By the end of Marquez' Chronicle of a Death Foretold, we realize everyone knew about the murder plot of Santiago Nasar and did nothing to stop it. During the murder, no one lifted a finger to stop it or help out Santiago. Why? What does it say about the town, the people in it and Santiago himself that no one stopped his brutal murder? What commentary about society in general was Marquez trying to make?
Everyone in the town knew that Santiago was going to be murdered and they all gave excuses for not stopping it. Some thought it was just drunk talk from the Vicario twins and others simply wanted him dead. The town turned the other way and did not say anything because they saw the murder as an act of honor that the Vicario twins had to do. Santiago was seen as someone that thought he could get what ever he wanted and was better than anyone. I think that Marquez was trying to show that society norms accept views of honor and responsibility even if it affects the lives of those concerned.
ReplyDeleteSantiago Nasar was murder for supposedly having sex with Angela Vicario. In other words, Santiago was killed for a mistake which was made. His death represents how he is the scapegoat of the town and was dying for there mistakes. Scapegoat originates from an older time. A priest would bless a goat, then walk the goat passed people so the people to place their sins on the goat so they are cleansed while the goat takes the blame for all of them. That is what Santiago is doing for the town.
ReplyDeleteNo one helped Santiago, or even told him about his planned murder because most people believed that it was not true, and for one's case, actually wanted the Vicario brothers to murder him. The townspeople claimed they thought it was "drunk talk" and did not believe that the murder would actually occur. They assumed that someone else would tell Santiago about his planned murder. The people in this town were careless, and pretty much nosy, yet selfish citizens. Santiago was an easy target, because he was made of money and of upper class because of his father.
ReplyDeletePeople hesitated to help santiago out partly because no one believed it was true, and partly because deep down inside some of the people did not care if he died or not. This shows that no one really cares to go out of their way to act upon situations that dont relate directly to them or that pertain people that are not only wealthier than them, but also are not in their favor. Santiago nszar must have not had many close people that you would call a real friend.
ReplyDeletePeople did not inform him about the murder beforehand because some of them believed that Pedro and Pablo were not capable of killing Santiago, but even those who attempted to inform the police officers about what was going on did not take it seriously at all. Everyone in the town was careless and due to their selfish acts of not informing Santiago they experienced many negative fates afterwards. Marquez makes his point of saying that people assume that others can take care of themselves and are ignorant of actually helping out one another. This is similar to today's society in the aspect that it is hard to come across anyone who is just willing to help out another person without expecting some reward in return for their acts or some people just make the assumption that eventually someone else will help. From my point of view it seemed as if many of the townspeople just didn't care if Santiago was killed or not because of his wealth and high class.-Alicia Wilson
ReplyDeleteThe people of the town fail to inform Santiago that there are people planning on murdering him because many didn't believe that the brother's were going to follow through with it, and the maid in the house wanted him dead, because she was afraid that he would soon mess with her daughter (well that's how i interpreted it!). This shows that the town is potentially dumb, and quite ignorant. Even though you may not thing something is serious, to that level, someone still should have said something, even if one of the people thought that someone else already made it aware (if that makes sense). Marquez parallels society in terms that people are so into themselves, they dont like to lend a hand, nor do they care because its not their predicament. The world can not survive by everyone being individualistic and not help out one another. If that way they case, we would have no youth, and everyone one would just get old and die, and nothing out be coming behind that. But, Karma came back around to that town in the book, to bit them in the behind so, they go what they had coming.
ReplyDeleteSantiago died because no one believed the threats had any validity, there were some that wanted Santiago to be harmed, and they all used the excuse that they hadn’t believed the threats. The people of the town are to self absorbed to do anything to prevent the crime. They don’t want to intervene when there isn’t a clear benefit to them and or they could be harmed in the process. Yet they will talk and gossip about the event every chance they get. Santiago made a better target because he was different, because he had money and some status there was this wall between him and the people of the town. Even though he knew them all personally and had grown up with many of them, they were separated by social and economic status. Marquez comments on society through his novel. The negligence of the town is so similar to actual events that happen on a daily basis that the commentary shouldn’t even be necessary. People walk by dying people in the street in real life, but we need to read about it in a book to see that it really is us. - Alex Colling
ReplyDeleteI think this represents how society tries to blame all of their problems on one thing or person. Even though they know thee are better reasons for their issues. I also attribute this to the bystander effect, where we assume that someone else will solve a problem so we do nothing to help. Overall, it shows how humans have a tendency to let other people take the blame for their mistakes. - Barack Jordan
ReplyDeleteNo one in the town tried to stop Pablo and Pedro because none of them believed them. Many of the people in the story made comments about the brothers being too drunk to do it or not being man enough to actually kill Santiago. The people of the town were not concerned about Santiago and figured since he was higher in class and had plenty of money that they brothers couldn't be able to actually commit the crime anyways. Some of the people didn't even like him because he was different and due to the way he treated women. Overall many of the townspeople did not really care about whether or not Santiago died. Marquez makes sure to include the attitude of the town because it is similar to how our people of today's society act. We claim to be individualistic, but yet we hardly ever help out others in our society that are in need because we assume others will help or that we will receive no benefits from doing it so why bother.- Thomas Cummings
ReplyDeleteNearly everyone was aware of the plot to kill Santiago, but in the end no one intervened for various reasons. Some thought the plot was just drunkards' talk and others weren't against it. In the end, they all had excuses as to why they did not act. The commentary that Marquez was making through this book was that we need to quit ignoring things and quit making excuses and just take action.
ReplyDelete-Krystal Midcap
The townspeople knew about the plan to kill Santiago, but did nothing about it, nor did they tell him. (Besides the anonymous person). They didnt because they didnt actually think it was true, they thought it was drunk talk. The plan for him to be killed came from him supposedly having sex with Victoria. I agree with Charlie, it was showing how people are so easy to blame other people for their actions. Such as the townspeople not telling Santiago, then saying it wasnt their problem pretty much. But now the town has to deal with the guiltiness. Santiago died for no reason really.
ReplyDeleteSantiago, according to Angela, was the person who she had sex with before marriage. This disgraced their family because she ended up bein returned to her family instead of bein happily married like her family wanted. I think that no one decided to stop the murder because a great amount I girls in this time had already lost their virginity before marriage and were pretending that they hadn't. I believe that Angela's brothers acted in violence because the embarrassment was unbearable. People of the town knew that any family would be extremely angry if their daughter wasn't a virgin untill marriage and that they would make threats but nobody actually thought that those threats would become a reality. This shows how much of an impact society can have on a person's actions. Community gossip can really be a dangerous thing.
ReplyDelete-Kayla Barrett
About society not stepping in during Santiago's murder, I think Marquez was trying to bring up the fact that we are so caught up in conformity and not being the one to stand out. Everyone in the novel was waiting for someone else to do something. Also, as we talked about in class, Santiago is like Jesus and the same thing happened to him. People can sit around all day saying that they don't want something to happen, but unless someone actually does something, it will.
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Tonnesen
People had many different reasons as to why they did not warn Santiago Nasar about his impending doom such they thought everything had been settled, someone else would do it, or they just wanted him dead. Even with these reasons, there is still one main reason that no one warned Santiago or helped him during the murder. They believed in honor and no one dared tried to stop two men determined to return the honor of their sister even if they wanted to be stopped. Basically they were sticking to ancient traditions that bound them from intervening in the murder, but also very few people seem to cared if he was murdered anyways. This is saying that the townspeople were too consumed by themselves and their own needs and beliefs that they were unwilling to prevent a murder from taking place. Also it says that Santiago Nasar was not exactly the most well liked man around because if he was then everyone would have been more prone to stop the Vicario brothers. Marquez is commenting on the bystander effect in society. He is illustrating how people will sit around and watch a horrendous crime occur without doing anything because they are too afraid to do it themselves and think that someone else will do it for them.
ReplyDelete-Matthew Greene
I think that no one tried to stop it because no one thought that the brothers would actually do it. It seemed that it really didnt matter to the town until it actually happened, also it shows that maybe the people of the town really didnt like Santiago. And Marquez I think is saying that society doesnt really intervene as much as we would think they would, like if someone were about to be murdered we would think that someone would warn them or at least try to stop it, but in fact a lot of people wouldnt at all.
ReplyDelete~taylor stephen
No body tried to stop it because they believed that someone else would do it. Despite the fact that they said they didn't believe the brothers would do it, they also believed that someone would have told Santiago. Marquez is basically saying, in my opinion, that even though the town seems so sad that Santiago died, they each wanted him to. So, they might have thought that someone else would say something to Santiago, but they also wanted him to die too.
ReplyDeleteEveryone in the town knew about the plot to kill Santiago but no one did anything to warn him because they figured that someone else will do it. In a way, the townspeople did not care much that he was killed. Marquez is showing that society does not go out of their way to intervene and help others out like they probably should. It would have taken two minutes to tell Santiago about the Vicario brothers plan but no one said a word.
ReplyDelete- Ashley Collins
I think that no one lifted a finger to help Santiago because they all figured that someone else would do it or would have already done it. It says about the town that they don't really care about the well being of their neighbors and about Santiago, that he was not really important to the townspeople and no one really cared about him. The author was trying to say that the society is evolving in a manner that they are caring less and less about the well being of each other and their individual well being is more important. -Brandon Day
ReplyDeleteNo one in the town told Santiago that he was going to be killed although every knew because they figured someone else would. The bystander effect. Also because Santiago has supposedly took Angela's virginity everyone found their own ways to accept the fact that he deserved to die in some way. No one got involved because it would cause them troubles.
ReplyDelete~ haley r