One thing I found very intriguing in the chapter was how Marquez went into depth about Santiago’s autopsy. Divina Flor says, ‘“Help me, what they want is to eat his guts,”’ (pg 73). This quote is very strange diction. It creates an uneasiness with the readers. Also, when the medical students are cutting Santiago’s body, it says, “The liver was almost sliced into pieces by two deep cuts on the anterior side,” (pg 75). It goes on for another paragraph describe the grotesque details of his rotting body. It makes me wonder why the author decided to put this into the book. In the report of his body, it said, “It looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ,” (pg 75). The doctors are referring Santiago Nasar to be crucified like Christ. It is interesting why Marquez decided to connect Nasar back to the crucifixion of Christ. After the diagnosis of the body, Dr. Dionisio Iguaran says, “he had only a few years of life left to him in any case,” (pg 76). This comment infers that people did not really think anything of it that Santiago died. Most of them thought that he was going to die sooner or later, so it might as well have been sooner. The quote reflects the society and how they did not really do anything to warn him of his death. Lastly, Santiago’s intestines were given to the priest. The priest “gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage.” The priest was very disrespectful to Santiago’s body and “angrily” blessed them. It shows that he really did not care about Santiago or the fact that he was murdered.
Perhaps the town felt so guilty for what happened that they tried treating the matter as if it were no big deal as a method for coping. That particular quote that said he would have died in the near future anyways conveys the sense of almost forced and false indifference.
In chapter four I noticed the reoccurant references to the smell. Pedro Vicario said "no matter how much I scrubbed with soap and rags, I couldn't get rid of the smell"(78). To me it seems like the smell of Santiago's death is symbolic of the sense of guilt that hangs over the town. Everyone seems to smell Santiago even after weeks have passed since his death. Marquez does this perhaps to emphasize that everyone in the town should feel a sense of guilt as they all played a role in his murder. Some more than others, yet anyone who heard the Vicario brothers threats and did not report it should feel some guilt and responsibility for the loss of a human life due to there actions. The "smell" is not only everywhere, it is also hard to get rid of. This suggest that humans naturally feel guilt when something bad has happened in which they played a role and that this sense of guilt is hard to rid oneself of. Perhaps the author is trying to say that people need to think more before they act out of passion because you can't take back actions and guilt is hard to get rid of. People have to live with their actions.
I completely agree with what you said about the smell representing guilt over Santiago's death--I had the same thought as I read through this chapter. Your comment about individuals being responsible for their actions is interesting too, because what the individuals did was not necessarily an action, but a lack thereof. Thinking back to the article we read about the Kitty Genovese case, do you think that Marquez is also condemning those who have the ability to act, but don't, like what happened in the murder of Kitty Genovese?
While reading Chapter four, the situation involving the dogs that were attracted to the smell of death stood out to me. While attempting to mourn her son’s death, Placida Linero finds herself intensely aggravated by the dogs that had invaded the house to search for the dead body. In a fit of rage, Placida shouts, “Those shitty dogs! Kill them!” (Marquez, 74). Marquez utilises magical realism in that the request was immediately fulfilled without question. This brings an unreal tone surrounding not only Santiago’s death, but also death in general. The people in this town are so fixated on living a Christian-like life that they clearly do not regard death as something of great permanence or significance. Marquez further comments of human nature by juxtaposing the dogs’ behaviour the town’s behaviour. The people of the town are equally as eager to get a look at the body, “There were so many people anxious to see it that they had to push back the furniture and take down the bird cages and pots of ferns.” (73). The people behave no more maturely than animals in this situation. Such a gruesome death would generally garner some respect for the family. However, the people cannot keep themselves from their desire to look at the horror in the face, displaying that humans are innately no better than animals.
In this chapter there is a lot going on. One thing that really stood out to me while reading was the sexism within the community that the story takes place in. This community really is male based which is an obvious message about society that Marquez is trying to share. Throughout the book so far Angela has gone through a lot of rough times with her family, fiance, and her status in the town. First off her family gave her away to a man that she doesn't love who is shown to actually not be a very good guy. Next after the huge wedding she didn’t actually want, she is returned to her family because of something that wasnt even true. Her family then beats her almost to death. Also her two brothers are arrested and just killed her “lover”. She is seen to have a terrible reputation because her “deflowering” also. As a human it is natural for us to feel bad for this poor girl which we should, she’s gone through a lot. Yet all her family cares the other townspeople not thinking she is mourning the death of Santiago., thus they dress her in bright red and cover her beating marks. On the flip side we see Bayardo who hasn’t gone through much distress at all getting all of the sympathy in the community due to the fact that his bride was “not a virgin”. This shows a major double standard and sexism within the community that the story takes place. The favoritism of males is completely prevalent and the role of a woman and breaking that role is a huge part as well. Marquez is try to make a statement about society and sexism within it. Because a woman does something or is accused of doing something not very socially acceptable she is automatically shunned and sent away or marked as a bad person. Whereas a man, who didn't have good intentions in the first place, gets so much pity just because of the thought that his new wife may not be a virgin. Angela was almost beaten to death is still in trouble and all her family cares about is making it seem like she is not mourning over Santiago. Marquez adds this important detail about society to make a statement about morals and what is important really opposed to what a society says.
What I noticed in particular in chapter 4, was the lack of caring and dehumanization Santiago Nasar in death. During his autopsy, his body is treated with little respect. In fact the priest, "pulled out the sliced-up intestines by the roots...and he gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage pail" (76). It is ironic that the priest is the one to show so little respect towards Santiago's body. This illustrates how after Santiago's death, the town dehumanized him and he became more of an object, or a concept of what was once living. Thus, this further reveals the town's apathy towards death and creates an ironic tone because they value religion and purity, but could not care less of the death of their friends and family. On the other hand, the Vicario Brothers' punishment for murdering a human seems very light. They were given prison cells in which "no hotel that existed was more humane", and that were accommodating. There, they only had to reside for three years, compared to an eternity of death for their victim. This shows what that society valued more: honor. Killing in the name of honor to that town seemed more justifiable than sleeping with a virgin before marriage. Another thing I found interesting was when there were rumors of the Arabs seeking revenge on the town, "Colonel Aponte, worried by the rumors, visited the Arabs family by family and at that time, at least, drew a correct conclusion" (82). Only now, because there was a possible threat to the town itself, people begin to act. No one did anything to prevent Santiago's death, even when it was fully confirmed, but the one moment when a rumor reaches town of the Arabs seeking revenge, action is being taken to prevent that threat.
I also found this very interesting! In this society, honor trumps everything else. Honor is essentially what the townspeople live for. I find it absurd how the townspeople show such little care about Santiago Nasar when they discover the impending murder, but after he's dead, so many people testify to it. They care so much about their individual reputation and leave everything else to a lower importance.
In chapter four I was very interested in what the narrator had to say about Angela Vicario. The very first line that caught my eye was near the very end of the chapter when Marquez writes, “No one would ever have suspected until she decided to tell me that Bayardo San Roman had been in her life forever from the moment he brought her back home”(91). When I read over this I was very confused yet so intrigued at the same time. My thoughts throughout the whole novel up to this point was that Angela was secretly in love with Santiago Nasar and would continue to be especially with his death. When I read on it explained that she had wrote Bayardo one letter every month for six months and continued this for 17 years. Considering that the readers assume that Angela is telling the truth about the “deflowering”, we have a feeling that she no longer wants to be married to Bayardo, which is confirmed by her telling her mother that she does not want to marry a man she does not love. This part of the book makes me think of the clique but fitting quote, “The heart wants what it cannot have”. Angela didn’t realize that she was in love with him until Bayardo was almost killed by alcohol poisoning and after he had left. When we see that Bayardo never replies to any of Angela’s letters we begin to feel pity for her. Marquez soon juxtaposes this with Bayardo coming back with all of the letters unopened which gives you the idea that Angela’s actions to send the letters to Bayardo speak louder than the words written in them.
I really agree with this cass! I think that people don't realize how they feel about someone until a certain event that triggers the thoughts. I think that you are really on point with the actions of Angels speak louder than what is written in them. I know I felt pity for her because just imagine how someone would feel if they put so much effort into something special and the action is recognized in some sort of way.
As I read through Chapter Four, I noticed how most of the town’s sympathy after Santiago Nasar’s death seems to lie with Bayardo San Roman as opposed to Santiago Nasar. Marquez is explicit in telling the reader this, writing, “For the immense majority of people there was only one victim: Bayardo San Roman” (83). Right before Bayardo is found unconscious in his house, about to die from alcohol poisoning, the mayor says, “Shit! ...I’d completely forgotten about that poor man!” (85). Both of these statements create a great deal of irony in the chapter: Santiago Nasar was murdered entirely due to a baseless accusation, yet the townspeople feel sorry not for Santiago, but for Bayardo. The mayor’s cryptic exclamation is even more ironic, because not only does it show his sympathy for Bayardo, but also could be construed to be about Santiago: the mayor, and the rest of the town, have forgotten entirely about a man in their town who was murdered. At the beginning of the chapter, when the priest says, “It was as if we had killed him all over again after he was dead” (72), he is not just referring to how poorly the autopsy was executed, he is also referring to how quickly the town tries to forget about Santiago Nasar and his death, in order to avoid feeling the guilt of having caused a man’s death. The ironic tone created by the town’s misplaced guilt and the mayor’s cryptic statement stresses to the reader how the town, no matter how hard it tries, cannot escape the guilt of having contributed to Santiago Nasar’s death.
In chapter four, Angela Vicario says that she refused to deceive Bayardo on their wedding night because "'it was all something dirty that shouldn't be done to anybody, much less to the poor man who had the bad luck to marrry me." (Marquez, 106). Yet, in that society, having a bride that wasn't a virgin was a huge insult to the husband. We have to assume she didn't lie to him because she didn't want "something dirty done to him," but does that justify tarnishing her family's name and taking Santiago's life? Furthermore, in this chapter the narrator says that no one believed Santiago had done such a thing, and that Angela continued to keep the real man's name a secret - allowing us to assume that Santiago was innocent. Her approach to giving mercy to Bayardo is naive and lacks foresight - if she really wanted to something with the least consequences, she would've married Bayardo, ensured the financial stability of her family, and prevented Santiago from dying.
However, there's another side to this. The whole act of not deceiving Bayardo on the wedding night also represents the first time that someone in the town faces the reality of what they have done, instead of pretending to be extremely religious. We can see that, however, it leads to negative results that enforces the need for deception and conformity in order to function socially in that kind of society.
The question of whether deception is necessary for society can be juxtaposed to the question of whether religion is necessary in society. I think a balance of the two is necessary for sanity and for tranquility however deception and religion are pretty much opposites of each other. would they cancel each other out?
What shocked me in Chapter Four was the sexism that was really brought to the audience's attention. After all the terrible things that happened leading up to Santiago Nasar's death, primarily Angela Vicario being left by her husband, violently beaten by her mother, and blatantly disgraced for her sexual activity before marriage, the pity proceeds to be placed on Bayardo San Roman. This is interesting because he is a prominent male character who has undergone the least amount of pain, yet attention/concern for him is seemingly highlighted, especially rather directly with the quote, "For the immense majority of people, there was only one victim: Bayardo San Roman....The only one who had lost everything was Bayardo San Roman: 'poor Bayardo,' as he was remembered over the years" (96). It's almost humorous the fact that he is regarded as the "one victim" of this whole situation. Nevermind the serious consequences for Angela as a result of being "returned" by her husband for being impure because what seems to be more important is his well-being. The author, Marquez, creates such a tone that reflects the inequality in regards to consideration for the two different sexes.
I thought this was ironic also! Although this book is focused on other issues regarding society sexism is also part of the book. I find it interesting that society would sympathize with the man regardless of the situation. If they side with the woman, they would basically support her actions of sleeping out of wedlock and contradict the set morals. The women in the story, besides Santiago, seem to suffer more and they are not recognized for such suffering. Society sees fit that women are born to suffer, therefore they recognize the slight suffering of men.
Something that annoyed me in this chapter, or even in this book is that it leaves so many things unanswered. For example the autopsy tells us nothing new at all, as if its something just to comfort the other characters and make them feel less guilt about his death. That Santiago would have lived a short while longer because of an enlarged liver (87). This shows how the villagers wanted to make Santiago guilty so they themselves won't feel the guilt. Even the narrator seems to skirt around the topic and reveals information that has already been said. Additionally it seems like everyone makes up excuses for their actions, not only in this chapter but throughout the play (like the group in ch.3 talked about) but in this chapter, Angea even gave a reason to why she could not fake her virginity after her friends encouraged her to. (104-106). She claims that she had the pure decency" which is ironic because she herself is corrupt. And to add on to this, she writes letters to her fiance although she states that she, "couldn't think of what to say...but it was enough for me to know that he was getting them" (109). And Bayardo returns with the letters unopened. It is interesting to see how the author describes this. Perhaps it' shows that because of the sense of grief and love, and betrayal, they can't bring themselves to interact. Or that it is the action and perseverance of writing the letters that really matters.
I think the action of writing the letters is supposed to be what matters. I honestly think that Bayardo didn't want to read the letters in case it was something bad towards him like rejection, but it also added an element of romantic mystery. Angela kept writing letters to Bayardo so it showed that she cared for him, and Bayardo kept them, thereby reciprocating her feelings. It wasn't so much the words that she wrote to him, but the act itself that showed dedication and love, which I think made him realize that in reality, one's virginity doesn't matter if he/she loves you.
At the start of Chapter 4, the first thing mentioned was the damage done to the knives. The narrator describes, “ The damage from the knives was only a beginning for the unforgiving autopsy that Father Carmen Amador found himself obliged to perform in Doctor Dionisio Iguaran’s absence” (Marquez 83). This quote is an analysis of the whole ordeal. The mention of the damage to the knives first symbolizes how the people are concerned about the guilt they feel before the fact that Nasar was dead. They were the instruments that led to Nasar’s murder just as the knives were the instrument of the autopsy. The autopsy is referred to as unforgivable just as the role of the people who did nothing to stop Nasar’s death was considered unforgivable. Amador also says, “ It was as if we killed him all over again after he was dead” (Marquez, 83). The priest agrees to the fact that he and the people around were murderers as well. The fact that the autopsy was such a fail shows how all of the people failed to react to the Vicario brother’s plot. The people were unfitting to do such a thing just as Amador was unfitting for the autopsy.
I found the description of Santiago’s body very, very dehumanizing and he lost his whole identity. I think that the entire town was feeling guilt for giving him no warnings and they needed the murder to be justified. There was a lack of empathy towards his murder and many people of the town made excuse after excuse for giving Santiago no warnings. Not only did the town’s people feel this way, Pablo and Pedro also needed it to be justified and almost have reassurance that it was okay. Readers could think this because on page 78 the narrator states, “…they couldn’t rest because as soon as they began to fall asleep they would commit the crime all over again.” This really could show readers that they do feel guilty for their actions of killing Santiago and that this is going to a long term effect on both of them. The whole town is built on guilt now and they are trying to blame everyone/thing but themselves. No one wants to own up to their actions and accept the guilt.
Chapter four begins with the brutal autopsy of Santiago Nasar's body. The priest described the procedure, “as if we had killed him all over again after he was dead” (72). This is impart due to the fact that the doctor of the town had been away and the student and priest were forced to do the autopsy. The governor made the decision to go ahead with the autopsy because the body began to stink; “the smell of death, increased the uneasiness” (73). Marquez uses the smell to symbolize the guilt for the death of Santiago.The odor attached itself to the brothers and at one point the smell became painful. Similarly, the classroom where the autopsy took place, began to smell of Santiago. To get rid of the smell and their guilt, the town rushed through the autopsy, blessing and burial. In the rush, Santiago’s body was destroyed; “They gave us back a completely different body…. having lost its identity” (76). The town people mutilated so that they did not have to think about Santiago anymore. tHe face was impossible to make out and so it was as if it was only another dead body and not the body of Santiago Nasar. The town’s people felt no more guilt for not stepping in and preventing his death when everyone knew he was in danger and everyone knew he was innocent.
In the beginning of chapter four, Santiago Nasar's autopsy is performed by Father Amador. The father is not well practiced in autopsies, and didn't finish medical school, meaning that the autopsy will not stand in court. With this knowledge fully in mind, the mayor orders the Father to perform the autopsy. The body is mutilated by Father Amador, who describes it as "if (he) killed him all over again" (Garcia-Marquez, 83). I believe that Garcia intended for Santiago's dead body to be symbolic of the intended application of religion, with the mutilation of his body signifying that religion in this town is corrupt. Further evidence is found when the report for the autopsy says: "It looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ" (87) in reference to Santiago's body. By comparing Santiago's body to Christ, Garcia is helping the reader discover the symbolism of Santiago's body. I think it is ironic that the priest is the person that is doing the autopsy, because this is the figure that should be upholding the correct application of religion, but is instead destroying it.
In chapter four of the book, Marquez utilizes symbolism in order to hint the shame felt by the Vicario twins. Throughout the chapters, the twins justified their actions in the name of family honor and respect. Their self confidence and self-righteousness regarding honor is completely contradicted by the sense of shame after the killing is done. Marquez writes that "everything continued smelling of Santiago Nassar that day...the brothers could smell him in the jail"(90). Interestingly enough, the word "smell" is used as a symbol of something greater surrounding the situation. Nassar's iconic smell symbolizes the guilt that people feel after he is brutally killed, especially if something could've been done to prevent it. It states that 'everything smelled like him' in order to display the abundance of guilt and realization that Nassar didn't deserve to get murdered. In a more ionic situation, the Vicario brothers could also smell him inside their cell bloc which creates a turning point in the book. Marquez writes such detail to highlight the reciprocal relationship of honor and guilt. In this case, the twins act on their emotions in order to defend their honor, which leads to an immense amount of guilt as their actions were rash in nature. The setting also plays a role as the twins feel such guilt while they're in jail, causing the jail to smell like Santiago Nassar. His scent is a constant reminder of societal stupidity and its comparison to guilt is done intentionally as they both have the tendency to spread quickly.
I was wondering why the author describes so much about Angela's heartache and her letters so much. It seems to me that Angela is being punished for supposedly lying about Santiago because "she let out the bitter truths that she had carried rotting in her heart ever since that ill fitting night. She spoke to him of the eternal scars he had left on her body..." (pg 110). Angela experienced a lot of internal pain from the heart ache after she was uncovered. It's ironic how she shows no signs of repent for lying about Santiago, but she felt more hurt about Bayardo, who loved her only because of her beauty and virginity. It seems unrealistic that at first, she wasn't interested in Bayardo because of his shallow charachter and later on became obsessed with him for seventeen years. Plus, Angela reminds me of Judas from the Bible because she betrayed and lied about Santiago and she was the one to tell Santiago's executers about him. Later, Judas' conscience tormented him to the point that he hung himself. Angela didn't punish herself, but her heart ache is enough as a punishment. Even though her lie about Santiago didn't have any consequences on her, she still experienced a different form of punishment. The author uses Angela's heart ache to connect it to the Bible to show that human nature tends to repeat themselves no matter what time period they are in and indicate that every action has its' own consequences.
Chapter four was maybe one of the most gruesome yet not terrifying pieces of literature I have ever read. The autopsy scene of Chronicle of a death foretold may be the most obvious form of magical realism in the book. “Furthermore, the priest had pulled out the sliced-up intestines by the roots, but in the end he didn’t know what to do with them, and he gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage pail.”(Pg. 76) This imagery of the priest throwing away the guts of Santiago Nasar shows just how likely this scenario would be in everyday life. First off the fact that a priest of all people is the one that is most qualified in the town to do an autopsy is absurd and the fact that nobody really questions the decision is even more disbelieving! This book definitely has weird parts about it and this scene is definitely one of the weirder scenes in the book. Were any of you thrown off on what happened in this chapter or because of the cool diction and attitude portrayed around it was it not as big of a shocker?
I agree with you Megan. I thought this chapter was very dehumanizing and people were acting as if it was normal. There obviously was a lack of empathy from the townspeople towards the murder. I think that a lot of them are very heartless and it is good that they are starting to feel the guilt and realize what they did was absolutely wrong.
"She was reborn" (108). Initially, Angela was seen as impure for no longer being a virgin, but birth has connotations of purity and a fresh start. When Angela is "reborn", she is cleaning herself of her impurities. Previously, she had slept with another man (she claimed he was Santiago), but she had not married him and probably did not love him. However, she had managed to invalidated her previous mistake in life, for Angela realized she was in love with Bayardo. This realization is what brought the two of them back together and what made it possible for Bayardo to forgive her for her mistake.
One thing I thought was interesting was Angela's choice of dress to show that she was not in mourning over Santiago. The color red has many connotations and interpretations The most important ones in relation to this story are its significance's as the color of love, the color of luck and marriage in some cultures and and its relation to martyrdom.
As the color of love, a red dress is significant, because while her "forbidden love" Santiago is dead and the standard color to wear would be black in mourning, Angela's bright red dress symbolizes her "passion" for Santiago. However this is ironic because only the townspeople think she had an affair with Santiago and the red dress is supposed to throw suspicion that she had anything to do with him.
Red is also associated with marriage and luck in some eastern cultures. Its significance in this book as a symbol of a bride, is yet another way that Angela rebels against stereotypes. She is not only wearing something else that is supposed to indicate purity but she is also wearing it on a day that Santiago Nasar's luck has clearly run out. Angela is still playing the role of fiance (as we see alter with her infatuation with Bayardo she is clearly still in love) and is doing all she can to get all the luck possible.
The last and most significant symbolic interpretation of Angela's red dress is as a symbol of martyrdom. In order to protect herself she forced Santiago Nasar to be a martyr and take all the blame for their supposed romantic tryst before her wedding. This is the cause of his death so it seems fitting that the day after his murder that his supposed lover wears the color of sacrifice and martyrdom. He was literally a martyr for her cause of self preservation and she is the reason he is dead.
In chapter 4, it was interesting how Ibsen portrays Pablo and Pedro feeling guilty about murdering Santiago. This can be because they murdered him with no evidence of Santiago actually taking away her virginity besides her sisters word. Also, in chapter 3, the brothers say that what they did was innocent, “before god and before man,” (Marquez/ 49) but now we can see that even society saw something wrong with their actions, which so did they because in chapter 3, again it shows that Prudencia Cotes waited 3 years for Pablo to get out of jail. Which shows that they saw something wrong and felt guilty. Practically, chapter 4 is all about the guilt.
While I was reading Chapter 4, something that occurred multiple times was “the smell” of Santiago Nasar. The smell is a prime example of the magical realism used in this book because there is no possible way that the smell of a dead body can permeate throughout the whole town and last for a couple of days. The town does not literally smell the scent of Santiago Nasar’s dead body, but it is guilt that permeates throughout the entire town because of the lack of action to stop the murder of Santiago. “The smell” affects everyone in the town, but primarily the Vicario brothers because they were the ones guilty of the murder. “They’d gone three nights without sleep, but they couldn’t rest because as soon as they began to fall asleep they would commit the crime all over again.” (78). Because of their actions, they face the consequences of having that action linger in their thoughts in the aftermath of the event. The twins could no longer continue with their daily routine without thinking about what horrible acts they committed. Whenever they would try to relax by falling asleep, they couldn’t do so because the thought of that event haunted them. No matter how hard they tried to get rid of “the smell”, it was always there to remind them of what horrible acts they committed. The twins want to believe that their actions were justified to preserve their family’s honor, but they can’t help but experience guilt for killing an innocent man. Marquez is showing how one bad decision can trickle down and lead to many consequences, and it is important to thoroughly think a decision through before committing to it.
In Chapter 4, the part that got my attention the most was the description of what had happened to Yolanda Xius' house. This was a very clear example of magical realism, one of many in this novel. First, we see that the spirit of Yolanda has been taking things from the house in order to furnish her new house, presumably in heaven. This is not questioned or anything, this just seems normal, but in today's world people would be freaked out by this. Then, the narrator goes on to say that "The house began to crumble. The wedding car was falling apart by the door, and finally nothing remained except it's weather-rotted carcass." (Marques 87). The house and the car crumbling randomly down to its frame is obviously not something that would happen so quickly, or happen at all. This is another use of magical realism, and this is a very important use of it. The house deteriorating reflects how the town itself was deteriorating as well. After the murder of Santiago, many people in the town had bad things happen to them, and the town as a whole got worse and worse. Marquez does a great job of using magical realism to link the house with the town and show what has happened since the death of Santiago.
In the fifth and final chapter, it is shown that the townsfolk saw themselves as simple spectators to the murder of Santiago Nazar rather than players that could have affected the outcome. Years later, they found themselves to have simply been an audience the honor killing. “never managed to explain to himself why he gave in to the impulse to spend two hours at his grandparents' house... waiting for him since dawn to warn him.” (113) This shows that while many people chose to avoid the situation all together, no one truly knew why they were compelled to simply watch. “Everything that happened after that is in the public domain” (129) This word choice of “public domain” gives the idea that the situation is something to be shared. A story to be told to as many people as possible, as if Santiago's death was a plot twist from a TV show that those who bore witness to it got to be the first to find out.
In the fourth chapter of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Marquez uses the powerful contrast between magical-realist diction and grotesquely detailed imagery to convey to the reader that Santiago Nasar's death is both a horror of legendary proportions and an immediate, believable reality. Marquez dramaticizes the physical characteristics of Santiago's corpse in a way that symbolically suggests his innocence; the body apparently possessed “the same expression he wore when he was singing...In the afternoon a syrup colored liquid began to flow from the wounds, like the shadow of a cloud on the water” (74). The metaphorical descriptions of the body all contain light, emotional, positive imagery (singing, syrup, clouds), implying that Santiago had good intentions. The “morass of gastric contents” (a definitely unpleasant image) contrasts with the “medal of gold that Santiago Nasar had swallowed at the age of four” (75).
One thing I found very intriguing in the chapter was how Marquez went into depth about Santiago’s autopsy. Divina Flor says, ‘“Help me, what they want is to eat his guts,”’ (pg 73). This quote is very strange diction. It creates an uneasiness with the readers. Also, when the medical students are cutting Santiago’s body, it says, “The liver was almost sliced into pieces by two deep cuts on the anterior side,” (pg 75). It goes on for another paragraph describe the grotesque details of his rotting body. It makes me wonder why the author decided to put this into the book. In the report of his body, it said, “It looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ,” (pg 75). The doctors are referring Santiago Nasar to be crucified like Christ. It is interesting why Marquez decided to connect Nasar back to the crucifixion of Christ. After the diagnosis of the body, Dr. Dionisio Iguaran says, “he had only a few years of life left to him in any case,” (pg 76). This comment infers that people did not really think anything of it that Santiago died. Most of them thought that he was going to die sooner or later, so it might as well have been sooner. The quote reflects the society and how they did not really do anything to warn him of his death. Lastly, Santiago’s intestines were given to the priest. The priest “gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage.” The priest was very disrespectful to Santiago’s body and “angrily” blessed them. It shows that he really did not care about Santiago or the fact that he was murdered.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the town felt so guilty for what happened that they tried treating the matter as if it were no big deal as a method for coping. That particular quote that said he would have died in the near future anyways conveys the sense of almost forced and false indifference.
DeleteIn chapter four I noticed the reoccurant references to the smell. Pedro Vicario said "no matter how much I scrubbed with soap and rags, I couldn't get rid of the smell"(78). To me it seems like the smell of Santiago's death is symbolic of the sense of guilt that hangs over the town. Everyone seems to smell Santiago even after weeks have passed since his death. Marquez does this perhaps to emphasize that everyone in the town should feel a sense of guilt as they all played a role in his murder. Some more than others, yet anyone who heard the Vicario brothers threats and did not report it should feel some guilt and responsibility for the loss of a human life due to there actions. The "smell" is not only everywhere, it is also hard to get rid of. This suggest that humans naturally feel guilt when something bad has happened in which they played a role and that this sense of guilt is hard to rid oneself of. Perhaps the author is trying to say that people need to think more before they act out of passion because you can't take back actions and guilt is hard to get rid of. People have to live with their actions.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said about the smell representing guilt over Santiago's death--I had the same thought as I read through this chapter. Your comment about individuals being responsible for their actions is interesting too, because what the individuals did was not necessarily an action, but a lack thereof. Thinking back to the article we read about the Kitty Genovese case, do you think that Marquez is also condemning those who have the ability to act, but don't, like what happened in the murder of Kitty Genovese?
DeleteWhile reading Chapter four, the situation involving the dogs that were attracted to the smell of death stood out to me. While attempting to mourn her son’s death, Placida Linero finds herself intensely aggravated by the dogs that had invaded the house to search for the dead body. In a fit of rage, Placida shouts, “Those shitty dogs! Kill them!” (Marquez, 74). Marquez utilises magical realism in that the request was immediately fulfilled without question. This brings an unreal tone surrounding not only Santiago’s death, but also death in general. The people in this town are so fixated on living a Christian-like life that they clearly do not regard death as something of great permanence or significance. Marquez further comments of human nature by juxtaposing the dogs’ behaviour the town’s behaviour. The people of the town are equally as eager to get a look at the body, “There were so many people anxious to see it that they had to push back the furniture and take down the bird cages and pots of ferns.” (73). The people behave no more maturely than animals in this situation. Such a gruesome death would generally garner some respect for the family. However, the people cannot keep themselves from their desire to look at the horror in the face, displaying that humans are innately no better than animals.
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter there is a lot going on. One thing that really stood out to me while reading was the sexism within the community that the story takes place in. This community really is male based which is an obvious message about society that Marquez is trying to share. Throughout the book so far Angela has gone through a lot of rough times with her family, fiance, and her status in the town. First off her family gave her away to a man that she doesn't love who is shown to actually not be a very good guy. Next after the huge wedding she didn’t actually want, she is returned to her family because of something that wasnt even true. Her family then beats her almost to death. Also her two brothers are arrested and just killed her “lover”. She is seen to have a terrible reputation because her “deflowering” also. As a human it is natural for us to feel bad for this poor girl which we should, she’s gone through a lot. Yet all her family cares the other townspeople not thinking she is mourning the death of Santiago., thus they dress her in bright red and cover her beating marks. On the flip side we see Bayardo who hasn’t gone through much distress at all getting all of the sympathy in the community due to the fact that his bride was “not a virgin”. This shows a major double standard and sexism within the community that the story takes place. The favoritism of males is completely prevalent and the role of a woman and breaking that role is a huge part as well. Marquez is try to make a statement about society and sexism within it. Because a woman does something or is accused of doing something not very socially acceptable she is automatically shunned and sent away or marked as a bad person. Whereas a man, who didn't have good intentions in the first place, gets so much pity just because of the thought that his new wife may not be a virgin. Angela was almost beaten to death is still in trouble and all her family cares about is making it seem like she is not mourning over Santiago. Marquez adds this important detail about society to make a statement about morals and what is important really opposed to what a society says.
ReplyDeleteWhat I noticed in particular in chapter 4, was the lack of caring and dehumanization Santiago Nasar in death. During his autopsy, his body is treated with little respect. In fact the priest, "pulled out the sliced-up intestines by the roots...and he gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage pail" (76). It is ironic that the priest is the one to show so little respect towards Santiago's body. This illustrates how after Santiago's death, the town dehumanized him and he became more of an object, or a concept of what was once living. Thus, this further reveals the town's apathy towards death and creates an ironic tone because they value religion and purity, but could not care less of the death of their friends and family. On the other hand, the Vicario Brothers' punishment for murdering a human seems very light. They were given prison cells in which "no hotel that existed was more humane", and that were accommodating. There, they only had to reside for three years, compared to an eternity of death for their victim. This shows what that society valued more: honor. Killing in the name of honor to that town seemed more justifiable than sleeping with a virgin before marriage. Another thing I found interesting was when there were rumors of the Arabs seeking revenge on the town, "Colonel Aponte, worried by the rumors, visited the Arabs family by family and at that time, at least, drew a correct conclusion" (82). Only now, because there was a possible threat to the town itself, people begin to act. No one did anything to prevent Santiago's death, even when it was fully confirmed, but the one moment when a rumor reaches town of the Arabs seeking revenge, action is being taken to prevent that threat.
ReplyDeleteI also found this very interesting! In this society, honor trumps everything else. Honor is essentially what the townspeople live for. I find it absurd how the townspeople show such little care about Santiago Nasar when they discover the impending murder, but after he's dead, so many people testify to it. They care so much about their individual reputation and leave everything else to a lower importance.
DeleteIn chapter four I was very interested in what the narrator had to say about Angela Vicario. The very first line that caught my eye was near the very end of the chapter when Marquez writes, “No one would ever have suspected until she decided to tell me that Bayardo San Roman had been in her life forever from the moment he brought her back home”(91). When I read over this I was very confused yet so intrigued at the same time. My thoughts throughout the whole novel up to this point was that Angela was secretly in love with Santiago Nasar and would continue to be especially with his death. When I read on it explained that she had wrote Bayardo one letter every month for six months and continued this for 17 years. Considering that the readers assume that Angela is telling the truth about the “deflowering”, we have a feeling that she no longer wants to be married to Bayardo, which is confirmed by her telling her mother that she does not want to marry a man she does not love. This part of the book makes me think of the clique but fitting quote, “The heart wants what it cannot have”. Angela didn’t realize that she was in love with him until Bayardo was almost killed by alcohol poisoning and after he had left. When we see that Bayardo never replies to any of Angela’s letters we begin to feel pity for her. Marquez soon juxtaposes this with Bayardo coming back with all of the letters unopened which gives you the idea that Angela’s actions to send the letters to Bayardo speak louder than the words written in them.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with this cass! I think that people don't realize how they feel about someone until a certain event that triggers the thoughts. I think that you are really on point with the actions of Angels speak louder than what is written in them. I know I felt pity for her because just imagine how someone would feel if they put so much effort into something special and the action is recognized in some sort of way.
DeleteAs I read through Chapter Four, I noticed how most of the town’s sympathy after Santiago Nasar’s death seems to lie with Bayardo San Roman as opposed to Santiago Nasar. Marquez is explicit in telling the reader this, writing, “For the immense majority of people there was only one victim: Bayardo San Roman” (83). Right before Bayardo is found unconscious in his house, about to die from alcohol poisoning, the mayor says, “Shit! ...I’d completely forgotten about that poor man!” (85). Both of these statements create a great deal of irony in the chapter: Santiago Nasar was murdered entirely due to a baseless accusation, yet the townspeople feel sorry not for Santiago, but for Bayardo. The mayor’s cryptic exclamation is even more ironic, because not only does it show his sympathy for Bayardo, but also could be construed to be about Santiago: the mayor, and the rest of the town, have forgotten entirely about a man in their town who was murdered. At the beginning of the chapter, when the priest says, “It was as if we had killed him all over again after he was dead” (72), he is not just referring to how poorly the autopsy was executed, he is also referring to how quickly the town tries to forget about Santiago Nasar and his death, in order to avoid feeling the guilt of having caused a man’s death. The ironic tone created by the town’s misplaced guilt and the mayor’s cryptic statement stresses to the reader how the town, no matter how hard it tries, cannot escape the guilt of having contributed to Santiago Nasar’s death.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter four, Angela Vicario says that she refused to deceive Bayardo on their wedding night because "'it was all something dirty that shouldn't be done to anybody, much less to the poor man who had the bad luck to marrry me." (Marquez, 106). Yet, in that society, having a bride that wasn't a virgin was a huge insult to the husband. We have to assume she didn't lie to him because she didn't want "something dirty done to him," but does that justify tarnishing her family's name and taking Santiago's life? Furthermore, in this chapter the narrator says that no one believed Santiago had done such a thing, and that Angela continued to keep the real man's name a secret - allowing us to assume that Santiago was innocent. Her approach to giving mercy to Bayardo is naive and lacks foresight - if she really wanted to something with the least consequences, she would've married Bayardo, ensured the financial stability of her family, and prevented Santiago from dying.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there's another side to this. The whole act of not deceiving Bayardo on the wedding night also represents the first time that someone in the town faces the reality of what they have done, instead of pretending to be extremely religious. We can see that, however, it leads to negative results that enforces the need for deception and conformity in order to function socially in that kind of society.
The question of whether deception is necessary for society can be juxtaposed to the question of whether religion is necessary in society. I think a balance of the two is necessary for sanity and for tranquility however deception and religion are pretty much opposites of each other. would they cancel each other out?
DeleteWhat shocked me in Chapter Four was the sexism that was really brought to the audience's attention. After all the terrible things that happened leading up to Santiago Nasar's death, primarily Angela Vicario being left by her husband, violently beaten by her mother, and blatantly disgraced for her sexual activity before marriage, the pity proceeds to be placed on Bayardo San Roman. This is interesting because he is a prominent male character who has undergone the least amount of pain, yet attention/concern for him is seemingly highlighted, especially rather directly with the quote, "For the immense majority of people, there was only one victim: Bayardo San Roman....The only one who had lost everything was Bayardo San Roman: 'poor Bayardo,' as he was remembered over the years" (96). It's almost humorous the fact that he is regarded as the "one victim" of this whole situation. Nevermind the serious consequences for Angela as a result of being "returned" by her husband for being impure because what seems to be more important is his well-being. The author, Marquez, creates such a tone that reflects the inequality in regards to consideration for the two different sexes.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was ironic also! Although this book is focused on other issues regarding society sexism is also part of the book. I find it interesting that society would sympathize with the man regardless of the situation. If they side with the woman, they would basically support her actions of sleeping out of wedlock and contradict the set morals. The women in the story, besides Santiago, seem to suffer more and they are not recognized for such suffering. Society sees fit that women are born to suffer, therefore they recognize the slight suffering of men.
DeleteSomething that annoyed me in this chapter, or even in this book is that it leaves so many things unanswered. For example the autopsy tells us nothing new at all, as if its something just to comfort the other characters and make them feel less guilt about his death. That Santiago would have lived a short while longer because of an enlarged liver (87). This shows how the villagers wanted to make Santiago guilty so they themselves won't feel the guilt. Even the narrator seems to skirt around the topic and reveals information that has already been said. Additionally it seems like everyone makes up excuses for their actions, not only in this chapter but throughout the play (like the group in ch.3 talked about) but in this chapter, Angea even gave a reason to why she could not fake her virginity after her friends encouraged her to. (104-106). She claims that she had the pure decency" which is ironic because she herself is corrupt. And to add on to this, she writes letters to her fiance although she states that she, "couldn't think of what to say...but it was enough for me to know that he was getting them" (109). And Bayardo returns with the letters unopened. It is interesting to see how the author describes this. Perhaps it' shows that because of the sense of grief and love, and betrayal, they can't bring themselves to interact. Or that it is the action and perseverance of writing the letters that really matters.
ReplyDeleteI think the action of writing the letters is supposed to be what matters. I honestly think that Bayardo didn't want to read the letters in case it was something bad towards him like rejection, but it also added an element of romantic mystery. Angela kept writing letters to Bayardo so it showed that she cared for him, and Bayardo kept them, thereby reciprocating her feelings. It wasn't so much the words that she wrote to him, but the act itself that showed dedication and love, which I think made him realize that in reality, one's virginity doesn't matter if he/she loves you.
DeleteAt the start of Chapter 4, the first thing mentioned was the damage done to the knives. The narrator describes, “ The damage from the knives was only a beginning for the unforgiving autopsy that Father Carmen Amador found himself obliged to perform in Doctor Dionisio Iguaran’s absence” (Marquez 83). This quote is an analysis of the whole ordeal. The mention of the damage to the knives first symbolizes how the people are concerned about the guilt they feel before the fact that Nasar was dead. They were the instruments that led to Nasar’s murder just as the knives were the instrument of the autopsy. The autopsy is referred to as unforgivable just as the role of the people who did nothing to stop Nasar’s death was considered unforgivable. Amador also says, “ It was as if we killed him all over again after he was dead” (Marquez, 83). The priest agrees to the fact that he and the people around were murderers as well. The fact that the autopsy was such a fail shows how all of the people failed to react to the Vicario brother’s plot. The people were unfitting to do such a thing just as Amador was unfitting for the autopsy.
ReplyDeleteI found the description of Santiago’s body very, very dehumanizing and he lost his whole identity. I think that the entire town was feeling guilt for giving him no warnings and they needed the murder to be justified. There was a lack of empathy towards his murder and many people of the town made excuse after excuse for giving Santiago no warnings. Not only did the town’s people feel this way, Pablo and Pedro also needed it to be justified and almost have reassurance that it was okay. Readers could think this because on page 78 the narrator states, “…they couldn’t rest because as soon as they began to fall asleep they would commit the crime all over again.” This really could show readers that they do feel guilty for their actions of killing Santiago and that this is going to a long term effect on both of them. The whole town is built on guilt now and they are trying to blame everyone/thing but themselves. No one wants to own up to their actions and accept the guilt.
ReplyDeleteChapter four begins with the brutal autopsy of Santiago Nasar's body. The priest described the procedure, “as if we had killed him all over again after he was dead” (72). This is impart due to the fact that the doctor of the town had been away and the student and priest were forced to do the autopsy. The governor made the decision to go ahead with the autopsy because the body began to stink; “the smell of death, increased the uneasiness” (73). Marquez uses the smell to symbolize the guilt for the death of Santiago.The odor attached itself to the brothers and at one point the smell became painful. Similarly, the classroom where the autopsy took place, began to smell of Santiago. To get rid of the smell and their guilt, the town rushed through the autopsy, blessing and burial. In the rush, Santiago’s body was destroyed; “They gave us back a completely different body…. having lost its identity” (76). The town people mutilated so that they did not have to think about Santiago anymore. tHe face was impossible to make out and so it was as if it was only another dead body and not the body of Santiago Nasar. The town’s people felt no more guilt for not stepping in and preventing his death when everyone knew he was in danger and everyone knew he was innocent.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of chapter four, Santiago Nasar's autopsy is performed by Father Amador. The father is not well practiced in autopsies, and didn't finish medical school, meaning that the autopsy will not stand in court. With this knowledge fully in mind, the mayor orders the Father to perform the autopsy. The body is mutilated by Father Amador, who describes it as "if (he) killed him all over again" (Garcia-Marquez, 83). I believe that Garcia intended for Santiago's dead body to be symbolic of the intended application of religion, with the mutilation of his body signifying that religion in this town is corrupt. Further evidence is found when the report for the autopsy says: "It looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ" (87) in reference to Santiago's body. By comparing Santiago's body to Christ, Garcia is helping the reader discover the symbolism of Santiago's body. I think it is ironic that the priest is the person that is doing the autopsy, because this is the figure that should be upholding the correct application of religion, but is instead destroying it.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter four of the book, Marquez utilizes symbolism in order to hint the shame felt by the Vicario twins. Throughout the chapters, the twins justified their actions in the name of family honor and respect. Their self confidence and self-righteousness regarding honor is completely contradicted by the sense of shame after the killing is done. Marquez writes that "everything continued smelling of Santiago Nassar that day...the brothers could smell him in the jail"(90). Interestingly enough, the word "smell" is used as a symbol of something greater surrounding the situation. Nassar's iconic smell symbolizes the guilt that people feel after he is brutally killed, especially if something could've been done to prevent it. It states that 'everything smelled like him' in order to display the abundance of guilt and realization that Nassar didn't deserve to get murdered. In a more ionic situation, the Vicario brothers could also smell him inside their cell bloc which creates a turning point in the book. Marquez writes such detail to highlight the reciprocal relationship of honor and guilt. In this case, the twins act on their emotions in order to defend their honor, which leads to an immense amount of guilt as their actions were rash in nature. The setting also plays a role as the twins feel such guilt while they're in jail, causing the jail to smell like Santiago Nassar. His scent is a constant reminder of societal stupidity and its comparison to guilt is done intentionally as they both have the tendency to spread quickly.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why the author describes so much about Angela's heartache and her letters so much. It seems to me that Angela is being punished for supposedly lying about Santiago because "she let out the bitter truths that she had carried rotting in her heart ever since that ill fitting night. She spoke to him of the eternal scars he had left on her body..." (pg 110). Angela experienced a lot of internal pain from the heart ache after she was uncovered. It's ironic how she shows no signs of repent for lying about Santiago, but she felt more hurt about Bayardo, who loved her only because of her beauty and virginity. It seems unrealistic that at first, she wasn't interested in Bayardo because of his shallow charachter and later on became obsessed with him for seventeen years. Plus, Angela reminds me of Judas from the Bible because she betrayed and lied about Santiago and she was the one to tell Santiago's executers about him. Later, Judas' conscience tormented him to the point that he hung himself. Angela didn't punish herself, but her heart ache is enough as a punishment. Even though her lie about Santiago didn't have any consequences on her, she still experienced a different form of punishment. The author uses Angela's heart ache to connect it to the Bible to show that human nature tends to repeat themselves no matter what time period they are in and indicate that every action has its' own consequences.
ReplyDeleteChapter four was maybe one of the most gruesome yet not terrifying pieces of literature I have ever read. The autopsy scene of Chronicle of a death foretold may be the most obvious form of magical realism in the book. “Furthermore, the priest had pulled out the sliced-up intestines by the roots, but in the end he didn’t know what to do with them, and he gave them an angry blessing and threw them into the garbage pail.”(Pg. 76) This imagery of the priest throwing away the guts of Santiago Nasar shows just how likely this scenario would be in everyday life. First off the fact that a priest of all people is the one that is most qualified in the town to do an autopsy is absurd and the fact that nobody really questions the decision is even more disbelieving! This book definitely has weird parts about it and this scene is definitely one of the weirder scenes in the book. Were any of you thrown off on what happened in this chapter or because of the cool diction and attitude portrayed around it was it not as big of a shocker?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Megan. I thought this chapter was very dehumanizing and people were acting as if it was normal. There obviously was a lack of empathy from the townspeople towards the murder. I think that a lot of them are very heartless and it is good that they are starting to feel the guilt and realize what they did was absolutely wrong.
Delete"She was reborn" (108). Initially, Angela was seen as impure for no longer being a virgin, but birth has connotations of purity and a fresh start. When Angela is "reborn", she is cleaning herself of her impurities. Previously, she had slept with another man (she claimed he was Santiago), but she had not married him and probably did not love him. However, she had managed to invalidated her previous mistake in life, for Angela realized she was in love with Bayardo. This realization is what brought the two of them back together and what made it possible for Bayardo to forgive her for her mistake.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I thought was interesting was Angela's choice of dress to show that she was not in mourning over Santiago. The color red has many connotations and interpretations The most important ones in relation to this story are its significance's as the color of love, the color of luck and marriage in some cultures and and its relation to martyrdom.
ReplyDeleteAs the color of love, a red dress is significant, because while her "forbidden love" Santiago is dead and the standard color to wear would be black in mourning, Angela's bright red dress symbolizes her "passion" for Santiago. However this is ironic because only the townspeople think she had an affair with Santiago and the red dress is supposed to throw suspicion that she had anything to do with him.
Red is also associated with marriage and luck in some eastern cultures. Its significance in this book as a symbol of a bride, is yet another way that Angela rebels against stereotypes. She is not only wearing something else that is supposed to indicate purity but she is also wearing it on a day that Santiago Nasar's luck has clearly run out. Angela is still playing the role of fiance (as we see alter with her infatuation with Bayardo she is clearly still in love) and is doing all she can to get all the luck possible.
The last and most significant symbolic interpretation of Angela's red dress is as a symbol of martyrdom. In order to protect herself she forced Santiago Nasar to be a martyr and take all the blame for their supposed romantic tryst before her wedding. This is the cause of his death so it seems fitting that the day after his murder that his supposed lover wears the color of sacrifice and martyrdom. He was literally a martyr for her cause of self preservation and she is the reason he is dead.
In chapter 4, it was interesting how Ibsen portrays Pablo and Pedro feeling guilty about murdering Santiago. This can be because they murdered him with no evidence of Santiago actually taking away her virginity besides her sisters word. Also, in chapter 3, the brothers say that what they did was innocent, “before god and before man,” (Marquez/ 49) but now we can see that even society saw something wrong with their actions, which so did they because in chapter 3, again it shows that Prudencia Cotes waited 3 years for Pablo to get out of jail. Which shows that they saw something wrong and felt guilty. Practically, chapter 4 is all about the guilt.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading Chapter 4, something that occurred multiple times was “the smell” of Santiago Nasar. The smell is a prime example of the magical realism used in this book because there is no possible way that the smell of a dead body can permeate throughout the whole town and last for a couple of days. The town does not literally smell the scent of Santiago Nasar’s dead body, but it is guilt that permeates throughout the entire town because of the lack of action to stop the murder of Santiago. “The smell” affects everyone in the town, but primarily the Vicario brothers because they were the ones guilty of the murder. “They’d gone three nights without sleep, but they couldn’t rest because as soon as they began to fall asleep they would commit the crime all over again.” (78). Because of their actions, they face the consequences of having that action linger in their thoughts in the aftermath of the event. The twins could no longer continue with their daily routine without thinking about what horrible acts they committed. Whenever they would try to relax by falling asleep, they couldn’t do so because the thought of that event haunted them. No matter how hard they tried to get rid of “the smell”, it was always there to remind them of what horrible acts they committed. The twins want to believe that their actions were justified to preserve their family’s honor, but they can’t help but experience guilt for killing an innocent man. Marquez is showing how one bad decision can trickle down and lead to many consequences, and it is important to thoroughly think a decision through before committing to it.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 4, the part that got my attention the most was the description of what had happened to Yolanda Xius' house. This was a very clear example of magical realism, one of many in this novel. First, we see that the spirit of Yolanda has been taking things from the house in order to furnish her new house, presumably in heaven. This is not questioned or anything, this just seems normal, but in today's world people would be freaked out by this. Then, the narrator goes on to say that "The house began to crumble. The wedding car was falling apart by the door, and finally nothing remained except it's weather-rotted carcass." (Marques 87). The house and the car crumbling randomly down to its frame is obviously not something that would happen so quickly, or happen at all. This is another use of magical realism, and this is a very important use of it. The house deteriorating reflects how the town itself was deteriorating as well. After the murder of Santiago, many people in the town had bad things happen to them, and the town as a whole got worse and worse. Marquez does a great job of using magical realism to link the house with the town and show what has happened since the death of Santiago.
ReplyDeleteIn the fifth and final chapter, it is shown that the townsfolk saw themselves as simple spectators to the murder of Santiago Nazar rather than players that could have affected the outcome. Years later, they found themselves to have simply been an audience the honor killing. “never managed to explain to himself why he gave in to the impulse to spend two hours at his grandparents' house... waiting for him since dawn to warn him.” (113) This shows that while many people chose to avoid the situation all together, no one truly knew why they were compelled to simply watch. “Everything that happened after that is in the public domain” (129) This word choice of “public domain” gives the idea that the situation is something to be shared. A story to be told to as many people as possible, as if Santiago's death was a plot twist from a TV show that those who bore witness to it got to be the first to find out.
ReplyDeleteIn the fourth chapter of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Marquez uses the powerful contrast between magical-realist diction and grotesquely detailed imagery to convey to the reader that Santiago Nasar's death is both a horror of legendary proportions and an immediate, believable reality. Marquez dramaticizes the physical characteristics of Santiago's corpse in a way that symbolically suggests his innocence; the body apparently possessed “the same expression he wore when he was singing...In the afternoon a syrup colored liquid began to flow from the wounds, like the shadow of a cloud on the water” (74). The metaphorical descriptions of the body all contain light, emotional, positive imagery (singing, syrup, clouds), implying that Santiago had good intentions. The “morass of gastric contents” (a definitely unpleasant image) contrasts with the “medal of gold that Santiago Nasar had swallowed at the age of four” (75).
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