Chronicle Of A Death Foretold Gender Roles Essay

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In the novella “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” Gabriel Garcia Marquez utilizes the characterization of male and female characters to convey his condemning commentary of their roles in Latin American culture. In chapter 1-3 of the novella we observe how these often unfair gender roles are influenced by culture and societal expectations. This essay will take a further look and analyze the roles of women in the first three chapters of “Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” The setting of the novella takes place in a small village in Columbia during the 1950’s. Young girls at that time were raised and taught to be “tame”, not to challenge authority and to at least seem to be submissive. Women were raised to be homemakers and housewives, having roles confined to bearing children and raising children and performing domestic duties such as cooking and cleaning. Through the character Angela Vicario, Marquez presents to us various dynamics at work in the assertion of patriarchy and exploitation of women. “The girls had been reared to get married. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave and bone lace…Any man would be happy with them because they’ve been raised to suffer.” While Angela’s brother Pablo and Pedro are raised to “be men” she is raised to get married and suffer having to take care of a husband and family while having…show more content…
Bayado treats Angela as a conquest, he showers her with gifts as if she is just a prize to be won. It is made clear from the very beginning that Angela had no interest in marrying Bayado ( “It was Angela who did not want to marry him. He seemed to much of a man for me she said”) but ultimately it was not her choice. Angela’s family was charmed by Bayado and because of his wealth and higher social class they basically forced Angela into a marriage she did not want. This again exemplifies the lack of power that women had in their
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