Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabrial Garcia Marquez

Essay by sparticusHigh School, 12th gradeA+, July 2004

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"For years we couldn't talk about anything else. Our daily conduct, dominated then by so many linear habits, had suddenly begun to spin around a single common anxiety. The cocks of drawn would catch us trying to give order to the chain of many chance events that had made absurdity possible, and it was obvious that we weren't doing it from an urge to clear up mysteries but because none of us could go on living without an exact knowledge of the place and the mission assigned to us by fate.

Many never got to know." (113)

This very interesting quote comes at the beginning of chapter 5, the last chapter. By this time, the narrator or the chronicler starts telling the story in an unusual way. It is almost as if he combines his own character with those of all the other characters; in a sort of plural voice.

In the quote the narrator comments on how unusual the story is due to the large amounts of coincidences. The narrator discuses how discussions over the mystery became habitual to the characters every-day lives. He also comments on himself, for he is the one spending the most time thinking about the mystery, for he is the one writing the chronicle. The quote contains an analysis of all the character's consciences in the book, because they all had their parts in the crime.

I believe that this quote is very important in the context of Garcia's writing style. Due to the fact that Chronicle of a Death Foretold is written using magical realism, the reader can frequently truly believe that the story is true. One of the main reasons this is, is because for many years before writing this book Marquez wrote for newspapers, hence attaining much practice in the field...