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
Abstracts Source: College Literature, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Summer, 2005), Pp. V-Vii Published By: The Johns Hopkins University Press Accessed: 04-07-2017 18:40 UTC