The Most Guilty for the Murder of Santiago Nasar
The Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a fantasy novel that was written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in the year 1981 at the city of Columbia. The protagonist is Santiago Nasar, and his murder marks the climax of the story. The Antagonist is Angela Vicario. Some of the main themes presented in the novel include the essence of cultural traditions such as honor, powerlessness of women and ritual. No one in the novel is purely guilty of Santiago Nasar’s death. Hence, each character has a measure of guilt for Santiago’s murder. Angela Vicario accuses Santiago of breaking her virginity, which is likely to be untrue. Bayardo was also guilty of returning the bride and setting a motion of vengeance.
The Vicario twins are also guilty because they are the ones who performed the actual act of murdering Santiago.The town bears the most guilt for Santiago Nasar death. Santiago was murdered by his own town following the silence of its members on that dreadful day. The main reason why Santiago died in the hands of the Vicario twins is the fact that everyone believed he was responsible for sexually assaulting Angela Vicario. Bayardo, Angela Vicario’s husband return his bride to the house after realizing that she had already lost her virginity prior to the wedding day. “He does so without speaking a word “(Marquez, 46). When Angela is questioned, she accuses Santiago Nasar as being responsible for the sexual assault.
The narrator however, claims that “not even single evidence was presented to confirm Angela’s claim” (Marquez, 47). Despite the town having doubts on whether Nasar was guilty or innocent, it remains silent and reluctant to stop the killing (Marquez, 2003).The setting of the story is a small town where everyone is well known by the residents. It is a town that profoundly upheld religion, tradition and morality. One of the key traditions that were held was that of the essence of preserving virginity till marriage. Angela marries Bayardo Sam Roman and is then returned to her home because she was not a virgin at the time of marriage.
Angela’s twin brothers are determined to maintain their sister’s honor and resort to retaliate by murdering her probable violator. According to Angela, though unconfirmed by other sources, the violator happened to be Santiago Nasar. The town seems to regard Angela’s violation a more enormous tragedy compared to a loss of a life, which may be innocent after all (Marquez, 2003).Many people have been presented as the perpetrators of the murder by the narrator. Marquez uses the phrase “on the day that they were going to kill him” (Marquez 3). This implies that probably the entire town residents, comprising of more than two people, was responsible for killing Santiago Nasar. The entire town knows that the Vicario twins are set to kill Santiago Nasar and no one dares to stop them.
The brothers clearly made their intentions known to the entire town. They made it much easier for the town to stop them by telling Clothide Armenta that “They were looking for Santiago so that they could kill him” (Marquez, 54). Despite making their plans known to everyone in the entire town, no one makes an attempt to stop them. It seems the Vicario twins had an obligation to kill Nasar because Angela’s honor was at stake (Marquez, 2003).Some residents of the town thought that Pablo and Pedro Vicario were incapable of killing someone and hence failed to take the action of stopping them. The town seems to easily let go of life so long as the societal expectations were upheld.
The town people failed to warn Santiago about his murder till a much later time shortly prior to the killing. Some seemed to show less care and concern. Generally, the town just stood back and watched as the abominable murder took place. To make matters worse, the town people went to the extent of gathering around Santiago’s home to witness the crime, as if they cared less about the loss of life. Despite having doubts as to whether Santiago was the actual person responsible for defiling Angela, the town showed no concern (Marquez, 2003).A literary critic known as Carlos Alonso also acknowledges the town’s silence as the reason behind Santiago’s killing.
According to Alonso, the role of the chronicle is to relieve Santiago’s murder in attempting to relieve the narrator’s and the town’s guilt and tension. The town’s determination to stick to hypocritical honor codes results to dire consequences such as the loss of innocent lives. The twin brothers had to kill Santiago Nasser in order to conform to the societal expectations and norms. By killing Santiago, they proved that they were real men (Marquez, 2003).The guilt of the town residents drives them to commit odd acts for instance Hortensia Baute, who runs out in the street naked following hallucinations associated with guilt” (Marquez, 97).
There are however some townspeople who seem to feel no regret and remorse in regard to the crime. A good example is Angela Vicario, who does not seem to care despite the fact that she is the one who causes her twin brothers to kill Santiago. The novel does not clarify whether Angela is telling the truth, when she blatantly states that “Santiago was her perpetrator” (Marquez, 100).The statements presented by each character regarding the roles they play in the murder of Santiago is an attempt to relieve their guilt. Everyone seems to relieve their guilt by maintaining an attitude that implies that, an action to stop the killing would have been pointless.
Majority of the townspeople tends to think that disagreements arising over honor need to be left to the parties involved. This is the main reason why no one takes the initiative of warning Santiago about his murder before it is too late. The town becomes so engrossed in upholding its traditions at the expense of losing a possible innocent life. Instead of taking responsibility for the actions and accepting the guilt, everyone seems to run away from it. Even the Vicario twins who actually murdered Santiago refuse to make a confession to the priest (Marquez, 82). Eventually it seems the two brothers are relived of their guilt because one of them develops acute diarrhea, until the application of a herbal remedy. The other brother is unable to release his waste till a local matriarch applies a herbal remedy. He dies in the end following his joining the army (Marquez, 83).
The townspeople remain with the guilt since it virtually impossible for most of the residents to attain absolution. Instead of accepting and confession their mistakes, everyone makes an attempt to avoid and run away from it. The guilt of the town is also evidenced by the fact that the entire town becomes so much obsessed with Santiago’s death. The narrator states that “For many years, they could not talk about anything else but Santiago Nasar’s death” (Marquez, 96).
Their guilt was that of failing to warn Santiago about his death despite the fact that everyone had knowledge of the plot to kill him. The essence of honor to the culture is so much that even the jury presiding over the case of Vicario brothers finds them not guilty with the reason that their intention for killing was to regain Angela’s honor (Marquez, 2003).In conclusion, it is clear that though Santiago Nasar is killed in the hands of Pablo and Pedro Vicario, the entire town is most guilty for the crime. The town’s silence and reluctance to warn Santiago about his death lead to a loss of a possibly innocent life.
Reference
Marquez, G. C. Chronicle of a death foretold: a novel. Vintage International,
