Bystanders Aren T Just Watching, They Contribute To Death

Hannah Cohen Ms. Reid English 11 April 2024 Bystanders Aren’t Just Watching, They Contribute to Death The bystander effect, a psychological idea that one is likely to be passive in a situation when with other people present, is a notion that has been scrutinized in many ways. For example, a study from the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, says that 80% of harassment incidents occur with bystanders present. This statistic certainly corresponds with Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The novel illustrates the severity of the bystander effect when Santiago Nasar is killed to protect the Vicario family’s honor. Despite this, the majority of the town knew this death was going to occur and did nothing to stop it. This crime leads the small
At this time, the bishop was nearing his arrival in the town. The people of the town were rushing to greet him, “Many of those who were on the docks knew that they were going to kill Santiago Nasar” (Marquez 19). Hundreds of people gathered for the bishop's arrival, all aware of Santiago Nasars’ situation. The citizens on the dock can be labeled as bystanders due to their assumption that someone else had already told Nasar that the Vicario twins were out for him. Had the bystanders said something to Nasar, the death could’ve been avoided. Further, one could argue that this is dramatic irony, but it is not because the people on the dock know the situation and the Vicario twins’ morals. Namely, this use of symbolism helps the author demonstrate the gravity of the number of people on the dock and how they watched the murder evolve and never stepped in to save a life. As the tension grows, the people of the dock are made aware that the anticipated killers are seen with pig knives, “The people who were coming back from the docks, alerted by the shouts, began to take up positions around the square to witness the crime” (Marquez