In this novel, Marquez uses many literary devices in order to develop main themes that are being portrayed throughout the plot. The tumultuous relationship between Bayardo and Angela is expressive of the role of women in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and while it is greatly affected by their fear of the society’s opinion, it defines honor and respect, two motifs constantly visible in the novel.
Bayardo’s objectifying treatment of Angela is a clear portrayal of a woman’s role in that Caribbean society. Women’s roles are one of the major themes in the novel. The community in which the story takes place is a male dominant community so it is not surprising that women in the society have specific and no significant roles. This is actually a paradox as woman through reproducing create and provide men as well as the women satisfying their sexual needs. Pura is a strong woman that controls her children and being seen as very powerful. Angela and her mother are seen as two women taht come from a family in which they believe that they should be well respected from the towns’ people and keep their pride and honor which represents the main themes in the novel. “That day I realized just how alone we women are in the world!” (Pg.63 l.4-5) said Clotilde who owns the shop the two brothers were drinking at. Clotilde had to serve the two brothers with alcohol in order to stop them from killing Santiago which shows how powerful men are and that the only way that they could be stopped is by getting them drunk, it also relates to the fact that men are more dominant than women. Pedro Vicario asks Clotilde if he could have the razor and she gives it to him because she was scared.
That was the point where Clotilde understands that women are actually alone in the world; she understood and realized that men are stronger, dangerous and can’t be trusted. The fact that women cannot stop men from doing certain things shows that the women’s status in the book is not as strong as men which are dominant. The sex role in the novel shows how women are weaker than men and that men have much more power than women. Angela accused Santiago Nasar of raping her, her honor and respect was diminished because of this which shows that it is not right for women to have sex before marriage but it is fine for a man which is not fair. Angela was humiliated and disgraced because of what had happened and her family reacted violently to it “The only thing that I can remember was that she was holding me by the hair with one hand and beating me with the other with such rage that I thought that she was going to kill me” (pg.46 l.23-24).
The society’s point of view has an immense effect upon the development of the relationship of the two characters, being the cause of all the significant changes in it. Bayard felt really dishonored because Angela lost her virginity to someone else before getting married to him and he did not want the society to feel bad for him. The society was really hypocritical as they judged everyone really harshly, especially Angela because of the incident that happened to her even though according to them, everything is a matter of faith and religion. The society affected Angela as she didn’t only think of virginity as being only religious but it was also a matter of the society’s norms. The society viewed Bayardo as a person with a lot of respect that has a good heart, is wealthy and comes from a good family and because of that, he couldn’t just leave aside and let go to the fact that Angela is not a virgin.
He had to prove to everyone that he will still keep his respect so he decided to break up with her because of the society’s point of view of him. After he left the town, Angela wrote letters to him for years, se also got hit by her mother for losing her virginity before marriage and yet, the society still viewed him as a victim because they cancelled the marriage. Even though he didn’t respond to any of the letters, he came back to Angela after many years with the letters she sent him in order to give Angela back her respect but still keeping his own as well because he did not open any of the letter in order to prove to the society his status in the relationship between Angela and him. At the end, in order to not be lonely old people, they got back together. They did this so that the society wouldn’t think that someone wants them and they wil still have their honor and respect from the society.
Honor plays an important part in determining the relationship between Angela and Bayardo, as does the respect that significantly sacrifices his lover for her. In the Colombian culture, honor is considered to be really important and is taken very seriously. No one ever talks about the honor of someone else in the town as it is something that everyone should have and keep intact. A person in the community that is without honor is considered to be an outcast. Santiago Nasar’s murder was responsible for the defense of the Angela and her family’s honor. Angela’s brothers had to kill Santiago in order to bring back the honor to their sister and their family. Angela gets married to another man while she has already had sex with someone else which dishonored her family and diminished her respect. Angela’s brothers wanted to get back the family’s respect, and the only way they could do that is to kill Santiago who according to her, took away her virginity. Most of the people in the town thought that the brothers were taking the right decision as they believed that the crime was really malicious and the criminal deserved a cruel punishment. They think that letting the brothers kill Santiago is a sensible revenge for such a terrible crime which point out how terrible I was to have sex with a woman that did not get married yet, it disabled her chances to marry a proper man whiles marriage is very important in a life of a woman in order to achieve a lot of things in this world. Even though Angela lost her virginity and her honor, her brothers still went to jail which shows how much they had to pay off and risk their lives in order to get back the honor and the respect that her family deserved.
Marquez focuses mainly on the relationship between Angela and Bayardo in his novel ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’. They’re relationship has been affected because Angela list her virginity to another man before getting married to Bayardo. This was taken really seriously because of the role of women in the Colombian culture as they are not allowed to have sex before marriage. The society’s point of view of the two had an effect on the development of the relationship between them and caused a lot of changes in it as Bayrdo wanted to have respect from the society and keep his status in the society and Angela’s brother tried to get their sisters honor back.
