Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Character Profile Project

As you read Chronicle of a Death Foretold you will meet the many distinct characters
who inhabit Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s unnamed town. Marquez uses rich details to explore the
lives of these characters. While reading you will notice the many similarities and differences
between these characters. They all have their own experiences, beliefs, and attitudes - some
shared, some not. Over the course of the novel one event binds them all together: the death of
Santiago Nasar. All of them were implicated in the death in some way or another. Now we need
to figure out what part each individual character played. For this project you will be assigned to
do a profile on one of the characters to become an expert on them. Your profile will consist of
three parts: a portrait, an alibi, and an in depth look at their institutional beliefs and attitudes.
After we finish the novel, we will use the information we gathered from these profiles to hold a
mock hearing of the town. Mr. Stubblefield and Mr. Barney will take on the role of investigators,
and you will play the role of your character(s), and we will finally try to answer the question: why
did Santiago Nasar die?

Portrait Instructions:
Marquez uses vivid imagery to describe the various characters who inhabit his unnamed town.
For this assignment you will create a portrait of your character using the text as inspiration.
Granted, Marquez goes into greater detail describing some characters than others. If you
cannot find direct passages that describe how they look then think about the rest of their
characterization: their occupation, their beliefs, their background etc. Please provide passages
from the text that you used as inspiration for your portrait, and provide a rationale to explain
your artistic choices. For your portrait you can use whatever artistic method you fancy (you can
draw, paint, create a digital illustration, dress up as your character and take a photograph of
yourself, etc.)

Alibi Instructions:
For this assignment you will develop an alibi to use during the trial. You will answer a series of
questions that will help provide a clear picture of your character’s culpability in the death of
Santiago Nasar. When possible use evidence from the text to support your answers. For
this section you should answer as if you are the character.

- When was the last time you saw Santiago Nasar?

- What were you doing the last time you saw Santiago Nasar?
- Did you know the Vicario twins were planning to murder Santiago Nasar?
- Do you believe there was any way to prevent his death?
- Describe your relationship with Santiago Nasar.

Try to go more in depth with these questions

- How do you feel about his death?
- Did you try to warn Santiago Nasar? Why or why not?
Institutional Beliefs and Attitudes: 20 points each response
Institutions are stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior. As structures or mechanisms of
social order, they govern the behavior of people within a given community. Institutions are
identified with a social purpose, transcending individuals and intentions by mediating the rules
that govern behavior. The term “institution” commonly applies to a custom or behavior important
to a society (family, marriage, and religion, for example) and to particular formal organizations of
the government and public services (law and order, mass media, banks, schools, prisons, and
government, for example). In Chronicle of a Death Foretold institutions play an influential role in
the events that transpire in Marquez’s unnamed town.
For this part of the assignment you will be asked to take a closer look at the different
beliefs and attitudes your character has toward institutions relevant in their life. Specifically you
will look into how your character’s relationships with cultural institutions such as Family,
Marriage, and The Church. Choose two of these institutions. Discuss how your character is
aligned with each of the institutions, how their behavior is impacted by their relationship with
each of the institutions, and if their relationship with each institution influences the part they
played in the death of Santiago Nasar. Use textual evidence to support your answers when
possible.
100-150 words per response