Introduction
In Columbia, men of the middle and upper class have always been protective and paternal towards their dependents. They have also been conscious of sheltering their wives and children from undesirable influence that might come from outside their family teachings and values. However, the poor families have not been left behind in maintaining honor in the Columbian society (Anselmi p. 32). Women’s activities in Columbia are severely circumscribed since the men are majorly concerned with protecting virtue and honor of their unmarried daughters and wives. In the ancient Columbian society, women were not allowed to do any work outside the home except if they were doing voluntary work. Additionally, the social life of Columbian women, especially their daughters majorly revolved within the home, the church, school and well-chaperoned dances and parties. Nevertheless, these restrictions on women had less impact on the lower class women than on the upper and middle class. The Columbian society is also a religious society where people highly believe in life after death. The characters in the narrative honor the bishop and are keen to offer him gifts despite the fact that he does not like their town. This is evident from the words of Liner as she says “He won’t even get off the boat. He will give an obligatory blessing, as always, and go back the way he came. He hates this town.” (Márquez, page 8). They strongly believe that dishonoring religion denies Christians life after death. In this respect, the arrival of the bishop catches the attention of many people that they neglect to inform Santiago of the ‘evil’ plans of the Vicario brothers.
Honor and Disgrace
Form the sentence that the twin brothers received, even after premeditating and killing Santiago, I can conclude that the Columbian society values honor than life (Cianciotta p. 38). Clotilde was certain that the Vicario brothers were not as eager to carry out the sentence as to find someone who would do them the favor of stopping them.” (Marquez, page 57). This meant that the two brothers intended to satisfy the societal thinking of the men’s duty to safeguard honor, and not really kill Santiago. The twin brothers had planed the killing of Santiago and eventually executed their plans. If justice was to be done, the twins could have been imprisoned with a heavier sentence; maybe a life imprisonment could have been appropriate. However, they are handed a three-year imprisonment and later returns to the society to continue with their previous lives. In this regard, it is evident that the judge ruled that the two brothers acted in protecting their family dignity and honor.
After the events surrounding the murder of Santiago and the return of Angela to her family, the Vicario family was disgraced and could not withstand the shame of continuing to live in the town anymore. They set out to another town to avoid the mockery and shame. This depicts how Columbian societies value their family’s image in the society. Upon their stay in the away town, Angela insisted on writing letters to Bayardo San Roman, she wanted to inform him of the love, he had for him and that she had not done it intentionally to ruin her relationship. Additionally, Bayardo San Roman’s family came and took him by boat and they left the town. These two events clearly indicate that both families were conscious of the importance of their image in the society and could not withstand the shame.
The other thing that depicts honor in the narrative is the fact that the Columbian society values virginity, especially for the unmarried women that if a woman is found to have lost her virginity, she could face severe consequences. In the ancient Columbian society, some communities excommunicated girl who were found to have lost their virginity before marriage. In this narrative, the Vicario twin brothers have taken even a worse step. After their sister reveals to them that Santiago is responsible for her dishonor, they judge him with death. In their opinion and those of most Columbians, any man who dishonors a woman’s privacy and virginity should be put to death. When the Vicario brothers finally decide to kill Santiago, they say to themselves, we kill him but we are innocent (Cianciotta p. 23-32). In their opinion, they consider killing a man who has committed such an offense is acceptable by the society since they are acting for a good cause, which is re-attaining the family’s honor. They are sure that they will not be held for his killing. They also believe that Santiago deserves to die for taking advantage of their sister. After killing Santiago, the Vicario brothers justify their actions by saying, “before God and before man, it was a matter of honor” (Cianciotta p. 45-56). In this justification, they believe that they have the responsibility to maintain the respect, honor and reputation of their family at all cost.
In Columbian society, girls that have become of age are usually supposed to get married. Angela was lucky to find a man to marry her, but the initial attempts fail after Bayardo realizes that she was no longer a virgin. This erodes the respect and honor accorded to the Vicario family. However, when Angela insists on sending letters to Bayardo, the family honor returns and they are happy again since their sister gets married just as other girls of their town.
Conclusion
The narrative revolves around the events surrounding the killing of Santiago for allegedly taking away Angela’s virginity before her wedding. In the narrative, the killers, who are twin brothers, Pedro and Pablo receive lesser charges (three years imprisonment) and they later return to the society continue with their lives as before. The narrative reveals that both the Vicario and Roman family value their dignity and honor in the society and they cannot withstand the mockery from the people in the town where they had lived. These families both leave the town hurriedly in order to stay far from the town where people had branded them of bad image.
The Vicario brothers represent almost all the Columbian men, who would do anything within their power to restore lost family honor. According to the narrative, honor is more valued in the Columbian societies than the life of human beings. If it were in other societies, killing a human being in the name of restoring honor would have received a greater punishment than was awarded the Vicario brothers. Nevertheless, it should be noted that every society has the values and norms that they consider relevant and valuable according to their cultures. In this regard, the Columbian culture is unique in a way, and should not be considered inferior since in their perspective, they value the things that they believe brings satisfaction to the society.
The two brothers depict the protective nature of the Columbian males, who would do anything within their power to ensure that their unmarried daughters and wives remain in the homes, and church to maintain honor. When they realize that Santiago was responsible for their sister’s mischief, they set out to do anything to revenge this disgrace, even if it would mean killing him. They insist on carrying out their plan and kills Santiago.
Finally, the other evident thing from the narrative is the fact that even after Pablo is released from prison, he goes ahead to marry his betrothed, Prudencia Cotes. Additionally, after Angela and Bayardo cancel their marriage, she insists on sending him letters and they eventually get married in the end. From these scenarios, it can be deduced that these parties were conscious of maintaining their relationships and were afraid of the mockery they would face from the gossiping members of the town who would find out that they left the people they had initially been betrothed to them. Despite the tempting situations in their affairs, they go ahead to marry each other. The people from the town where the Vicario family hailed prove to be gossipers who force these families to leave town.
Works Cited:
Gabriel García Márquez. Chronicle Of A Death Foretold. City of Westminster, London: Penguin Books India, 1996. Print.
Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. Colombia – Society. The Country Studies Series. Published 1988-1999.
Manuel Anselmi. Chavez's Children: Ideology, Education, and Society in Latin America. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2012. Print.
Rosa Cianciotta. Love and Death: Analysis of Two Novels by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Ann Arbor, Michigan: ProQuest, 2007. Print.
