A comparison between Chronicle of A Death Foretold and The Outsider with regards to their outlook on life death and society.

Authors Avatar

A comparison between Chronicle of A Death Foretold and The Outsider with regards to their outlook on life death and society             Shani Cohen

      In both of the novels, Chronicle of A Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Outsider by Albert Camus, the stories of two main characters are told while considering the circumstances surrounding their deaths. The first is set in a small Colombian town while the other takes place in Algiers. Although the contexts of their deaths differ, both are heavily subjected to the influence of the communities in which they lived. Santiago Nasar (Chronicle of A Death Foretold) was killed based on the community upholding of a Latino cultural code of honor, while Mersault (The Outsider) was punished because of the character judgement placed on him from a ‘moral’ Algerian society.

      In Chronicle of A Death Foretold the main character, Santiago Nasar, is killed to restore the honor of a woman (Angela Vicario) whose virginity he had allegedly taken; when this was found her husband on the wedding night it instigated the events to come. By assessing the situation, many issues present themselves as evidence to suggest that the society was responsible for the events surrounding Nasar’s death. The key individuals were simply adhering to the rules of society; this and the tendency to conveniently ignore the situation are things to consider when explaining deeper reason as to why Nasar was killed.

      The fact that Angela Vicario lost her virginity before her marriage brought incredible shame to her family and was considered dishonorable in the eyes of their society. To stress the importance of retaining this honor it is worthwhile to point out that her parents took great measures to ‘watch over her honor’ so as to ensure her husband’s satisfaction. It was common practice for a newly wedded wife to ‘display…the linen sheet with the stain of honor’ as proof of her virginity. Not only was this lost honor a blow to the family name, but it ruined an opportunity for her family to move up within the social ranks of the community.

Join now!

      Once the family of Angela becomes aware of Bayardo’s background and wealth they see how they can use the marriage as an advantage, to bring respect from the townspeople and money to the family. As Bayardo’s reputation became known the wedding ‘ended up being a public event’, and the immense pressure on Angela’s brothers to kill Nasar increased. In general, people accepted their actions, being as it followed common tradition about what should be done in such a situation; the perpetrator was either to be killed or made to marry the girl he disgraced. ‘The horrible duty’ was, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay