The modern novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold mirrors the title with the content inside the novel. Gabriel Garcia Marquez italicizes the words “Fatality makes us invisible” near the end of the novel (113). These words summarize the story and ultimately the fate of one of the main characters, Santiago Nasar. We follow Nasar thru the story knowing the fate that is destined to him. The reader is not alone in knowing the fate of Santiago Nasar, the town and its people are aware of Nasar’s fate before the crime takes place. This inevitable fate makes Nasar invisible to those who try to help him.
Marquez is hinting at fate being certain and unflinching. The impending doom that is about to embrace the town is given a clear path to its goal. The twins Pablo and Pedro were braggish on their slow methodical quest towards the killing of Nasar. Pedro shouted “Cristobal, tell Santiago Nasar that we’re waiting for him here to kill him” (108). There are several instances of this while the brothers waited for their intended victim. All the informed people assumed Santiago Nasar had known of his impending death or that the brothers were drunk, which the brothers were by the time the two committed the crime.
Nasar wakes after an hour of sleep and heads out to greet the bishop who for years has never stopped in the town. Santiago Nasar dresses in his best clothes and as a result heads out the “The Fatal Door” that was used for special occasions and festivities (12). The bishop not stopping at the town signifies that not even religion can stand in the way of fate, rendering Santiago Nasar invisible to even god while fatality creeps towards its victim.
The final blow came when invisibility struck at Nasar’s household. Placida Linero mistakenly believed Santiago to be in the house when he was entering through the front door. “She was putting up the bar when she heard Santiago Nasar’s shouts, and she heard the terrified pounding on the door, but she though he was upstairs, insulting the Vicario brothers from the balcony in his room. (117). Placida sealed Santiago’s fate by barring the door shut. The door being barred is only part of the incident; an unopened letter lay mere feet away from Nasar’s bitter battle with the brothers on the other side of the door. This letter contained a warning and in addition “the note revealed the place, the motive, and other precise details of the plot” (14). With so much knowledge of the tragic event floating around it seems impossible for Santiago Nasar not to prevent his own foretold death.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez most definitely believed in foretold futures. His novel represents all the clues found in life that cause so much grief after a tragic event seemed preventable. When people look back at events that shaped the final moments of a person’s life they will wonder to themselves and search for words to express their confusion. These words were italicized in Marquez’s modern novel, these words answer all the questions in seemingly random experiences; “Fatality makes us invisible” (113).
Works Cited
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Random House Inc.:
New York, 1983
