Chronicle of a Death Foretold
First edition (Colombia)
|
|
| Author | Gabriel García Márquez |
|---|---|
| Country | Colombia |
| Publisher | La Oveja Negra |
|
Publication date
|
1981 |
|
Published in English
|
1983 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 122 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 43223288 |
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Spanish: Crónica de una muerte anunciada) is a novella by Gabriel García Márquez, published in 1981. It tells, in the form of a pseudo-journalistic reconstruction, the story of the murder of Santiago Nasar by the two Vicario brothers.
The non-linear story, told by an anonymous narrator, begins with the morning of Santiago Nasar's death. The reader learns that Santiago lives with his mother, Placida Linero; the cook, Victoria Guzman; and the cook's daughter, Divina Flor. Santiago took over the successful family ranch after the death of his father Ibrahim, who was of Arabic origin. He returns home in the early morning hours from an all night celebration of a wedding between a recent newcomer, Bayardo San Roman, and a long-term resident, Angela Vicario. Two hours after the wedding, Angela was dragged back to her mother's home by Bayardo because she was not a virgin. After a beating from her mother, Angela is forced to reveal the name of the man who has defiled her purity and honor. In a somewhat spurious manner, she reveals the man to be Santiago. The brothers decide to kill Santiago in order to avenge the insult to their family honor, and for this purpose they retrieve two knives previously used to slaughter pigs.
They proceed to the meat market in the pre-dawn hours to sharpen their knives, and announce to the owner and other butchers, that they plan to kill Santiago. No one believes the threat because the brothers are such "good people" or they interpret the threat as "drunkards' baloney." Faustino Santos, a butcher friend, becomes suspicious and reports the threat to the policeman, Leandro Pornoy. The brothers proceed to Cotilde Armenta's milk shop where they tell her about the plan to kill Santiago, and she notices the knives wrapped in rags. Meanwhile, Officer Leandro talks with Colonel Aponte who, after leisurely dressing and enjoying his breakfast, proceeds to the milk shop and takes away their knives and sends them off to sleep though he considers them "a pair of big bluffers." Clotilde wants "to spare those poor boys from the horrible duty" and tries to convince Colonel Aponte to investigate further so they can be stopped. He does nothing further. Since the brothers had announced their plans to kill Santiago at the meat market and the milk store, the news spreads through town, but no one directly warns Santiago. Clotilde asks everyone she sees to warn Santiago, but people do not warn him for several reasons: they assume he must have been warned already, believe that someone else should warn him, can't find him easily, don't believe it will happen, are too excited about the Bishop's arrival, want him secretly dead, or believe the killing to be justified. The brothers show up again to the milk shop with two new knives, and this time Pedro has hesitations about killing because he feels they had fulfilled their duty "when the mayor disarmed them." Nevertheless, they yell their plans to kill Santiago. Even the priest later confesses, "I didn't know what to do...it wasn't any business of mine but something for the civil authorities." He decides to mention it to Santiago's mother, but because he was excited about the bishop coming, he forgets about Santiago.
...
Wikipedia