Gender Roles In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

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Gender inequality has been a prevalent issue in every society since the development of cultural norms, and gender expectations remain extremely skewed in contemporary society. Specifically in Latin America, male and female gender roles are the antitheses of one another. There is an expectation for men to live up to the concept of “Machismo”, which signifies “an assumptive attitude that virility, courage, strength, and entitlement to dominate are attributes or concomitants of masculinity”, while society teaches women to follow the guidelines as shown by “Marianismo”, which derives its meaning from the Virgin Mary, with morality and purity as its predominant characteristics. These cultural expectations have a major effect on the interactions …show more content…

As stated in the opening quote of the novel, “the pursuit of love is like falconry”, because their cultural norms teach men that they should hunt and capture the perfect woman in marriage, just as a falconer would do to his bird (Gil Vicente). Through this comparison, Marquez characterizes love as an objective hunt, rather than an emotional transaction. Throughout the novel, Marquez develops Santiago Nasar as a man who can go through life seducing any woman, as he would always “carry his falconry equipment” (Marquez 5). Most men hunt down women solely for their personal gain, and completely disregard the damage that they incur on other people. One of the girls that Santiago Nasar plans to be a conquest added to his list of victims is Divina Flor, the daughter of the servant whom Santiago Nasar’s father had seduced earlier in life. His father has raised Nasar to become a master of “high-flying birds of prey”, as his culture has raised him to master the ability of exploitation of every pleasure a woman can provide (Marquez 7). Marquez shows that in the Colombian society love and falconry share many similarities. Much in the same way that a father can teach his son the practice of falconry, “love can be learned too” (Marquez 35). When Nasar decides that he wants to seduce Divina, he says “the time has come for you to be tamed”, alluding to the practice of falconry and Nasar’s ability to train Divina Flor to allow him to take her virginity, which he does so with ambitious ferocity (Marquez 9). The narrator expresses his concern regarding the blatant disregard, which many men felt towards women as they walked through life, when the narrator confronts Santiago about his plans to sleep with Maria Alejandra Cervantes. The narrator states that a “falcon who chases a warlike crane will only end in

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