Chronicle of a Loss of life Foretold is a novella by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that focuses on the narrator's efforts to put together the fragments of recollections of any murder that occurred in a little Latin-American coastal town twenty-seven years previously. This passage from the book takes place at the end of chapter two, where Angela Vicario was dispatched home by her fiancé Bayardo, and was almost beaten to fatality by her mother Pura Vicario, all because Angela had lost her virginity. This passage's effective structure, unique style, interesting diction and various appropriate literary techniques uncovers the absurd female interpersonal conventions and gender bias within the South American society at that time.
The passage is written in chronological order that describes the events in an orderly fashion, but actually has another level of deeper interpretation hidden within the veil of ordinary narration. Firstly, the chronological narration tells the story in an all natural sequence, in ways where in fact the audience may easily take part in and understand the plot. The visitors first perceives Angela being repaid home because she had not been a virgin, resulting in her mommy Pura Vicario's serious conquering, then accompanied by her raging brothers demanding the name of the person responsible for Angela's lack of virginity, all organized chronologically. Each event happens because of the previous one, and this logic and quality achieved, which chronological order allows the ongoing occurrence of incidents that revolves around Angela's virginity to each street to redemption neatly into place, and subtly but surely increases the issue of women's unfair commitments and expectations within society. So the chronological narration makes the storyline clear and rational, as well as the tiers of meanings further participate the visitors to compellingly draw out the main theme of the passing.
The main theme of the passing centers around virginity, and the hint of the theme of honor helps the unfair two times criteria women must surpass and the discrimination of sex tasks. Marquez has weaved the theme into the plot in such a way that would create a reaction from the viewers. For instance, as Pura Vicario beat her princess to the verge of loss of life, "she does with such stealth" (p 46) that nobody found out about it until much later. True, Angela performed do a dishonorable action that smudged pity on her family; however she required her defeating silently because she acquired a strong sense of honor, and believed that what she performed was incorrect. The visitors are forced to not simply dislike, but also somewhat sympathize with Angela through this irony. We learn that although the character has defects, she also has something redeeming about her. This enables Marquez to ask the readers to criticize not merely the character types, but also consider the practices, cultural worth and the population as a whole. The relatively slight theme of honor backs up the major theme of sexism inside this particular excerpt, Marquez effectively points out and features the cruel interpersonal conventions placed on women, such as the overrated need for virginity.
Marquez also manipulates terminology to help make the absurd sound normal, utilizing nuances to effect us inside our judgments on the norms in South American society, like the unfair double standard put on women. That is a method known as Magical Realism that Marquez is well-known for. For instance, when Angela was sent home by Bayardo, she was dressed up in a shredded dress and her mother Pura Vicario was presented with a shock, as she "said in terror": "'Holy Mom Of God'" (p 46). Although quite luxurious and impolite before a visitor, this colloquial dialogue demonstrates Pura as a mom expresses a deep concern towards Angela. However as soon as Pura learned that her princess had been delivered by Bayardo credited to her not being a virgin, Pura immediately gave Angela a beating, and Angela recalled that "[she] thought she was going to kill me" (p 47). The fact that a mom is eager to physically abuse her own child only occasions after praying to God on her behalf success shows Pura's absurd change in attitude, and much more so when the writer decides to add no further comments to clarify this absurdity; but it is strictly this absurdity that grabs the readers' attention and exemplifies the absurd, exaggerated need for virginity in world, and powerfully criticizes the sociable norms at that time. On top of that, after Angela's beating had been done, all she wanted was "for it to be over quickly so [she] could flop down and fall asleep" (p 47). The verb saying "flop down" here has a very casual connotation, and we see no signals of her sense any rage or annoyance towards Pura Vicario who beat her. But the narrator will not further describe this absurdity, which effectively provokes the visitors to question about the real reason for her apparent insufficient anger. One can only deduce that Angela does not question the justice of her conquering, and this her culture helped bring her up in a way that she is convinced what she do was wrong. This profoundly shows the absurd love-making role that girls play in world; it's as if virginity is the most important aspect of a female. Furthermore, the absurdity of the sentence and seriousness of the tone blend in together, which creates a surrealistic touch to his work, pulling the readers' attention, interesting them, and permits the delivery of the theme to be more impactful on the readers.
Lastly, Marquez weaves in literary techniques in to the text to improve the impact of the subject matter. When Angela accused Santiago of being in charge of her lack of purity, "she nailed it to the wall membrane with her well aimed dart, just like a butterfly with no will whose phrase has already been written" (p 47). This metaphor and imagery of the butterfly pinned to a wall membrane is quite symbolic to both Santiago and Angela's situation. The evident part of this metaphor would be a sign of Santiago's now unavoidable loss of life; the twins must kill him in order to revive Angela's and their family's honor. Getting rid of is a great sin, and the austerity of the criminal offense they were about to commit strongly reflects the absurd honor and value enforced upon a female's virginity at that time. However, Marquez does not clearly signify who the imagery of the butterfly is discussing, thus it could well be Angela, and the latter nuance in the metaphor lies in this is behind her accusation. Angela is well aware of the actual fact that if she doesn't give her brothers a name, she could be beaten again for protecting the man who had shamed her and her family, thus she is obliged to create a name. And when she will that, she manages to lose to and allows the ethnical mores that the population imposes after her, and her "sentence was already written" by wrong values that society has placed upon her. So cleverly, Marquez uses a metaphor to double layers of so this means to it, and again effectively increases the overvalued idea of virginity, hence the issue of sexism in modern culture.
In summary, Marquez has effectively conveyed a note to us. In this particular short passage, with all the unpleasant happenings centering Angela's lost virginity, Marquez has compellingly discovered to us the brutal communal requirements regarding virginity that girls have to experience. Through his purpose and journalistic narration, Marquez will not give us a definitive view on the population. Instead, he produces a effect from the viewers with the words covered behind the narration, and causes us to contemplate the problems that exist in world.
