Theme Of Honor In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

Words: 577
Pages: 3

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, it is made clear that honor is of the uttmost importance to Colombian culture.
Honor becomes a huge theme in the novel as the plot develops.
One way Marquez develops this theme is the comparison between Santiago Nasar and Jesus Christ.
Marquez compares these two deaths to emphasize the importance of a family’s honor.

Marquez clarifies this allusion to Jesus’s crucifixion with the names and actions of the characters.
Each main character in the novel represents a character in the story of crucifixion.
Pedro and Pablo translate to Peter and Paul, respectively, two of Jesus’s disciples.
It is Pedro’s idea to kill Santiago. This alludes to Peter denying that he knows Jesus, essentially
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The townspeople chose to ignore that the Vicario brothers were going to kill Santiago, and the crowd chose to crucify Jesus.
Although neither Jesus nor Santiago deserved their fate, both accepted their deaths.
Santiago “leaned against his mother’s door, without the slightest resistance, as if he only wanted to help them finish killing him” (Marquez 118).
Santiago dies with his honor.
Marquez’s comparison between their deaths emphasizes the importance of dying with honor in Colombian culture.

Marquez compare the two stories again in the motives and innocence behind the deaths.
Jesus was innocent of all sin, but was chosen to die to remove the sin of all others.
He sacrificed himself for the good of all others.
Santiago dies to restore the honor of the Vicario family, “‘We killed him openly,’ Pedro Vicario said, ‘but we’re innocent’... ‘It was a matter of honor’” (Marquez 49).
Marquez equates dying for a family’s honor to dying to save mankind.
This exaggerates the emphasis Colombian culture puts on honor.
Santiago’s innocence is seen in his clothing, “he was dressed in white linen” (Marquez 7).
White symbolizes his