Death Foretold

Virginity plays a role in many different cultures. A virgin is a person who has not yet had sexual intercourse. Being a female virgin in most cultures is viewed upon as being holy, innocent and pure. Although with males it is not important or of any significance if they are or are not a virgin. In the story Chronicles of a Death Foretold by Garcia-Marquez, the main plot point is a man being murdered for supposedly taking an unmarried woman’s virginity. There is no concrete evidence that the man has done such a thing but he is brutally stabbed anyways. “The entire family’s honor is dependent on the virginity of the daughters” (Balci Güner).

People of different cultures handle women who are not virgins in many different ways. For example,

Polls and surveys have been conducted in Colombia in attempts to find the religious demographics. They have found that almost 90 percent of the Colombian population practices Christianity, the majority of which, 85 percent are Roman Catholic. While about four percent of the population adheres to some form of Protestant faith, and three percent identifies as either Atheist or Agnostic (“Religious Beliefs in Colombia”).

Throughout the course of Chronicles of a Death Foretold there are many biblical references and symbols, this gives an added sense of religion and Christianity to the story. In Christianity, unmarried women are expected to be virgins and take a vow of chastity. In the First Corinthians 6:18-20 it states, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies” (“Got Questions”). This states that Christ is in us, he has given us life and we need to honor him. To use someone to fulfill a desire of the flesh is self-centered and abusive which is considered a sin. If a man found that his bride was not a virgin, and he "detested her," he could have her put to