Chronicle of a Death Foretold Essay

.. 'The only thing I prayed to God was to give me the courage to kill myself,' Angela Vicario told me. 'But he didn't give it to me (Marquez 41-42).

Again, as with the men in the story, women place honor as more important that life. Pura Vicario does all that she can to preserve her daughter's honor, just as her sons will do all they can to restore it. Since she did not gather the strength to restore her family's honor through committing suicide, Angela sought out other ways to hide her lost honor. Friends "taught her old wives' tricks to feign her lost possession, so that on her first morning as a newlywed she could display open under the sun in the courtyard of her house the linen sheet with the stain of honor" (Marquez 42). Using the words "possession" and "lost" is terms of Angela's virginity implies that it can be recovered, just like the honor that is said to be recovered after Santiago's murder.

The men and women in the story are fulfilling their own sense of honor based on socially learned ideals. "The lawyer stood by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defense of honor, which was upheld by the court in good faith" (55). Despite the illegality of murder, it is socially acceptable even to the lawyer and court when it is done to preserve family honor.Preserving as well as respecting a code of honor is also apparent in the way the community looks forward to the bishop; in their reverence for his presence they make honor an almost religious directive (Marquez 3, 15).

The central issue in Marquez's story is the murder of Santiago. This action was brought on by a woman's lost honor. It was avenged by men who wanted to restore that honor. Additionally, the community did not act as it would have in most murders because it valued the avenging of lost honor. Through the mentioning of honor throughout the text, it is clear that the male and female characters, as well as the overall community, of "A Chronicle of a Death Foretold" act on honor and set the entire story in action.

Further investigation into the social conception of honor may bring to light additional insight into the community's actions. How does an entire community become so focused on honor that they can look the other way or explain the actions of the Vicario brothers as warranted? Looking into these issues would help those readers who come from a vastly different social structure appreciate how socially imposed pressures can change the outcomes of individual lives, both in stories and in real life.

Works Cited

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. "Chronicle of a Death….....