The significance of time as shown in Chronicle of a Death Foretold and The House of the Spirits.
The fragmentation of time features strongly in Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. They both highlight the significant impact that time, and the past, has on narrative. It plays a key role in the development of both novels through the authors’ use of structure. This structure is by no means linear, but an instrument in creating recurring themes. The numerous instances of foreshadowing and flashback have a great impact on both novels’ development. The thought that the past, present and future are closely entwined also lays the basis for fate, as repetition leads the reader to believe that the future is set and unchangeable. Time also gives the reader an insight into the recollection of the past and how witnesses can be unreliable. These two novels portray different methods of remembering the past. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Márquez interviews people who were present at the time whilst in The House of the Spirits Allende uses diaries as documented testimonies. The past is a very important element in the lives of both writers. This aspect is highly amplified through their writing both on a personal level as well as a political and cultural level.
The cyclical structure of both novels means that the use of flash backs are prevalent. In The House of the Spirits the transition between times is used to give different viewpoints as it follows a family over several generations. On the other hand Marquez is recounting his story twenty seven years after the event happened, which leads to a story that encompasses both past and present feelings on the matter, while also showing how different perspectives influence recollections. The structure of the big house on the corner in The House of the Spirits is a metaphor for the structure of the entire novel. Esteban builds a house that on the surface is straightforward, if somewhat pretentious. Similarly, The House of the Spirits can be read as a traditional romance novel, following a single family over several generations. However, the narrator informs us as Esteban builds the house that it will end up full of complicated, twisted, and impractical additions. Despite its apparently traditional structure, The House of the Spirits contains an enormous number of complicated twists of plot. These twists are created through the recollection of the past. The title of the novel underlines the association: The House of the Spirits refers both to the book as a whole and also to the big house on the corner. It symbolises the voices heard throughout the novel as a collection of memories to assist the reader in understanding the families’ history.
