Therefore it can be concluded that Santiago would have probably seduced Divina, if he had lived any longer.
Her mother knew Santiago’s attitude towards women and tried to prevent Santiago from seducing her daughter. As Victoria Guzman was debauched by Santiago’s departed father, but was then rejected by him she always wanted vengeance.
Because Ibrahim Nasar was dead, she now wants to revenge herself on Santiago.
Therefore she is partly responsible for the murder. Of course she didn’t actually plan or commit it, she still let it happen as she didn’t warn Santiago.
“[She] hadn’t said anything to Santiago Nasar because in the depths of her heart she wanted to kill him.”, because “she’d been seduced by Ibrahim Nasar in the fullness of her adolescence. She’s made love to him in secret for several years in the stables of the ranch, and he brought her to be a house servant when the affection was over.”
This also leads to the fact that nobody in the town tells Santiago that someone is planning to kill him. Apparently every one believes that he has already been warned or thinks that it was “drunkard’s talk”. In fact there is only one reliable person, the narrator’s sister, who claims not to know anything about the planned murder. Everybody affirms that they didn’t believe that the Vicario Brothers were really going to murder him.
“’The truth is I didn’t know what to do,’ he told me. ‘My first thought was that it wasn’t any business of mine but something for the civil authorities, but then I made up my mind to say something in passing to Placida Linero.’ Yet when he crossed the square, he’d forgotten completely. ‘You have to understand,’ he told me, ‘that the bishop was coming that day.”’
This is said by Father Amandor, an authority figure in the town who could have stopped the crime, but didn’t try to prevent it. As religion played a vital role in everybody’s life, he especially should have tried to stop the murder. His religion tells him that murder is forbidden, but still even the Father seems to understand that the brothers have to restore their family’s honour.
Having studied the culture of this society, I think that Marquez mainly blames this for Santiago’s death.
The Vicario family is a good example of a traditional family in the town.
“The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls were brought up to be married. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lave, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements. My mother… was frequently heard to say: ‘Any man will be happy with them because they’ve been raised to suffer.’”
This quotation clearly indicates that nearly every one in the town shares these beliefs: Men rule and women work for them.
Purisima del Carmen has raised her daughters to be good wives and they hardly ever socialise when they are not at home. Usually the girls spend their time weaving, washing and ironing, sewing and arranging flowers. Certainly the mother also raised them to keep old traditions alive, for example sitting with the sick. This is why most people in the town see them as perfect women.
The sons were raised to be men. They were soldiers and now look after the family’s business when their father spends his time in the town’s brothel.
First the twins didn’t want to be involved in the decision of Angela marrying Bayardos as “it looked to [them] like woman problems.”
This quickly changes once Angela is brought back by Bayardo and the brothers know they have to act in order to defend their sister’s honour. In the opinion of their attorney it was “homicide in legitimate defence of honour”.
When the twins argue that they are innocent, the priest says that they may be so before God, while Pablo says “before god and before men. It was a matter of honour.”
This clarifies that they think that they have restored their honour and that it was not a murder.
Because the town is not very larger, it’s important to have a good reputation as reputation facilitates life and earns respect.
Personally, I believe that Marquez clearly blames the grievances, and the old fashioned beliefs within this community, for Santiago’s death. In light of the fact that every one in the town is piously religious, but understands that he brothers have to kill Santiago to restore their honour, Marquez points out the hypocrisy of all people in the town. He clearly marks that people often misunderstand religion and mix religious beliefs with things such as honour and revenge.
The author suggests that this is the reason why Santiago was murdered.
As everyone in the town is Catholic, they all should have tried to prevent the brothers from committing this crime, but because they allowed honour and revenge to cloud their religious beliefs, they put their conscience aside and didn’t stop the murder.
768 Words (excluding quotations)
Quotations: 225 Words
