“Chronicle of a Death Foretold”, an Examination of Women's Roles and the Use of Magical Realism

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Romina Papadopulos Instructor Concepcion A. Cranston Latin American Humanities 2461 March 25, 2012 “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”, an examination of Women's Roles and the use of Magical Realism “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, is a novel that takes place in a provincial town in Colombia during the turn of the nineteenth century. Generations of tradition and a system based on the promotion of a healthy patriarchy form the foundation for a novel that makes the reader feel helpless as the death of the protagonist is predicted and carried out throughout the book. As a result of the neocolonial Colombian values portrayed therein, women come to play an important role in this novel. They represent female acquiescence of a patriarchal hierarchy, exploitation of their inequality, and resistance to their oppression within that society. As such, Angela Vicario, the prospective bride in this tale, becomes the most important female role in the book. Literary Giant Garcia Marquez eloquently uses the style of magical realism to foretell the unfortunate death of Santiago Naser and through this style, he makes seemingly ordinary women become fantastical beings, who truly tell a story of social subjugation. The Novel is an investigation into a murder that had occurred in a small town in Colombia called Sucre. The narrator of the book has a vested interest in revisiting the twenty seven year old murder because the victim was his best friend. In his attempt to understand why the murder occurred and why others in Sucre did little to stop the crime, he explains to the reader his memories and the accounts of others who were witness to the crime or knew the motives. As such, the novel takes on a journalistic method that is not told in chronological order but rather in a non linear style that reflects the different recollections of
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