Unseen Female Influence: Critique in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Women make contributions in every culture for the benefit of their society and in return they are under appreciated and their true values are hidden. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold the author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes the role of women as Santiago Nasar is killed in an honor killing. The women all allow this to occur as the principles and behaviors occur which they are expected to follow as part of their culture. Even though many women push for action different reasons held them back mainly relating back to the men's treatment of women. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Marquez criticizes men’s treatment of women through the development of minor characters in the novel. Through the development of Pura

When a woman in town reflects on Santiago Nasar she describes the ways he is a perfect potential husband. In her mind, he is “handsome, a man of his word, and with a fortune of his own at the age of twenty-one” (Marquez 18). This description is only skin deep as his looks and money are considered more important than anything else. All this man has is what he was born into and he does not have to prove himself to make a name for himself . While the women in this community have to work to gain recognition in society by following the customs and values. This shows how the women are not treated the same way in terms of proving themselves as everything is handed to the men on a silver platter. Then the when talking to a servant in the Nasar house, she described the man who led the house prior to Santiago Nasar and how they are similar. She is able to demonstrate the differences because of the fact that “She’d been seduced by Ibrahim Nasar in the fullness of her adolescence. She’d made love to him in secret for several years in the stables of the ranch, and he brought her to be a house servant when the affection was over. ” (Marquez 9-10). This woman slept with a man outside of marriage, even though this is highly frowned upon. In this community, a woman sleeping with a man instantly makes her viewed in a negative light while the men are allowed to have many

By showing the actions of society the through minor characters support the other characters, emphasizing the qualities in both men and women allowing us to observe how the main characters treat women or react. This is important as it gives the reader a better idea of what their culture is like and specific details into the values they hold. Which demonstrates how the author criticizes the values which suppress women because of their gender leading to inequality which creates awareness of the effects