Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Juxtaposition Between Men and Women In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez the narrator traces the events surrounding the murder of Santiago Nasar. In the novel, women exemplify the traditional role of women in Latin American culture. Women are expected to be submissive and raise a family. The men in the novel show a strong sense of masculinity or machismo. The emphasis on male masculinity leads to many injustices in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

A women's value in Chronicle of a Death Foretold is measured by her ability to run a household. Marquez writes, “The girls had been reared to get married. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements.” (31) This shows the distinct role of women in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Women are meant to cook, clean, and raise children. Women have no say in who they married, and indeed marriage is the only way for a women to advance in their society.

In comparison to women, men have many more privileges and opportunities. Men have the ability to marry whoever they wanted to, have the ability to acquire wealth, and have more freedom than women. In this Columbian culture the purpose of marriage is not to demonstrate love, but to show the wealth and power that men hold in this society. Bayardo San Roman said, ”When I wake up," he [Bayardo San Roman] said, "remind me that I'm going to marry her” (Marquez 29). This shows how Bayardo San Roman accepts the privilege of his role and regards Angela as a possession he is about to acquire. Another aspect that shows male superiority is wh...

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...thers, Pablo and Pedro Vicario, who decides how to handle the situation. Because of their culture men are held to a higher standard than women.

In this small Columbian town, Marquez illustrated the juxtaposition between men and women and how the double standards resulted in a violence, the death of Santiago Nasar. The women are expected to comply to societal expectations. The only way for a women to move up in society is through marriage. Women are taught to be submissive and that “love can be learned” so they would marry to uphold their families’ honor. The result of the numerous double standards in this novel leads to the death of Santiago Nasar in Chronicle of a Death Foretold because it was a matter of honor.

Word Count (1169)

Works Cited
Márquez, Gabriel García. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York:
Knopf, 1983. Print.