“What society expects may not always benefit the individual and this can result in irreparable damages” Discuss.
“Cronica de una muerte anunciada” is a novel written by award-winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The novel is set in coastal Colombia, in an unnamed river-port town, and is narrated by an anonymous character who is attempting to reconstruct the events which lead to the murder of its main character, Santiago Nasar. However, contrary to the title of the novel, the plot does not unfold in a linear fashion and readers are left unable to ascertain if Santiago Nasar was deserving of his gruesome murder. Gabriel Garcia Marquez has made it clear that the murder was influenced by several societal factors, a key note being pressure placed upon the individual. However, what society expects may not always benefit the individual and this can result in irreparable damages.
The main conflict of the novel can be summarized as follows: Angela Vicario was disgraced as a bride, because her husband, Bayaro San Roman, discovered that she was not a virgin. Angela named Santiago Nasar as her “autor”, which gave her brothers, Pablo and Pedro Vicario, the grisly task of restoring the family honor. The above represents key factors of Hispanic society, namely the themes of Marianismo and Machismo. The women of Latin American societies are expected to be in the image of the Virgin Mary: pure. Men, however, are expected only to be men; giving rise to the gender-bias which Hispanic societies are infamous for.
Angela Vicario’s neglect of societal expectation lead to irreparable damage: she brought shame upon her bridegroom, her entire family, and was physically beaten “con tanta rabia que pensé que me iba a matar” She also caused the murder of a man whose guilt was not proven; the narrator himself stated that Santiago Nasar was too conceited to have noticed her, and would refer to her as “la