motivation for accusing Santiago Nasar. The reader is simply left to
wonder.

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 The Narrator: The narrator is investigating the crime. We know he is from the town and
was Santiago's friend. But we know little else about him. Consider why the narrator does not
help Santiago or where he is during the crime. Follow what happens to the narrator after
Santiago's death. What prompts him to tell the story twenty-seven years later?

Names: All the characters in the novel are dubbed with poetic and colorful names. For
example, there is Divina Flor, who is Santiago's servant; there is also Flora Miguel,
Santiago's fiance. Using a Spanish-English dictionary, translate the names of the main
characters. Do the names mean anything in Spanish? Do the names allude to mythological or
religious events and personages?

Social Change: Garca Mrquez is described as an escritor comprometido, meaning a

writer who is committed to social change. If this is so, then the novel is a vehicle Garca
Mrquez uses to bring about a change. Based on the story, consider what kind of change the
author might want, or what he might be protesting against.

Culture and Customs: Throughout the story there are numerous references to local
customs and traditions which heavily influence the behavior of the story's central characters.
At times, these cultural dictates clash with the personal convictions of the characters, yet the
characters seem powerless to resist them. Consider what you would note about the town and
the people, if you were an anthropologist visiting the town just before the murder.

HIGHLIGHTS

Take home point

Take Home Point: draws attention to key images, word choices, and events in the text

Exploration point
Exploration Point: has the potential for an essay or paper, or for further research

Theme alert
Theme Alert: provides insight on the theme's emergence at a particular point in the narrative

Quotable
Quotable: identifies passages that merit close stylistic or narrative analysis

Title

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Quotable
The title is a variation of a statement made on page fifty-seven: "There had never been a death
more foretold."
In Spanish, the title is Crnica de una muerte anunciada. The word crnica refers to a literary
genre popular in Spanish. Crnicas were first person accounts written
by conquistadores recalling their involvement in the conquest and colonization of the Americas
during the fifteenth century. The crnicas were meant to be works of nonfiction but included
exaggerations and descriptions of encounters with magical events; there was also much action
and violence. Crnicas were written at least twenty years after the events described took place.
The most popular crnica ever written was The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del
Castillo.
A crnica also refers to investigative journalism, usually of a sensationalist type.
The word "foretold" is a translation of the Spanish anunciada. Anunciada comes
from anunciamiento or "announcement," referring to the angel who appeared before Mary,
informing her she was pregnant with Jesus Christ. The word also means to predict. Both verbs
connote the inevitability of an event.
The allusion to Christ hints that the protagonist of the novel might be a Christ figure. The name
Santiago refers to St. James, an apostle who was beheaded by King Herod Aggripa of Judaea.
The surname Nasar might be read as a shortened version of Nazare - Nazareth - the town where
Christ was born.

Exploration point
The novel is based on a true incident. Here is what actually happened: The event occurred on
January 22, 1951, in Sucre, Colombia. After having discovered on his wedding night that his
wife, Margarita, was not a virgin, Miguel Reyes Palencia returned her to her mother early the
following morning. Soon afterward, Cayetano Gentile Chimento died at the hands of Victor
Chica Salas for having dishonored Victor's sister (Diaz-Migoyo 74). Garca Mrquez was
familiar with the tragedy, but instead of writing an article about the event, he decided to
fictionalize it. How different is Garca Mrquez's story from the actual incident? Why do you
think the author chose to write a novel rather than a journalistic account?

Chapter 1
Santiago Nasar, of Arabic descent and the wealthiest man in town, wakes up at 5:30 in the
morning. Today, a bishop is coming to visit the town, and Santiago wants to be among the first to
welcome him on the dock. Nasar is suffering from a hangover, the result of the revelries that took
place the night before when the whole town celebrated the wedding of Bayardo San Roman, an
affluent newcomer, to Angela Vicario, the local beauty. Before waking up, Nasar had a bad
dream. In the dream, he was walking through a pristine forest. It was drizzling and he was happy
until he realized that birds had defecated on him.

Take home point

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The dream is an omen, but neither Santiago nor his mother, Placida Linero, who is gifted at
interpreting dreams, see it as such.
As Nasar eats a light breakfast, he flirts with Divina Flor, a servant girl he plans to seduce, the
way his own father had seduced the girl's mother years before. When he grabs the young maid by
her wrist, her mother, Victoria Guzman, who still works for the family, intervenes. Showing the
young master a knife, Victoria threatens, "Let go of her, white man [ . . . ] You won't have a drink
of that water as long as I live" (8). Santiago lets go of the girl.
While this exchange is occurring in the kitchen, twins Pedro and Pablo Vicario, the town's
butchers, wait on the plaza across from Santiago's house. Hours earlier they had learned that their
sister, Angela Vicario, had not been a virgin before her marriage and that, because of this, the
bridegroom had returned her to their parents. The twins had also learned that it was Santiago who
had deflowered their sister. The twins intend to save the family's honor by murdering Santiago.

Theme alert
Culture and Customs: Notice that the bridegroom must return his new bride because a true man
- a macho - cannot marry a woman who is not pure. The only way to restore honor to a shamed
family is through the death of the culprit.
The twins are sitting outside a general store. When they see Nasar come out of his house, they
reach for their knives; but the storeowner, Clotilde Armenta, dissuades them, telling the twins to
let Santiago go to the dock to see the bishop. The twins sit down again to wait for another
opportunity. Along with the twins, Clotilde watches Santiago stroll across the plaza. She does not
tell him that there is a plot to murder him. Her silence might be based on her assumption that the
twins are not going to carry out their threat.
Santiago proceeds to the dock to wait, along with the other townsfolk, for the bishop. The bishop
does not disembark; instead, he remains on the boat, oblivious to the fact that the people in town
have been eagerly awaiting his visit. He makes the sign of the cross several times, blesses the
town, and continues sailing upstream. Disappointed, the townspeople return to their homes.
Many people see Santiago, including the mayor and the local priest.

Theme alert
Social Change: Notice how the bishop does not show any interest in the town, completely
bypassing it. Notice also that the local priest does nothing to help Santiago. The suggestion made
by the author is that the Catholic Church, whether in siding with the powerful or simply
remaining aloof from local events, has done little to improve the lot of the parishioners in Latin
America.

Take home point

By now the word is out that the twins are planning to murder Santiago, but since the plot is
common knowledge, everyone assumes Santiago is aware of the plan and that he is ready to face
the would-be killers. They know he is good with weapons and owns several rifles and revolvers;
they believe he is quite capable of protecting himself. What they do not know is that Santiago

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has no inkling whatsoever about the twins' intentions and that he only carries his weapons when
he is at his farm and never when he is in town.
Walking away from the dock, the narrator's sister, Margot, meets Santiago. Attracted to Santiago,
who is good-looking and pleasant, she invites him to her parents' house for breakfast. Santiago
accepts the invitation, but since he plans to go to his farm, he decides first to go back to his house
to change into work clothes. On her way home, Margot hears about the dishonor that has fallen
on the Vicarios' household. She cannot believe it, commenting, "[ . . . ] no matter how much they
tossed the story back and forth, no one could explain to me how [ . . . ] Santiago Nasar ended up
being involved in such a mix-up" (24).
When Margot hears about the twins' plans, she tells her mother, who gets dressed and rushes to
Nasar's house to warn him. But a neighbor catches up with her and tells her, "Don't bother
yourself [ . . . ] they've already killed him" (26).

Theme alert
Culture and Customs: The townspeople adhere to the machismo code and the culture of
violence, thus in principle they agree with the twins' decision to murder Santiago. They resent
the fact that Santiago feels he has certain privileges over the lower classes, including the right to
bed down his servant, regardless of whether or not the girl consents.

Take home point

The novel's narrative style is established. It is a recollection pieced together by a narrator twenty-
seven years after the crime. Says the narrator, "I returned to this forgotten village, trying to put
the broken mirror of memory back together from so many scattered shards" (5). It indicates that
his account will not be an accurate depiction of the incident since many of the witnesses
interviewed would not remember what really happened.

Take home point

The narrator is not an omniscient narrator but rather a storyteller with limited information. The
narrative is written in the third-person singular, with the narrator inserting himself - by means of
the pronoun "I" - in some passages. The narrative also displays a journalistic style, with the
narrator quoting witnesses as he describes a particular event. The technique allows the reader to
see the story through the narrator's eyes. The technique also allows for many flashbacks, asides,
and contradictions.

Take home point

In Latin America, non-Jewish immigrants from or descendants of people from the Middle East
are often called Arabs.

Chapter 2
The chapter begins with a flashback to Bayardo's arrival. He is handsome, athletic, and dresses
like an explorer. To some he looks like an actor. The people wonder why he has come to town,
and he explains that he is looking for a wife.

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Bayardo checks in at a boarding house. One afternoon, while napping on a rocking chair on the
boarding house porch, he spots Angela Vicario crossing the town plaza. He tells the landlady,
"I'm going to marry her" (31). Later on, during a national holiday celebration, Bayardo attends a
bazaar where Angela is sitting at a booth, selling tickets for a raffle. Bayardo buys all the tickets
and wins the prize, a music box. That night, he presents Angela with the music box as a gift.
From that moment on, Bayardo makes his intentions clear. However, he does not court Angela;
he spends his time charming her family.
Pura, Angela's mother, is happy that Bayardo, who is affluent, wants to marry her daughter.
When Angela protests, saying that she does not love him, her mother answers, "Love can be
learned [ . . . ]" (38). Bayardo visits Angela regularly. To please her, he buys her a house on the
outskirts of town. The owner, a widow, does not want to sell the property; but Bayardo, who is
capable of winning anyone to his side, persuades the woman.

Theme alert
Culture and Customs: Bayardo is drawn as the ideal "Latin macho," someone who always gets
what he wants. For example, Bayardo makes up his mind to marry Angela, regardless of how she
might feel toward him. He buys the house the widow does not wish to sell. He is physically
strong and when he challenges all the best swimmers in town to a swim meet in the river, he
emerges as the winner.

Exploration point
Consider how the culture of machismo and the oppression of women in Latin America is
illustrated here.
Bayardo and Angela get married at the local church. Everyone is invited to the reception, which
is so elaborate - with fireworks, an orchestra from the capital, a ballet company, and lots of food
- that the event looks more like a public festival than a wedding celebration. One of the guests is
Santiago Nasar, who is more interested in figuring out the cost of the reception than in the
wedding itself. Nasar is impressed by the flower arrangements, estimating that "the floral
decorations in the church are equal in cost to those for fourteen first-class funerals" (46).

Take home point

Everyone likes Bayardo, including Santiago, who is obviously happy to participate in the
celebrations and does not seem bothered at all that Bayardo is marrying Angela.

Take home point

Again, the author uses irony. When Santiago comments on the floral arrangements and tells the
narrator, "I don't want flowers at my funeral" (47), he is unaware that his wish will be carried out
soon enough. Likewise, Santiago drinks and sings with the very men that will murder him a few
hours later.
Early in the evening, Bayardo and his new wife leave the celebrations, and soon the party breaks
up. Santiago Nasar and the narrator visit the local brothel, where they find the Vicario twins. The

10
four men drink and sing together. In the meantime, the bride's parents get ready to retreat for the
night, when there is knock on the door. When Pura opens the door, she sees Bayardo and Angela.
A stoic Bayardo leaves his bride behind. Pura beats her daughter and summons the twins from
the brothel. Realizing what has occurred, Pedro Vicario asks his sister to name her seducer. She
answers, "Santiago Nasar" (53).

Take home point

At this point in the narrative, other doubts appear regarding Santiago's sexual relations with
Angela. It is discovered that Santiago did not like her, calling her a "ninny" (35). Furthermore,
Angela's parents did not let her be alone with any of the men from town. Finally, the narrator,
who had grown up with Santiago and was very close to him, is not aware of any liaison between
Santiago and Angela. He states, "[ . . . ] nobody could have believed that one of us could have a
secret without its being shared, particularly such a big secret" (47).

Chapter 3
After learning of their sister's fate, the twins grab their best knives. From their home, they go to
the meat market to sharpen the weapons, announcing their intention to murder Santiago; but
none of the butchers believe them except for Faustino Santos, who asks why "kill Santiago Nasar
[ . . . ] when there are so many other rich people who deserved dying first" (60). Once their
knives are sharpened, Pablo and Pedro Vicario amble over to the general store to wait for
Santiago. At the store, they tell the owner that they are waiting for Santiago so that they can
murder him. It is 4:10 in the morning.
In the meantime, Faustino Santos reports the twins to a policeman. The policeman tracks down
the brothers at the store, talks with them, and confirms what Faustino has told him; but instead of
arresting them, the policeman walks over to the mayor's home and tells him about the twins'
plan. After eating a leisurely breakfast, the mayor, Colonel Lazaro Aponte, heads for the store,
where he sees the twins. Instead of taking the Vicario brothers into custody, he takes away their
knives, convinced that the twins are too drunk to murder anyone. Besides, he explains that "no
one is arrested just on suspicion" (66).

Theme alert
Social Change: Witnesses, such as the colonel, are too involved in their own affairs to help
Santiago. The Church, personified by Father Carmen Amador, remains aloof from the events.
The twins go home to select another pair of knives, and then go back to the meat market. As they
sharpen the new knives, they repeat their announcement. From the market, they return to the
general store to resume their vigil. The twins are no longer in agreement regarding the course of
action they should take. Pedro does not want to murder Santiago, but Pablo insists that they must
carry out their duty. By now "more than a dozen people" know about the plot (66).
Clotilde Armenta, the general store's owner, sends word about the twins to the local priest. Father
Amador, however, doesn't do anything, explaining that it is not an affair for the church but "for
the civil authorities" (81). He adds, furthermore, that he is more concerned with the bishop's
visit.

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While the priest gets ready to receive the bishop, the narrator's brother, Luis Enrique, comes
across the twins. The twins ask him if he knows Santiago's whereabouts. Luis, who has been
partying all night and is drunk and incoherent, answers that "Santiago Nasar is dead" (80). Then,
he proceeds to his home, where he falls asleep in the bathroom. A few minutes later, he wakes
from sleep when one of his sisters cries, "They've killed Santiago Nasar" (82).

Take home point

The murder is foreshadowed in this chapter. The narrator's brother, Luis Enrique, states, without
rhyme or reason, that Santiago is already dead. The narrator and his friends say good night to
Santiago, adding, "it was the last time that we saw him" (78). Santiago himself sees a light on the
ocean and describes it as "a soul in torment" (77). Everything points to the inevitability of the
outcome. The narrator proclaims, "there had never been a death more foretold" (57).

Take home point

Note the frequent use of irony. Characters who have the opportunity to stop the twins or to alert
Santiago choose not to do so, thinking that the matter has been handled and the conflict resolved
peacefully. The brothers themselves keep announcing their plans, hoping someone will stop them
(56). It is clear that the twins take no pleasure in their role as avengers.

Theme alert
Culture and Customs: The culture of machismo mandates the twins' behavior and colors the
attitude of the people in town. Most of the characters in the novel support the course of action
chosen by the Vicario brothers. A young woman, who later on marries Pablo Vicario, says, "I
never would have married him if he hadn't done what a man should do" (72). The culture of
machismo also produces a stereotype. While the killers are waiting for Santiago, one of them
shaves, using a butcher knife. Clotilde Armenta watches him in admiration, thinking that shaving
in this manner "was the height of machismo" (73).

Chapter 4
After Santiago is murdered, his body is placed for public viewing in his home. It is hot and fans
are brought in from neighboring houses. The mayor, Colonel Lazaro Aponte, hopes the corpse
will decompose slowly, allowing enough time for the town's physician to return from a trip he
has just taken. But the smell attracts Santiago's dogs. Roaming in the backyard, the dogs howl
incessantly. Placida Linero, the deceased's mother, wants someone to remove the dogs. Her wish
is carried out and a neighbor locks up the dogs somewhere far from town. But about noon, the
dogs break loose and return to the house. This time, Placida Linero orders the dogs killed.
In the heat of the day, and with so many people coming to the house to view the deceased, the
pace of decomposition is accelerated; by late afternoon the mayor has no other choice but to
order an autopsy.
The deceased has suffered seven fatal wounds and numerous cuts. He has a cut in his right hand
that "looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ" (87). As the autopsy goes on, the curious begin
to walk away. The autopsy is not a pretty sight. Colonel Aponte, a man who in his youth had

12
participated in several massacres and had seen many men killed in battle, is so sickened that at
that very instant he becomes a vegetarian and a spiritualist. The autopsy takes about ten hours to
finish; once the job is done, Santiago is buried.

Take home point

The process is described clinically and in great detail, diminishing the violence of the act,
creating some hygienic distance between the reader and the killing, and preparing the reader for
the vivid description of the murder at the end of the novel.

Exploration point
Chapter Four describes the autopsy. The last chapter describes the actual knifing. Compare the
two passages. Do they correlate with each other? Which of the passages is the bloodiest? Why
does the author provide the autopsy before the crime?

Exploration point
The allusion to Christ suggests that Santiago Nasar is a Christ-like figure. From that perspective,
it is possible that he had to be sacrificed in order for Angela to gain her own freedom and for
Bayardo to break away from the culture and codes of machismo.
After the burial, the narrator, depressed by the events of the day, seeks solace with his mistress,
Maria Alejandrina Cervantes, the owner of the local brothel. But Maria Alejandrina is unable to
make love to the narrator, explaining that he "smells" of Santiago Nasar (90). The narrator learns
that the Vicario twins, already in the local jail, also smell of the deceased. One of the twins says,
"No matter how much I scrubbed with soap and rags, I couldn't get rid of the smell [ . . . ]" (90).
It becomes evident that guilt is starting to plague the murderers and the witnesses.
While in jail, Pablo Vicario develops diarrhea. His brother Pedro thinks Pablo has been poisoned.
He is afraid that the Arabs who live in town are planning a reprisal. Harboring similar suspicions,
the mayor leaves the site of the autopsy temporarily and visits the Arab families. He learns that
the Arabs are despondent but have no desire to retaliate. As the mayor goes from one Arab
household to another, the narrator describes the Arab community.

Take home point

There is a hint of resentment in the description since the community is affluent, clannish, and
keeps away from the rest of the town.
A few days go by. Father Amador visits the twins and ask them to repent, but the Vicario brothers
refuse to do so, affirming that they had done nothing wrong. The Vicario family decides to leave
town and come to the prison to bid good-bye to the twins. In the meantime, Colonel Aponte
realizes that no one has checked on the groom since the day of the murder. He visits Bayardo and
finds him in an alcoholic stupor. The mayor informs Bayardo's father. Soon his mother and
sisters travel to the town to take Bayardo away.
From that point on, no one knows much about Bayardo, but it seems that as the years go by, the
offended bridegroom cannot forget his bride, and even falls in love with her. Likewise, Angela

13
Vicario has also fallen in love with Bayardo, and for twenty years she writes him love letters.
One day, an older and fatter Bayardo shows up at Angela's front steps. Like him, she is also older
and no longer attractive. Bayardo, who is carrying with him all the love letters Angela has
written to him but that he has never read, tells her, "here I am" (111).

Take home point

The love between Bayardo and Angela adds a major twist to the story. After rejecting her
because she is not a virgin, Bayardo leaves town and wanders around the country. He longs for
Angela and does not grow attached to anyone. It is an ironic development for, ultimately, it does
not matter to Bayardo whether or not his bride is a virgin. As for Angela, it is only after Bayardo
rejects her that she falls in love with him. Prior to his rejection, she did not want to marry him,
thus her willingness to confess to Bayardo that she was not a virgin.

Exploration point
The peculiar courtship alludes to and pokes fun at the epistolary novel. In this type of novel, the
story evolves through a series of letters exchanged by two characters. But in Chronicle of a
Death Foretold, there is no exchange of letters. Furthermore, the recipient, Bayardo San Roman,
does not read the letters Angela sends him. The courtship also caricatures the idealized love
affair that is part of the machismo culture: the conventionally attractive and passionate
sweethearts are replaced by lovers who are tired, old, and homely.

Take home point

Again, Santiago's innocence emerges. The narrator observes, "no one really believed that it had
been Santiago [ . . . ]" who had deflowered Angela (103). The narrator points out that no one had
ever seen Santiago and Angela together, that they "belonged to two different worlds" (103), and
that Santiago made it a point of not having sexual relations with any respectable girl from town.

Theme alert
Social Change: The theme of women's oppression surfaces. When expected to marry Bayardo,
Angela rebels by confessing that she is not a virgin, thus escaping from a forced marriage. By
gaining her independence, she can make her own choice (which, in the long run, happens to be
Bayardo).

Chapter 5
The chapter begins with the admission of communal guilt. Then, the narrator retraces the steps
taken by Santiago before his death. The chapter ends with a description of the crime.
The narrator admits that the town did nothing to prevent Santiago's death. He observes, "For
years we couldn't talk about anything else. Our daily conduct [. . .] had suddenly begun to spin
around a single common anxiety" (113). The narrator needs to understand what took place on the
day Santiago was murdered and why everyone behaved the way they did. This urgency prompts
him to revisit the crime scene, interview the witnesses, and read the trial's transcripts.

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The narrator then reconstructs Santiago's last minutes before his death. After the bishop bypasses
the town, Santiago leaves the dock in the company of Cristo Bedoya, his best friend. A neighbor
walks up to Santiago to warn him about the plot but does not. Another neighbor invites the
would-be victim to a cup of coffee, planning to alert him about the plot; but Santiago declines the
offer and the neighbor remains quiet. An old Arab meets Santiago and Cristo. The old Arab
decides to tell Cristo, rather than Santiago, about the plot; as the old man and Cristo talk,
Santiago walks away.

Theme alert
Social Change: The beginning of this chapter implies that those who watched the crime are
actual accomplices and not just witnesses.
The instant Cristo learns what is going on, he runs after his friend but cannot find him.
Desperate, yet trying to remain calm, Cristo hurries to Santiago's house, hoping to find him there.
But Santiago has not come home yet. Cristo then remembers that Margot, the narrator's sister,
has invited Santiago to breakfast. Cristo heads in the direction of Margot's house.
What Cristo does not know is that Santiago is visiting Flora Miguel, his fiance. Normally,
Santiago goes to Flora's house late in the afternoon since her parents do not allow visits during
the morning. Thus, whenever Santiago walks by Flora's house in the morning, he scratches his
key across her window, just to let her know he is passing by. This time, Flora invites him into the
house.
Santiago is surprised to find Flora upset with him. She has just learned about Angela Vicario; but
instead of worrying about the threat to Santiago's life, she is jealous of Angela. She tells him,
"Here you are [ . . . ] I hope they kill you" (134). Then, without providing an explanation, she
storms away from the living room and locks herself in her bedroom. Her father, Nahir Miguel,
intervenes and speaks with Flora. She tells him about Angela and the twins' plan. Immediately,
Nahir tells Santiago what is going on.
Puzzled, incredulous, and in a daze, Santiago heads for home. As he rushes across the town's
plaza, "people [ . . . ] stationed themselves on the square the way they did on parade days" (136).
The Vicario twins spot him and give chase. Santiago runs toward the front door of his house.

Take home point

Note how the public views the spectacle without interfering. Some of the witnesses are
anticipating a fair fight, believing Santiago carries a weapon. Others think that since he is aware
of the plot, he will be able to get away from the twins. But there are others who either show no
interest at all in helping Santiago or wish him harm. Again, this is where the resentment against
the wealthy in general, and the Arabs in particular, surfaces. Also, the narrator does hint that
Santiago might not be such a nice person after all. The narrator observes, "[ . . . ] Not everybody
loved Santiago Nasar" (119). Another character comments that Santiago "thought that his money
made him untouchable [. . .]. Just like all the Turks" (120).
Inside the house, the servant Victoria Guzman tells Placida Linero about the threat. The young
maid, Divina Flor, thinks Santiago is in his room and volunteers that information to Placida.

15
Believing her son safe inside the house, Placida closes the front door, just as Santiago is ready to
rush in. At that moment, the twins corner him and butcher him.
Exhausted from knifing Santiago many times, the twins take a rest. They notice a handful of
Arabs running toward them. Fearing for their lives, the twins seek shelter in the church. In the
meantime, Santiago, bleeding, his intestines dangling from his stomach, manages to get up from
the sidewalk. He makes his way inside his house, where he dies in the kitchen.
The narrator sums up the fate of the rest of characters: Cristo Bedoya graduates from medical
school and becomes a famous surgeon; Placida Linora spends the rest of her life as a recluse in
her own home; Flora Miguel ends up a prostitute.

Take home point

In this chapter, the "foretelling" component of the story is at its most visible. One character is
frightened by Santiago's paleness, as if he were already dead (121). Pedro Vicario dismisses the
possibility that Santiago might have a revolver because a "dead man can't shoot" (128). Someone
else describes him as having the face "of a dead man" (130). And the narrator repeats the phrase,
"It was the last time they saw" Santiago alive (122). Everyone is disposed to view Santiago as a
dead man, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Take home point

Note that the end of the novel is anti-climactic. Though the narrator describes in great detail all
the wounds inflicted on Santiago, the element of shock is absent. This is because in a previous
chapter the narrator describes the same wounds in the clinical language of the autopsy. Thus, the
reader already knows exactly how Santiago will be murdered. This stylistic approach prevents
the last chapter from becoming a sensationalist rendition of the murder.

Take home point

Even by the end of the novel, the narrator still does not know who slept with Angela or why she
named Santiago Nasar. Thus, twenty-seven years after the death of Santiago Nasar, the mystery
is still unsolved.

RESOURCES
Works Consulted
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de una muerte anunciada." Ed. Harold Bloom. Modern Critical Views: Gabriel Garca
Mrquez. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. 219-226.
Bell-Villada, Gene H. Garca Mrquez: The Man and His Work. Chapel Hill: U of North
Carolina P, 1990.

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Diaz-Migoyo, Gonzalo. "Truth Disguised: Chronicle of a Death (Ambiguously) Foretold." Ed.
Julio Ortega. Gabriel Garca Mrquez and the Powers of Fiction. Austin, Texas: U of Texas P,
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Dolan, Sean. Gabriel Garca Mrquez: Colombian Writer. New York: Chelsea House, 1994.
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