Context
- Setting: Latin America
- Civil War---- army, taxes, political participation, create nationalism,
- Use wars for citizens that threaten the local national mindset/code/way of living (so
within and not external to other countries)
- Racial classes- army allowed people from different social classes to integrate
- Absence of a common enemy
- Growth of history
- Government does not have a strong relationship with citizen
- Religion having a key factor (Christianity being spread in the 15th century)
- 18th century Latin America creating a revolution driving the Spaniards out
- 19th century Latin America split into countries (multicultural)
- 20th century economy going down, relied on the exports of raw materials, seeked the
US help (trade) and then slowly became better with health rising
- 1960- Columbia became the lead exporter selling flowers and drugs
Context and setting show the cultural and how they influence societies decisions, such as the
power the bishop has in the book (like people dressing up to see him), or the priest being in
charge of keeping the prisoners or looking over the procedure of Santiago Nasar
- Key factor: classes, divide in society in the 1950s
- Religion
- Marriage
Things Fall Apart vs COADF
Setting
- Both are small, close community
Death
Ikemefuna vs. Santiago
- Unwantley
- Religion
- Oracle vs honor killing
- Expectations by society- okonkwo being drive to kill his adopted son, the twins killing
Ikemefuna
- Honor and pride- deflowering
- Protection of status
Court messenger vs. Santiago
- Wanted to kill him
- Killed out of anger
- Impulsive
- Against society’s expectations
-
Okonkwo vs. Santiago
- Moment of loss and innocence
- Okonkwo loses power over the clan
- Santiago left by his fiancee
- Both have no support of the community
Male dominance
TFA
- Males are dominant
- Women are still worshipped (gods, killing Ikemefuna as revenge, motherland)
COADF
- Males clearly dominant
- Women house wives- no rights, angela being beat up my her mother
-
Is the setting of COADF a microsom of Latin American society?
Society
- Divided into 1(lowest class, poorest) - 6 (highest class, wealthiest), origin for wealthy to
support the poor (taxes) in theory---- still places to have lack of electricity etc.
- In some cases marriage is seen as a way out
- still the same
- Social class very dominant
- 90% catholic
- Conservative
- Sexist- image women were given in Latin America, okay to defile a woman, virginity of
huge importance (until marriage), gender sex crimes
- Familiar community--- everyone knows each other (like everyone knowing about Nasar’s
death)
Religion
- Influential
- Government run by religion
Pg 56 “Good lord”- feared response to specific actions
Themes
- Honor
● Of high value
● Very important to Latin American Culture
● Women code of honor--- hold their family and their husbands power
● Men code of honor---
● Once honor is lost, hard to redeem-- honor killings accepted
● Brothers overlook their sisters-- take care of them from a young age
Virginity on wedding night
● Females must be virgins on their wedding night- uphold thier and thier family’s honor
● Sexist
● Men should be sexually active
- Machismo
● Fearless, strong, and agressive
● Overules faith and religion
● Provider of the family
Men:
TFA COADF
- Dominate society
- Value masculinity
- Head of household, more wives more
respected
-
Female:
- Take care of the husband
- Controlled by their husband
- Carries children
- Revenge
● A consequence of defending honor
● Murder of Santiago Nasar----
● Revenge of Arbas--- the twins being afraid of this
● Santiago haunting twins in the jail--- couldn’t sleep, smell
Revenge links in TFA
- Cultural violence
- Revenge is represented as murders in both books, but each for a personal interest
Both characters (Okonkwo and Santiago) were both spirited, loved their culture,
Themes of Social Class and Restriction
No equal opportunities – when born into high income family, more opportunities unlike
the lower class.
Upper class: born into the family, honour family, very rich, very religious
Middle class: minimum wage
Lower class:servants, people who dishonoured their family.
COURTSHIP BAYARDO SAN ROMAN SOCIAL RESTRICTION
He shows off his wealth Gender. Religion. Social class
Marrying up (marrying into Race, follow the society
richer family) norms
Shows male dominated society.
Name reveal: important example of social stance. Looked at two different perspectives
- Challenges Vicario brothers must honour their family to keep social stance
Characters restricted by class:
1. Angela Vicario
Married Bayardo San Roman (upper class). Her lower class social status held her back
from denying the marriage.
2. The Vicario brothers:
Have to regain social stance by murdering Santiago Nasar – Angela has damaged the
family’s opinion in society.
3. Victoria Guzman and Divina Flor
Because of their social status it was deemed okay for Santiago’s father to use Victoria,
who doesn’t want the same for her own daughter.
Hierarchal structure of society:
1. Bishop
2. Bayardo San Roman
3. Santiago Nasar
4. Angela Vicario
Things Fall Apart connections:
1. Male domination (in TFA, Igbo have more respect towards women)
2. Santiago and Okonkwo died because of the structure
3. Religious figures high in society (Bishop = Egwugwu)
4. Small societies (word travels fast)
Symbols and Quotations
I. The Bishop
Closest to being with God
Religion
“What happened, according to her, was that the boat whistle let off a shower of compressed
steam as it passed by the docks, and it soaked those who were closest to the edge. It was a
fleeting illusion: the bishop began to make the sign of the cross in the air opposite the crowd on
the pier, and he kept on doing it mechanically afterwards, without malice or inspiration, until the
boat was lost from view and all that remained was the uproar of the roosters.”
Unattainable holiness
COMPARISON TO TFA (Oracle and titles)
o Holiness
o Communicates with God,
o Much like in religion she symbolises giving hope
o The ultimate goal (holiness, most catholic)
II. The Brothers
The bride was returned to her brothers after man “took her virginity” —> male
dominance in society
Murder Santiago to show that Angela is defenceless and therefore needs male
protection, the men took control and used violence to solve problems while women took
care of the household
“Except for that, she thought there were no better-reared daughters. "They're perfect," she was
frequently heard to say. "Any man will be happy with them because they've been raised to
suffer."
Perfect – perfectly suitable for marriage
Man – any man shows that women are simply objects to obtain
Happy – satisfied with quality of women
COMPARISON TO TFA
III. The Flowers
“Santiago Nasar was a man for parties, and he had his best time on the eve of his death
calculating the expense of the wedding. He estimated that they'd set up floral decorations in the
church equal in cost to those for fourteen first-class funerals. That precision would haunt me for
many years, because Santiago Nasar had often told me that the smell of closed-in flowers had
an immediate relation to death for him, and that day he repeated it to me as we went into the
church. "I don't want any flowers at my funeral,"
Closed in flowers — symbol of death,
Flowers at my funeral — foreshadow death of Santiago,
No prominent symbol for death, flowers aren’t prominent in TFA
IV. The bridal gown (purity and virginity)
Not marrying as virgin seen as crime,
o “Angela Vicario, the beautiful girl who'd gotten married the day before, had been
returned to the house of her parents, because her husband had discovered that
she wasn't a virgin. "I felt that I was the one who was going to die,"
A woman without her virginity and not married is impure and “taken” by another man
o “the fact that Angela Vicario dared put on the veil and the orange blossoms
without being a virgin would be interpreted afterwards as a profanation of the
symbols of purity.”
o Whole reason for tradition, someone had claimed her – portraying women as
objects that can belong to a man.
Most women were virgins
o “No one would have thought, nor did anyone say, that Angela Vicario wasn't a
virgin.”
Men were praised for taking women’s virginity, but women were shamed for not being a
virgin, but also were shamed for not having sex in the honeymoon.
COMPARED TO TFA
o Normal men have several wives,
TFA: Okonkwo (3)
CODTF: Men marry 1 “pure” woman
o Men are more dominant
TFA: if not they are weak
CODTF: praised for having sex unlike women
o Dominance established by violence
TFA: beating wives
CODTF: murdering, beating
