The role of religion in Chronicle of a Death Foretold

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Navina Kurup

IBS-1 English

Essay question number 3.

The role of religion in Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez plays an integral part in the main event of the novel. The society featured in this novel has close ties to the Catholic religion. An important part of the Catholic religion is the belief that a woman’s virginity should be kept preserved until she is married. The significance of the church is greatly stressed in the novel, as it is an important part of many Latin American communities. This is shown in the excessive preparations they made for the bishop’s visit to the town. It was ironic how they thought the bishop was going to get off the boat this year, when he didn’t even get off his boat the previous years. The obvious demonstration of strong Catholicism would be when Angela Vicario’s secret that she wasn’t a virgin when she was married was discovered, the Vicario brothers actually decided they were going to kill a man. Their decision to kill Santiago Nasar, who allegedly took Angela Vicario’s virginity, arrived generally from societal pressures because that was what was expected of them. It appears that the characters lack individuality and communal values run through the towns people’s thoughts.

Religion in this novel appears to take a big role; however, it is a big role in a negative way. The town is still revolving around communal values set hundreds of years ago, while lacking the strength to overcome these values and adjust to the present day societal values. This is further shown when the characters in the novel only watch what happens but never try to stop it. They thought that nothing could happen when the bishop was coming to their town; therefore, they never believed all the threats that were made towards Santiago Nasar. The communal values evolve around religious events, having family honor and virginity. Although the church’s betrayal is versatile, the bishop’s arrival symbolizes its failure most clearly. Everyone, including the priest did not prevent the murder because they were distracted by the bishop. It seems that they did a lot of preparations, trying to please the bishop, to free themselves from the sin that was about to happen later. The people’s superstition matches that of the bishop’s as he passes by without stopping, and this is shown in the line “it was a fleeting illusion: the bishop began to make a sign of the cross in the air opposite the crowd on the pier, and he kept doing it mechanically, without malice or inspiration, until the boat was out of sight.” There is no explanation for why the bishop dislikes the town, but if he does, as passing by reveals such indifference, such attitude goes against the Catholic doctrine of love and forgiveness.

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        Religion is supposed to be a positive center, but instead is something they are hypocritical about. The bishop destroys all their hope of happiness and does not follow his religion, which requires love and forgiveness. Instead, he shows that he dislikes the town; therefore by fate the town becomes evil with one murder. Santiago Nasar’s murder resembles the crucifixion of Christ, and this is shown in the line “it looks like a stigma of the crucified Christ”. This detail fits with the impression that they create momentarily during their attack, when they were nailing Santiago to the wooden door. ...

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