he murder of Santiago, Garcia Marquez (2) informs us the "clamor of alarm bells" woke him in the "apostolic lap of Maria Alejandrina Cervantes." In the lap of a prostitute, the narrator is awakened to sounds that signify murder.
Garcia Marquez uses other elements of fiction like symbolism and irony to reinforce this theme. Known as imagery, these tools are used by Garcia Marquez to foreshadow and comment on the action of the story in an ironic and almost macabre fashion. He uses both symbolism and irony in a scene where Santiago observes rabbits being killed. As Michaels (3) notes, "After watching the rabbits being disemboweled, Santiago Nasar seizes a young woman by the crotch. Sexual passion is also felt in the compulsive rhythm of the novel, as it moves from one murderous description to the next; however grossly sensual." The rabbits' butchering mirrors Santiago's own, which ironically occurs in a similar manner with Santiago walking about holding his bowels in his hands.
Characterization is also used by Garcia Marquez to demonstrate how the characters are driven by a disorder that is "love" which is often associated with pain and violence. The bride allegedly deflowered by Santiago is beaten by her mother and somehow comes to love the fiancé she causes great pain, Bayardo, something as inexplicable as his love for her. McMurray (67) maintains Garcia Marquez "highlights the characters' irrational single-mindedness and the limited capacity for love or meaningful communication" in a hostile universe. The detective is determined for the sake of his childhood memories and closure and his career to resolve the murder, but he seems to depict so much violence the author and narrator also seem to associate sensuality and violence. Garcia Marquez (75) even refers to this as the "disorder of love" in the story, which once more associates love with a malady or something to be suffered ra
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