How to Write a Persuasive Paper

Authors of novels, books, as well as short stories, relay a certain opinion, viewpoint, or idea. Depending on what an author intends on relaying through their literary work, authors may use various approaches or styles of writing to do so. Various authors employ the use of different literary devices which they use to develop and relay their ideas or messages. Certain authors may develop major themes, which they address through certain characters and the roles they play in enabling an author address a certain issue or relay a certain message. Gabriel Garcia Marquez' novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” uses two major themes, ritual and honor which constitute the story's plot and are relayed through the gender roles of its characters. The aim of this essay, therefore, is to the roles of gender figures in the novel including whether the fatalism throughout the novel can be attributed to how the characters think men and women ought to behave. 

The novel describes a Columbian culture where, individuals, both men, and women, are expected to behave in a certain manner so as to demonstrate honor. This is because, in the Columbian culture, honor plays a key role in guiding how people behave, thus is the motivation for how characters in the novel conduct themselves. In addition to that, the characters are aware of the consequences of acting dishonorably. The novel also depicts the aspect of rewards that are given to those who engage in honorable acts. For instance, the novel portrays the idea of remaining pure as honorable and is rewarded by an eventful marriage. However, having engaged in the act before marriage may lead to separation as is depicted in the novella. For instance, when Angela Vicario gets married to Bayardo San Román, she is shortly returned to her home when he finds out she is not a virgin (Marquez, 2014). This goes to show that as a woman, one is expected by the Columbian culture to act honorably by remaining pure until marriage. 

Therefore, the culture expects women to remain pure until they are married and an eventful marriage is considered the reward for remaining pure. However, since Angela loses her virginity before marriage, she is separated from her husband, which is deemed the appropriate punishment when a woman acts dishonorably in the Columbian culture. In addition to that, it goes to show that men are expected to uphold their honor by ensuring their wives are pure, hence San Roman's decision to return Angela back to her home when he finds out that she is not a virgin. Therefore, based on the theme of honor, gender figures are both expected to behave accordingly, thus rewards for upholding honor, as well as punishment for acts of dishonor. 

Angela Vicario, upon being returned home as punishment for not being a virgin, which is considered an act of dishonor in the Columbian culture, accuses Santiago Nasar of having deflowered her (Marquez, 2014). This leads to the Vicario brothers, Pablo, and Pedro seeking out Santiago and killing him. The idea that the act is conducted by the male members of the Vicario family is an indication that men played a crucial role in defending the honor of women in their families. This is evident because the Vicario brothers kill Santiago in an effort to defend the honor of their sister, as Santiago is responsible for taking her virginity. The fact that losing her virginity to Santiago leads to her separation from her husband is what causes her brothers to retaliate in honor of their sister. 

The author also depicts the ideal role of the male figure in the novella as that of defending the honor of women in their families by how the announcement is made. Angela, as opposed to telling anyone else, such as her mother, of the cause of her separation, tells her brothers (Marquez, 2014). This goes to show that she had faith in them to defend her honor, which depicts how male figures in the Columbian culture defended the honor of women in their families. Therefore, based on how the Vicario brothers are depicted, men were expected to protect and defend the honor of the women in their families by whatever means possible, since they killed Santiago for deflowering their sister. The male figure in the Columbian culture is presented as aggressive with regards to how they defend the honor of women in their families since killing another human being is along the lines of aggressiveness and extremism. 

The idea of depicting Santiago as dishonorable, which leads to his death also relays a message of how men were expected to behave in the Columbian culture. Men were not expected to engage in sexual behavior with women who were not their wives, thus the element of dishonor associated with Santiago. As a result, Santiago is killed for deflowering Angela because he is not her husband. Nothing much is done about the death of Santiago, which depicts a culture that sees death as a befitting punishment for a man who acts dishonorably. In the novel, Marquez writes, “the lawyer stood by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defense of honor, which was upheld by the court in good faith,” as a demonstration of what was permissible in the Columbian culture, thus justifying the murder of Santiago (Marquez, 2014). On the other hand, women were expected to remain pure until marriage. As a result, there were befitting consequences of those who engaged in what was considered dishonorable as is deemed by the Columbian culture. However, the price for dishonor for Santiago also reveals something about what is expected of men in the Columbian culture. The fact that he is killed and his murder left unsolved for 17 years goes to show that dishonor among men had more fatal consequences compared to women's consequences (Marquez, 2014). This is because, for the same mistake, Santiago loses his life, while Angela only loses her marriage, which is less fatalism compared to Santiago's fate. 

Therefore, despite the fact that the Columbian culture expects both men and women to be honorable, the consequences for each are not the same, which may be a depiction of an issue of double standards regarding gender figures in the novella. This is reinforced by the fact that Santiago is not even given the chance to defend himself or say something regarding what he is accused of. In the novel, Marquez writes, “No one even wondered Whether Santiago Nasar had been warned, because it seemed impossible to all that he hadn’t,” to show how much Santiago or anyone else had intervened in the matter that led to his death (Marquez, 2014). This goes to show that male members in such a setting were likely to be accused of something they did not do and equally face the consequences of the act without being given the chance to defend themselves. Therefore, women in such a society had a better chance of getting away with certain acts of dishonor as compared to men. 

The actions of other members in the society also attributed to the fatalities evident throughout the novella. This is because, while women are typically expected to defend those they love, Santiago still ends up dying even when other members of his community have heard of the rumors surrounding his death. The aspect of a mob mentality is introduced in the novella, which is based on how the characters of the novella are depicted. For instance, the author writes, 

finally, they drank the bottle in silence, very slowly, gazing with the boobish look of early risers at the dark window in the house across the way, while fake customers buying milk they didn’t need and asking for food items that didn’t exist went in and out with the purpose of seeing whether it was true that they were waiting for Santiago Nasar to kill him (Marquez, 2014). 

The author at this point tries to relay the fact that the story’s characters already knew that indeed Santiago would get killed for acting dishonorable, thus wanting to see it actually happen. This goes to show that indeed the aspect of punishment was based on community practice, which saw both gender figures show interest in seeing those who acted dishonorably get punished. 

Conclusion 

In Marquez’s novel, “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” the ideas of gender figure are well represented through the various literary elements such as theme and characterization. Through major characters such as Angela, Santiago, the Vicario twins/brothers and the theme of honor, Marquez depicts a community where men and women are expected to act a certain way. Failure of acting as per the Columbian cultural expectations, certain characters find themselves in tough situations, while another loses his life. For engaging in the dishonorable act of losing her virginity to another man who is not her husband, Angela Vicario, a woman, gets separated from her husband. On the other hand, Santiago, who is a man and is deemed the perpetrator of the act that leads to the deflowering of Angela, is killed for the same. The Vicario twins are depicted as defending the honor of their sister, which is also depicted as a cultural responsibility accepted within the Columbian culture. 

Reference 

Márquez, G. G. (2014).  Chronicle of a death foretold . Penguin UK.