Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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In his Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez raises that

very question, the question of whether the desires of society can overshadow

the needs of an individual.

If a man cries out in a forest, and no one around him cares, does he

make a sound? In his Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia

Marquez raises that very question, the question of whether the desires

of society can overshadow the needs of an individual. In his

Chronicle, two brothers, Pablo and Pedro Vicario, arbitrarily murder a

young man named Santiago Nasar. Marquez' presented conflict, however,

is the reason that the brothers give to justify their crime: honor.

Marquez' point is that societal values, such as honor, have become

more important than the inherent good of human life. Marquez, though,

does not openly portray this message; instead, he uses satirical

literary devices. In this passage, for instance, he uses an apathetic

tone and a satirical allusion to religion to invoke his point in his

audience.

The most ubiquitous aspect of Marquez' style is his journalistic tone,

an objective, seemingly apathetic tone; ironically, it elicits a

response of bias against the societal values. The reason for this

ironic discrepancy is that Marquez' apathetic tone is obviously

satire. For example, as he unemotionally states that the brothers

"stood by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defense of honor"

(Marquez 55), he purposefully neglects to include commentary. When he

adds that this defense was "upheld by the court in good faith"

(Marquez 55), there is likewise no hint of personal opinion. It is

this very lack of emotion that produces an emotional response; his

audience, compelled by their human nature, must necessaril...

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Marquez' uniqueness stems from the fact that he forces the reader to

extract the theme for himself, rather than writing it directly, by

using an apathetic style and satire. Instead of using allegory or

metaphor, comparing some tangential story to the human condition, he

describes the human condition as it truly exists, leaving the

interpretation to he who reads it. Instead of using rhetorical devices

to describe his theme, he uses rhetorical devises to force the theme,

and uses his audience's human nature to describe it. In essence, a

person reading the Chronicle becomes Marquez'. A person immerses

himself in a world where something is amiss, and extracts some evil,

some discrepancy. That person, by deriving the evil, is Marquez' means

for conveying his theme. Therefore, Marquez is less a manipulator of

words, and more a manipulator of the human soul.

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