Global Issues in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

1. List at least 10 global issues that are evident in the work.

-The social stigma surrounding a women’s virginity

-The negative impact of society’s expectations of masculinity on men, and its correlation with violence

-Sexual Abuse towards young girls

-What is destined to happen vs. what happens because of one’s choices

-Failure of those in power to prevent unnecessary suffering

-The role of the church in society, influencing the concept of purity

-Lies to protect one’s honor

- Violence’s effect on the victim and the perpetrator

- A sexist society’s constraints on a women’s role in the community

-Social class influencing many aspects of life, including marriage

-Inherent biases of the minority by the majority

-The pervasive impact death has on those close to the victim, even hinting at its appearance before its
arrival

2. Identify one global issue from your list that you would like to examine in detail. You are NOT
limited to this global issue for your oral presentation, but we will be practicing discussion of
these issues in preparation for your oral.

The pervasive impact death has on those close to the victim, even hinting at its appearance before its
arrival.
 3. Identify a passage from the text where your chosen global issue is addressed. Your selected
passage should be no more than 40 lines (must be consecutive lines). You need to reproduce
the passage and cite the page number.

Santiago Nasar told her then about the dream, but she didn't pay any great attention to the trees. "Any
dream about birds means good health," she said.

She had watched him from the same hammock and in the same position in which I found her prostrated
by the last lights of old age when I returned to this forgotten village, trying to put the broken mirror of
memory back together from so many scattered shards. She could barely make out shapes in full light
and had some medicinal leaves on her temples for the eternal headache that her son had left her the
last time he went through the bedroom. She was on her side, clutching the cords at the head of the
hammock as she tried to get up, and there in the half shadows was the baptistery smell that had startled
me on the morning of the crime.

No sooner had I appeared on the threshold than she confused me with the memory of Santiago Nasar.
"There he was," she told me. "He was dressed in white linen that had been washed in plain water
because his skin was so delicate that it couldn't stand the noise of starch." She sat in the hammock for a
long time, chewing peppercress seeds, until the illusion that her son had returned left her. Then she
sighed: "He was the man in my life."

I saw him in her memory. He had turned twenty-one the last week in January, and he was slim and pale
and had his father's Arab eyelids and curly hair. He was the only child of a marriage of convenience
without a single moment of happiness, but he seemed happy with his father until the latter died
suddenly, three years before, and he continued seeming to be so with his solitary mother until the
Monday of his death. From her he had inherited a sixth sense. From his father he learned at a very early
age the manipulation of firearms, his love for horses, and the mastery of high-flying birds of prey, but
from him he also learned the good arts of valor and prudence. (6-7)
 4. Write a 500 word (+/- 10) reflection on the presentation of that issue in the work. Discuss how
the author presents and explores the global issue in the extract you have selected. Include AT
LEAST three different literary techniques the author uses to help convey the issue and discuss
their effect.

In this excerpt from Gabriel García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the narrator speaks with
Placida Linero, the mother of the victim, to try to piece together the events leading up to Santiago
Nasar’s murder. The death of her only son has left her clutching to the memories she has left of him,
apparent in her discussion with the narrator and her present state of being. Displaying the pervasive
impact death has on those close to the victim, even hinting at its appearance before its arrival, Márquez
makes use of hyperbole, metaphoric expressions, and ironic instances of foreshadowing in the narrator’s
conversation with Placida Linero.

While the narrator tries to garner information surrounding Santiago’s murder, Placida Linero recounts,
with use of metaphors, her memory of Santiago the day before his murder. She recalls Santiago wearing
white linen that was washed without starch as “his skin was so delicate that it couldn't stand the noise”
of it. This expression not only serves to illustrate the fragility surrounding Santiago, but also ties in the
purity associated with the color white, a contrast to the darkness that encases Santiago’s death the next
day. The narrator struggles to “put the broken mirror of memory back together from so many scattered
shards,” the mirror referring to the true series of events that took place and the shards representing the
unreliable nature of the memory of those involved. The presence of discrepancies in the memory of
those close to Santiago demonstrates the impact a shocking event, such as death, has on those involved.

Additionally, hyperbolic expressions are used by Márquez to emphasize certain points, including the
distress Santiago’s death has inflicted upon his mother. Upon returning to the town to discuss Santiago’s
death, the narrator finds Placida Linero in an aged state, unrecovered from his passing and left with “an
eternal headache.” This exaggeration supports the notion that, though time has passed, the death of a
close family member has significantly impacted Placida. Even before his death, Placida lived in a
marriage “without a single moment of happiness.” Dissatisfied with her late husband, Santiago was the
“man in [her] life,” making his death that much more devastating to her. These instances of hyperbole
serve to showcase Placida’s strong connection and continued attachment to her son.

Even before Santiago’s murder, irony about his demise appears in Placida’s retelling of her memories.
Reciting the dream Santiago had before the night of his death to the narrator, Placida had informed
Santiago “any dream about birds means good health.” Santiago’s dream foreshadows the dramatic
events that would later take place, while Placida’s failure to correctly interpret Santiago’s dream adds an
element of irony to the retelling. The narrator then describes Santiago with respect to the traits he
possesses from his mother and late father. Similarly to Santiago’s dream that contradicted with reality,
the narrator describing Santiago as having “a sixth sense” inherited from his mother proves ironic as this
sense does not provide him the aid necessary in preventing his death, with his demise being almost
expected.
 5. Find one source on a reliable research source such as J-Stor that could be used as a secondary
source to supplement an oral presentation on this issue. Include bibliographical information
and a brief summary (approx. 100 words) of the source.

Pope, Randolph D. “Transparency and Illusion in Garcia Marquez' ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold.’” Latin
American Literary Review, vol. 15, no. 29, 1987, pp. 183–200. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20119453.
Accessed 21 Nov. 2020.

This source discusses the element of time in relation to death, and how Gabriel García Márquez’s use of
chronology, an irregular retelling in five parts, frames the work, drawing attention to cyclic nature of the
story. In addition, Márquez’s repetition of certain elements develops the world he has created and
combines elements of a chronicle and a novel. It also mentions how time can warp and fade the
memories of the interviewed witnesses, making for a different experience for each person affected by
the loss.