Gabriel Garcia MarquezÆs (1984) Chronicle of a Death Foretold is told in first person narrative by a journalist figure who returns to a Colombian town 27 years after the death of Santiago Nasar. The novel begins with two misunderstandings of SantiagoÆs final dream. SantiagoÆs mother provides one, and the other is provided by Santiago himself. These misinterpretations are significant, because the narrator will hear many misinterpreted stories of the events that unfolded nearly three decades before and since. There are many themes in the book, from Latin American ômachismoö and womenÆs roles to that of memory and time. Time and memory as products of consciousness remains a significant theme. For the narrator is investigating events that occur years before, but these events are interpreted in one manner as they occur and differently in hindsight. As one literary critic maintains, ôThe narrator registers the townspeopleÆs original misinterpretations of objects, events, and other charactersÆ behavior as a bizarre and incomprehensible incident unfolds right before their eyes. The novel also insists on the fact that, with the privilege of hindsight, the narrator and the townspeople are able to reinterpret these texts under a different lightö (Olivares 1987, 485-486). This analysis will provide a summary of the novel, with a focus on another major theme of the work. The theme to be analyzed is the distinctions in class which figure significantly in the events of the story.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold is much like a mystery or detective story. The novel centers around a married couple, Angela Vicario and her husband Bayardo San Roman. San Roman is rich and is not from the Colombian town. However, on the night after their wedding, San Roman discovers that Angela is not a virgin. Because of this, he returns Angela to her family. Angela has two brothers who are twins, Pablo and Pedro. They are outraged over the fact ...