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Reflective Statement: Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Focussing on the cultural and contextual considerations of Chronicle


of a Death Foretold, our interactive oral consisted of three key parts: the
history of Columbia - where the text is set, history and influences to
Marquez the author, and some cultural values of Columbia machismo
and marianismo which make up the honour code.
What I found particularly interesting was the complex link between
the strong religious roman catholic background in the Columbian culture
that is predominant in many aspects of the text, for example in the notion
that women are expected to remain virgins (innocent) until marriage, and
the superstition many characters in the text place towards fate. Even more
so, through our discussion we established that it is many of the magical
realist aspects of the text that allow Marquez to develop these ideas in a
manner that makes the two seemingly opposites connect so well.
In particular the fluidity of plot and time seemed to highlight the
ideas of fate and superstition in just the right moments to contrast the
cultural values of moral and honour codes: Although Santiago Nasar
brought his death upon himself by his own crime (or so the twins think), it
is a seemingly impossible series of coincidences that ultimately lead to the
actual happening of his death.
By discussing the predominant aspects of gender roles in the text, in
particular Angela Vicarios and her twin brothers, we reached the
conclusion that although not as severe, these still exist in the environment
of our school and social lives. Interestingly, Marquez constantly reminds
his audience of the double standards towards the genders which dictated
not only the story line but also the life line of many characters, which
raises the question as to whether he places so much emphasis as a mean
of attestation or criticism on the stereotyping.
Lastly, we connected the discussion back to our previously studied
work Oedipus Rex in which we found strikingly many similarities: I was
surprised when the idea of seeing the murder as the equivalent of a
catharsis in drama was brought up. Now that I think about it, I find it
intriguing how the concepts fate and the honour code of the society
making the crime inevitable yet the storyline making it seemingly
impossible to happen intertwine leading up to the eventual purification of
the town through Santiago Nasars death.
Word Count: 393

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