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Flowers In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

Decent Essays

One of the most universal symbols of beauty is the flower. They hold such great beauty in a single bud, while being so fragile and temporary. They are grown in gardens so people can observe their magnificence, but they are rarely left to grow free. Their purpose is to stand and look pretty, much like what was expected of women. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, a man investigates a peculiar death several years after it has occurred. Marquez uses the motif of flowers to symbolize women and their virginity to demonstrate the confinement of women in society.
Using flowers, the author Marquez’s characters’ names illustrate the heavy protection of women and their virginity. For example, Marquez’s female characters have flower names such as “Divina …show more content…

The flowers are “artificial” like her virginity. Marquez uses negative connotation of the word shows the shameful nature of her situation. Because her virginity was taken away, she had to fake virginity for herself. After the wedding, the honeymoon car had “bouquets of wax orange blossoms” (39). Orange blossoms are a symbol of marriage and fertility, but the orange blossoms are “wax” and therefore fake. Angela continues to fake her virginity, so the whole wedding is built on a lie. The author utilizes the “fake” flower to show how virginity is valued in marriage. Because Angela did not follow tradition, the marriage did not last. Eventually, Angela learned that the “cult of her defects” was just her mother’s obsession (54). Therefore, the author establishes it is pointless to worship pureness and it proved harmful in the end. Once she was on her own, Angela “made cloth tulips” (55). She recognizes she cannot have a true flower of virginity, but still “made” her own. Marquez uses “tulip” because it is symbol of deep love like the one she felt for Bayardo. Although she lost her virginity, “she became a virgin for him again” (55). Her love overcomes the loss of her virginity and creates her own purity. Overall, she is making her own fate because love which, unlike virginity, cannot be taken

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