Chronicle of a Death Foretold: Honor

The concept and belief of honor in the Columbian culture in Chronicle of a Death Foretold is one of the deciding aspects of the character's actions, motives, and beliefs. Nobody questions the actions taken to preserve ones honor because it is such an important moral trait that one must cherish. In this society a man or woman without honor is an outcast to the community and to the culture. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold two twin brothers are burdened with defending this tradition of honor. The brothers find out that their sister has lost her virginity before marriage and she claims that Santiago Nasar is to blame. To regain the honor of their sister, and their family the brothers believe it is their duty to kill Santiago Nasar. Could such an act be justified if it were carried out in the name of honor? According to the book it can be justified because most of the people in the town seemed to think that the honor of the Vicario brothers and their family was more important than the life of Santiago Nasar, even though he was an important person in the eyes of the community. The story begins with the narrator giving away the ending. A man by the name of Santiago Nasar has been killed. He tells this to us because obviously to him this is not the most important event in the book. He is also quick to reveal who killed him. The importance lies in how this event came to be. He wants the reader to understand how the relationship between the Vicario brothers and Santiago Nasar developed. It is not stated that the twins are going to kill Nasar simply because he took their sister's virginity. It shows how values have a lot of meaning in the town and that the killing was an attempt to save the family's honor. In this book the author is questioning the importance of honor and weather or not it can justify the killing of a fellow man, and if it dose or doesn't, what is societies role in the situation, can their actions be justified or not? This honor means a great deal