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Symbolism In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

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In the novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel García Márquez uses symbolism as a means of creating a foreboding atmosphere. The entire novel is driven by symbols that show the ominousness in things and events throughout. The augury of these actions can also be seen as the technique of foreshadowing. Apprehensiveness in the atmosphere is created at the very beginning when the murder of Santiago Nasar is revealed to the reader with the phrase, “On the day they were going to kill him…” (Márquez, 3). However, throughout the novel the author maintains a foreboding atmosphere by only divulging pieces of information at a time, and not revealing the entire story until the final pages of the novel. To enhance the foreboding atmosphere, Márquez …show more content…

In his second dream, Santiago envisions that he is “going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle [is] falling, and for an instant he [is] happy in his dream…” This description, demonstrating a seemingly idyllic scene, is also illustrative of Santiago’s life; an extension onto the euphoria created in Santiago’s first dream. In his second dream, however, there is some of foreshadowing; for example, timber trees, since they are dark in colour, make the atmosphere of the dream shadier and more ominous. Furthermore, the “gentle drizzle” is an example of foreshadowing as on the day of his murder, the weather is described by many to be “funereal, with a cloudy, low sky and the thick smell of still waters” (Márquez, 4). Moreover when Santiago is killed, there is reported to be a thin drizzle, “like the one Santiago Nasser had seen in his dream grove” (Márquez, 4), drawing a direct connection between the dream and Santiago’s death. This dream then suddenly ends with …show more content…

This is used to represent the townspeople’s feelings of guilt over their betrayal to Santiago as they made no effort to prevent the murder. When Pedro and Pablo Vicario are murdering Santiago, it is Pablo’s delivery of “the only stab in the back” (Márquez, 118) that triggers this pungent odour, as demonstrated by the fact that Pablo then reports, “It smelled like him” (Márquez ,118) to the narrator after stabbing the knife through his back.. Santiago being stabbed by Pablo is symbolic of betrayal namely; that of Santiago by the Vicario twins. Pedro and Pablo Vicario betray Santiago in that Santiago is murdered not for committing a crime, as it is only a matter of the Vicario’s’ pride and the protection of their family’s honour. After the murder, the feelings of guilt are felt by Pedro and Pablo in their jail cell where Santiago’s smell haunted them, Pedro reporting “no matter how much I scrubbed with soap and rags, I couldn’t get rid of the smell” (Márquez, 78) to the narrator. This causes them to go “three nights without sleep” due to the fact that “as soon as they began to fall asleep they would commit the crime all over again” (Márquez, 78). Santiago’s smell returns when the narrator goes to the local brothel to visit one of the prostitutes, María Alejandrina Cervantes. Before they

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