The narrator of the novella is an anonymous person who is interested in investigating the underlying reasons and circumstances of the young man’s death. Even though the murder was committed more than twenty years ago, too many circumstances have still seemed unclear and disputable. Regardless legal verdict being that brothers Vicario were the murderers of Santiago Nasar, and the reason for that was the latter’s intimate relations with their sister, it becomes clear throughout the novella that the guilt lies on the entire community. The whole town is responsible for what has happened as the brothers simply obeyed the collective will. Hence, the reality created by Marquez is ruled by the belief that only what the majority accepts is morally right. However, it is represented as an absolutely erroneous belief that leads to the death of an innocent young man that can be compared to Christ’s crucifixion. In such a way, many elements ensure the atmosphere that would imply both reality and symbolic representation of ideology that existed in the contemporary society but remained alien for the writer. Still, instead of the realistic description of the events, Marquez has chosen symbolic images to create a unique magical atmosphere that is strongly interconnected with the reality.

The magic elements are observed from the very beginning of the novella. The readers can easily notice that the tone of narrator, who tells about “the day when they were going to kill”, is magic. In particular, the reference to the dreams about trees can be considered as the first symbolic element that shapes magical realism as a main style of the novella. This feature pushes to reflection that the atmosphere of this piece of literature is somehow not completely real but dreamlike. Marquez does not refer to surrealism but represents ordinary events. However, the magical events seem to appear in the real world very often. Among the examples, one can point out the Santiago’s dream of the “gentle drizzle”. This dream hints at the truth that does not always lie on the surface, but it can be hidden deep. At the same time, it is a symbol of the final demise that is expected to happen in the end.

The next symbolic element is referred to after the death of Santiago. The inability of people to remove the smell of the person whom they literally killed but in fact did not is also symbolic and cannot be real. Moreover, even real murder cannot leave any long-term smell on the hands. Even though one can scratch or wash the hands with soap, the smell of Santiago is a magical symbolic notion instead of the real one. Finally, the ending of the novella is obviously magical and unreal since Marquez concludes with Santiago’ witnessing of his own death. Despite the fact it cannot be real, Santiago spoke to Wenefrida Marquez and has told who killed him. At the moment where the man told about his death in the past, even the conversation structure was quite weird. Interestingly, the author creates a connection with reality through giving to the woman his own surname. Therefore, this idea becomes symbolic to the fact that the fictional hero has told the truth to the author by himself.

The memories and dreams of the heroes (particularly of Santiago’s “dreaming aloud”) contribute to the magical atmosphere. This dreaming reflects back not only the experiences of the hero but the names from the real world applied to fictional characters. Ahmad and other authors emphasize that such technique enables to create a link between two worlds. In particular, Marquez used the real life of his mother Luisa and his wife Mercedes Barcha for describing the mother and wife of his novel protagonist. In such a way, “the fantastic-real names” make the events approximate to the reality. Hence, the dreams become only half-fictional, but they symbolize the unpredictability of life. However, dreaming aloud and communicating with an angel-like sister become another contribution to the perception of narration as being unreal.

The biblical elements are quite interesting due to the creation of innocence and sacrifice as the main features characterizing murdered Santiago. Among well-known biblical motives, the knife stabbed “through thee palm of the right hand” showed that Santiago’s killing was the cruel mistake like the Christ’s killing. The society, cruelty, lie, and blindness are the features that have brought the town to the tragedy. To support the idea, Marques also uses the images of “the crucified Christ”, angels passing by, and “shirts and pants of white linen”. These issues immerse the readers in some new world with a different reality. However, it is important that such reality is not absolutely fictional. Marques offers the detailed and vivid description of all the events. Thus, the metaphors and symbols are skillfully combined with the realistic details that draw a parallel between the text and the culture of the contemporary society. A good example of the connection between the reality and fiction is hidden in the following combination. Firstly, the bishop is a metaphor for the guilt of the whole community. At the same time, the cholera is a symbol that represents real social conditions.

In addition to that, the connection between the fictional and real world in the novella can be analyzed considering the following example. In the first chapter, Marquez describes the bullet that wrecked the cupboard in the room and passed at least two more rooms afterwards. However, it is impossible for a bullet to meet so many barriers on its way and finally hit the target. Hence, it is a fictional and magic element of the narration, while the initial idea about the accidental shot is quite realistic. In such a way, one can see that the initial realistic points make the readers believe that the story is true. However, the further magical coloration shows that the novella is not completely real but has a number of symbolic elements.

Therefore, being not just surreal piece of literature but the combination of truth and fiction, Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a reflection of the Latin American traditions, culture, and society. The main theme can be defined as the protest against the social rules. Ahmad and others defined the “isolated home-social tensions” as the background of this work. While the reality of Marquez’s contemporaries was characterized by the alienation of people from their culture, engagement into civil wars, killing people, and becoming violent; with its magical reality, the novella is a protest against such actions of people. The society created by Marquez represents and symbolizes the opposition through the dialogue between the past and the present. Due to this dialogue, the structure of the novella mainly conveys the magical atmosphere as far as such dialogue can hardly exist in reality.

The novella is quite interesting and distinctive of other works. The meta-fictional and self-reflective discourse enables Marquez to create new reality and fictionalize sociocultural peculiarities. It also makes the readers view this reality in a different way. The symbolic factor that contributes to the creation of new perception is the mystification observed from the initial chapters. The narration sequence as well as the figurative and symbolic elements contribute to the intrigue and shape a specific attitude to the story. In particular, the main achievement of Marquez here is skillful and magic technique that is applied throughout the text. The combination of the realistic aspects with the fictional ones lets the story become interesting, convincing, and symbolic simultaneously. Through many details, the narrator shows the readers hidden truth and reveals peculiar features of the contemporary Latin American society. The magic realism in the novella is conveyed by the structure, tone, various symbolic and figurative devices as well as the events that can be obviously symbolic and unreal even though being put into some ordinary circumstances. 

Erika Rewlon is a dreamy and creative person. She likes writing poetry. Also, she is a freelance writer at a https://123helpme.org/articles/write-my-memo-for-me/. This company has every possibility to complete any orders.