How Does Marquez Use Magical Realism In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold
Alec Torres
Use of Magical Realism in Chronicles of a Death Foretold
Magical realism is a style of writing where the author incorporates magical elements in the story as a natural and realistic item. Marquez utilizes this genre in
Chronicle of a Death
Foretold
, a novella about honor and pride. Angela, a dishonored bride, is discarded by
Bayardo, her husband, for supposedly losing her virginity to Santiago. This causes a series of events in which the twin brothers of Angela, Pablo and Pedro, murder Santiago. However, although the townspeople know of their plot, they do nothing to stop it. Marquez uses magical realism as the vessel in which he uses to convey the problems in society regarding social conventions. Throughout the book, the citizens acknowledge the twin’s plot to kill Santiago, however …show more content…
Even the mayor knew of the plot and even promises to take care of it immediately, however like most people, became distracted and “went into the social club to check on a date for dominoes that night”(65). Even Father Amador didn’t seem to care and when he saw him “safe and sound [he] thought it had all been a fib”(12). These instances would only be possible in Marquez’s society. They knew what was happening, they just decided to ignore it, demonstrating that through the eyes of society, honor is the most important aspect of a person’s well being and reputation. Furthermore, the authority figures seemed to have a moral obligation to allow the twin’s plot to unfold; this shows that to the colonel and bishop, they believed that the crime had to be committed in order to avenge the Vicario’s honor. By the time Pedro and Pablo went to carry through with the murder, almost everyone knew of the plot, Santiago being the only exception. “The people had stationed themselves on the square
the way they did on parade days. They all saw him come out, and they all understood that now he knew they were going to kill him, and that he was so confused he couldn’t find his
Use of Magical Realism in Chronicles of a Death Foretold
Magical realism is a style of writing where the author incorporates magical elements in the story as a natural and realistic item. Marquez utilizes this genre in
Chronicle of a Death
Foretold
, a novella about honor and pride. Angela, a dishonored bride, is discarded by
Bayardo, her husband, for supposedly losing her virginity to Santiago. This causes a series of events in which the twin brothers of Angela, Pablo and Pedro, murder Santiago. However, although the townspeople know of their plot, they do nothing to stop it. Marquez uses magical realism as the vessel in which he uses to convey the problems in society regarding social conventions. Throughout the book, the citizens acknowledge the twin’s plot to kill Santiago, however …show more content…
Even the mayor knew of the plot and even promises to take care of it immediately, however like most people, became distracted and “went into the social club to check on a date for dominoes that night”(65). Even Father Amador didn’t seem to care and when he saw him “safe and sound [he] thought it had all been a fib”(12). These instances would only be possible in Marquez’s society. They knew what was happening, they just decided to ignore it, demonstrating that through the eyes of society, honor is the most important aspect of a person’s well being and reputation. Furthermore, the authority figures seemed to have a moral obligation to allow the twin’s plot to unfold; this shows that to the colonel and bishop, they believed that the crime had to be committed in order to avenge the Vicario’s honor. By the time Pedro and Pablo went to carry through with the murder, almost everyone knew of the plot, Santiago being the only exception. “The people had stationed themselves on the square
the way they did on parade days. They all saw him come out, and they all understood that now he knew they were going to kill him, and that he was so confused he couldn’t find his