sample written task 3 IB language and literaure

WRITTEN TASK 3 

Rationale :

‘Chronicle of a death foretold’ is a small novel by famous author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and its plot moves around the murder of a young man named Santiago Nasar. The novel was really interesting for many reasons. However, I was more caught in by the character of Angela Vicario, a girl whose action leads to the murder. Her character seemed very difficult to be placed in black or white. In this written task, I am trying to look at her actions from a different point of view. This imaginary interview with the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez tries to find explanations for the actions of Angela Vicario. While all the questions are asked from the point of view of a boy brought up in a liberal patriarchal family, the answers are from the point of view of a person who understands the condition of women in a highly male dominated society. Through this written task I am trying to show how Angela’s act of naming Santiago is only for self defence. She is trying to save herself as an individual and for that she bends some social or moral codes. However, it doesn’t make her a grey character. She shows how oppressed people use tricks to survive while the dominant ones use their power. She constantly challenges the social norms.

Interview of Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Hello and welcome Mr Marquez, it is really a great opportunity to have your here.

Marquez: thank you.

Me: well Mr Marquez, it is really great to be here with you and the audience also must be very excited about. We all know what a wonderful writer you are. You have the prestigious Nobel prize for your great contribution to literature. However, today we will be talking about your unique novel ‘chronicle of a death foretold’. I really like reading this novel. Maybe, because it was the slimmest among all your novels.

Marquez ( smiling) : I am glad that I wrote a slim novel for readers like you.

Me: well, what always bugged me about this novel is that you never reveal whether Santiago Nasar was really guilty. All the circumstantial evidences suggest that he was innocent. However, Angela never tells the name of her actual lover. There is no mention of any other possible suspect. What is this mystery?

Marquez: well, as a writer I must leave you with this mystery. However, as a reader I will suggest you to see beyond the narrative. The narrative doesn’t concentrate on finding the real lover because it is not Angela or her lover who cause the death of Santiago Nasar. It is the entire society that is responsible for his death. Angela is just trying to survive in a male dominated society but also wants to have her personal ways. She has to give a name and she does that. you don’t care much about right or wrong when it comes to your own survival. But it is the social values that kill Santiago Nasar. The Vicario brothers are not defending or restoring the honour of Angela, they are restoring the honour of their family. Angela still remains a rejected wife.

Me : that’s an interesting point. From that I remember, right after Bayardo leaves her, she falls in love with him. She keeps writing him letters, expressing her desire for him. What kind of love is this?

Marquez: I would say that it is a kind of love that we don’t see very often. See, in a typical male dominated society, women don’t have any choice in the matters of love or marriage. It is arranged by the family. When family makes such an important decision for you, it also damages your position as an individual. We are what we choose to be. But if someone else makes your choices, what do you remain? When Angela falls in love with Bayardo, this is her personal choice. The point is not that she falls in love with a guy who rejected her. The point is that she is choosing him as her lover. Her letters are the proof of this choice. She is actively pursuing him. She is not a mere object of his desire, or another of his conquest. Her action is overturning the gender role in that society.

Me: well, that is very profound and gives a really different view of her character. In your narrative you show Angela living as an independent person. She also talks with people about the incidents that took place around her wedding. There is no regret for naming Santiago Nasar. Doesn’t it make her a slightly negative character?

Marquez: I don’t think everyone can afford the luxury of same kind of conscience. For a non-vegetarian eating meat is just fine. For a vegetarian  it is something horrible because it means the killing of some animal. You see how subjective this thing is? It is the same case with Angela. When you talk about her actions, you think from your point of view. All I ask you to do is to look at the things from her point of view. As I said in the very beginning, she is not the reason of Santiago’s death. it is the stupid social values that kill him. Women didn’t invent the idea of family honour and they don’t go out to kill someone for loving a woman. Honour killing is a sick practice in many patriarchal societies.

Me: well, a fair point. Now I would like to know something about Bayardo’s return to Angela after a long time. he has lost his youthful grace and returns to her with all her unopened letters. What does it mean? What about these unopened letters?

Marquez: well, you know that in those letters Angela has expressed her desire for him. Even if he doesn’t read those letters, the letters constantly remind him that Angela still wants him. The scene in which he returns, there is nothing great about him. He is more like a tired and exhausted person. His return to Angela is her triumph, if we look at it from gender point of view. This time, Angela has conquered him unlike the previous occasion.

Me: your novel sets out to be a murder mystery. However, now I feel that it more like a social commentary. You are using this murder case to open of the file of a society which caused the death of an innocent person.

Marquez: well, you are right to a great extent. Though this open mystery of a murder, I am trying to expose the problems in many Latin American societies. A society based on inequality and injustice can never have peace.

Me: thanks a lot Mr Marquez for sharing your great wisdom with us and giving a better understanding of your novel.

Marquez: it’s my pleasure.