Chronicle Of A Death Foretold By Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Since the beginning of recorded human history, the upper class has had power and dominance over the lower class. The Proletarians treat the Bourgeoisie as if they are animals. This oppression is common throughout history because the lower class is expected to be submissive. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, an upper class man, Santiago Nasar, is accused of taking the virginity of a lower class woman, Angela Vicario. Angela’s brothers then murder Santiago to restore family honor. Moreover, Bayardo San Roman is another upper class man who flaunts his riches to woo Angela. Finally, the mayor of the town, Colonel Lazaro Aponte, participates in his own activities he feels are important without listening to lower class people,

One example of upper class power is Santiago demonstrating the role in society as controlling and oppressive. Santiago dominates the daughter of his lower class servant, Divina Flor, by harassing her sexually. Divina Flor is beginning to mature, and “seemed overwhelmed by the drive of her glands” (Marquez 9). Since the drive of her glands is overwhelming, she is beginning to mature through puberty. Santiago then expresses his dominance over Divina by grabbing “her by the wrist when she came to take the empty mug from him. ‘The time has come for you to be tamed,’ he told her” (Marquez 9). In other words, Santiago is ready to take Divina to his room and have sex with her. Santiago is able to harass Divina because he has money and power. When he is a child, he swallows a medal of gold, which is found during the autopsy after his death. The access to gold when Santiago is a child demonstrates the Nasar family’s wealth. Moreover, his father, Ibraham Nasar, seduces Divina Flor’s mother, Victoria Guzman. The Nasar’s family power is

The mayor is informed of an impending murder. The murder of Santiago is carried out by the Vicario twins, Pablo and Pedro. At first, he believes he stops them by taking their knives away. Unfortunately, he did not use common sense because the twins are butchers with multiple sets of knives. Therefore, the twins go back to their house to pick up another pair of knives. Everyone in the town knows the murder is going to take place, so they try to alert the mayor again. The main person to warn the mayor is Cristo Bedoya, one of Santiago’s best friends. After Cristo and others warn the mayor, he “promised to take care of [the twins] at once, but he went into the social club to check on a date for dominoes that night, and when he came out again the crime had already been committed” (Marquez 109-110). The mayor’s role in society is to be the leader, but he is not an effective one. He is not effective because he is distracted by a game of dominoes instead of being a hero and stopping the murder. He is capable of ignoring the warnings of the murder because he is in the upper class and has more societal power over the majority of the people in the