Doors as a Motif in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

In the Novel, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” by Gabriel Garcia, a nameless narrator describes a murder that had happened twenty-seven years ago in his village in Columbia. The story starts with the victim, Santiago Nasar leaving his front door early on a rainy Monday morning to see the Bishop at the docks. Only an hour later he is “carved up like a pig” on the very stoop of the door he had left from. Throughout the rest of the novel the story as to why and who killed Santiago is revealed. Garcia uses many motifs and symbols through the course of this story, including doors/architecture. Doors and architecture provide a connection to the rest of society, and through that, doors are a gateway for characterization, destiny, and social commentary. “The door to the square was quoted several times with a dime-novel title: “The Fatal Door.”” Santiago Nasar can be characterized by the doors he walks through as they also portray his destiny and social commentary. Although the main narrative is focused on him, Santiago remains much of a mystery through the novel. All that is really said is that he was a child of a marriage of convenience, he was handsome and rich, innocent of the crime he was accused of, and because of his deceased father he appreciated bravery, guns, and hunting. Santiago’s father’s house, “a former two story warehouse, with two stories, walls of rough planks, and a peaking tin roof,” (pg. 10) was redone as an open, sociable home with its large windows and many rooms. However, despite his father’s vision of the house, Santiago can be characterized as a reserved and private person in contrast to his father because he barred the front door and closed all the windows once his father passed. “The front door, except for festive occasions, remained closed and barred.” (pg. 12) The “Fatal Door” was the front door of Santiago’s house which he kept closed. This closed door represents Santiago’s separation from the society and his destined fate. Unless there was