Term Paper on "Victims Angela Vicario and Her Sister in Chronicles of a Death Foretold"

Term Paper 3 pages (1243 words) Sources: 4 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Angela Vicario and Her Sister-Victims: The Place of Women in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

In the novel Chronicles of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the place of women in the society of the time is lower than that of males, and this is seen in the novel as one of the reasons why the women tend to be victims. The time of the novel is 1951, long before any feminist impact on the social order in America or in Latin America. The story of the novel is based on a real murder case that took place in that year, and the focus of the novel is made clear in the opening paragraph as the coming death of Santiago Nasar is announced at the outset. The story of Angela's pending wedding to Bayardo is a secondary storyline, but in this social order, women are secondary in any case.

The killers are Angela's brothers. Angela is at odds with her family, especaily about her marriage to Bayardo. She does not love him and wants to stop the wedding, and while she cannot achieve this, she does manage to end the marriage in a few hours because she is not a virgin. In her society, that is grounds for ostracism and also gives the husband the right to end the marriage and return to bride to he family, which is what Bayardo does. The same sort of infraction today might not have the same meaning, depending on how much a given society has changed. It clearly remains a central issue I some societies and reflects the secondary status of women and the idea that the behavior of women carries with it an effect on the reputation and status of the family. If the woman transgresses the social code, the whole family is tainted, the honor of the family depending on the woman more than on male members of the family. A double standard prevails so that sexual indiscretions by the male members of the family is indulged, while those of female members of the family are not. Both brothers and Angela's father have had relations with the female servants. Bayardo as husband has the right to beat Angela when he learns the truth, but he does not. Her mother, however, does, beating her for hours until she tells the name of the man who took her virginity. She names Santiago Nasar, and her brothers then have to kill Santiago, to wash away the shame with his blood, a ritual accepted by the whole community, just as the beating of Angela is accepted. Indeed, this fact is made clear when the two brothers are eventually acquitted at trial because what they have done is to defend the honor of the family, just as they are expected to do.

Angela's life after the murder is simple, as noted by one critic who writes that "the forlorn Angela Vicario divides her days between the nocturnal and surreptitious correspondence with Bayardo and an equally accomplished dedication to embroidery by daylight" (Alonso 268). The options for Angela are extremely limited, and the fact that she manage to end her marriage does not free her to pursue other choices. She is still part of the same household, and she can only do what her family allows her to do. Her writing to Bayardo for so many years suggest that she has no other person outside the home to whom she can confide or to whom she can speak. She pursues only the domestic act of embroidery day after day, and though she did not love Bayardo and has no real tie to him, he is the only person outside the family with… READ MORE

How to Reference "Victims Angela Vicario and Her Sister in Chronicles of a Death Foretold" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marquez Essay

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marquez

Honor as the Driving Force in Marquez's "Chronicle of a Death Foretold"

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book "A Chronicle of a Death Foretold,"… read more

Essay 3 pages (917 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Honor in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Term Paper

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Specifically it will discuss honor in the novel and the symbolism that Garcia Marquez presents in the novel. Written in 1981,… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (2188 words) Sources: 7 Style: MLA Topic: Family / Dating / Marriage

---

Chronicle of a Death Foretold Essay

Chronicle of Death

Morality, Injustice, and the Importance of Knowing: Themes in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Ambiguity has become one of the hallmarks of the modern novel. Authors like… read more

Essay 4 pages (1225 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Death of Santiago Nasar Term Paper

death of Santiago Nasar

As the title itself suggests, Chronicle of a Death Foretold is the story of Santiago Nasar's death at the hands of Angela Vicario's two brothers who… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (2150 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Latin America / Mexico / Caribbean

---

Theme of Revenge Within a Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Hamlet Thesis

Hamlet Santiago

A Dialogue between Santiago and Hamlet Expanded

In the following dialogue, I will attempt to illuminate how the themes of revenge are explored in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and… read more

Thesis 2 pages (580 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>