Imagery In Chronicle Of A Death Foretold

Essay, Research Paper

There are many different forms of imagery, simple forms, complex forms long forms and short forms.

Imagery when used correctly can turn a good book but if used incorrectly it can tear a story apart. The most

effective form of imagery is one that allows the reader to quickly picture the image the author is trying to portray

. If the image requires too much thought it often disturbs the flow of the passage. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s

images were extreamly effective, they create lasting impressions in the readers mind and allow us have a great

understanding of each character’s personality.

Garcia Marquez used imagery to describe each one of the major characters at least twice throughout

the book. Many of these characters names are imagery in and of themselfs. For example Santiago Nasar is

associated with Christ (Nasar suggests Nazarin). The fact that his death is foretold and the public nature

of his murder reinforces him as a Christ figure.

Garcia Marquez uses imagery the most at the beginning of chapter 2 to introduce us to Bayardo

San Roman. “He had the waist of a novice bullfighter, golden eyes and skin slowly roasted like saltpeter”.

This is the very first thing the author tells us about Bayardo. He has taken three basic physical characteristics

and created an image so powerful, that tells the reader there is something very special about Bayardo. The first

two images are straight forward but none the less effective. The third “skin slowly roasted like saltpeter”

requires you to use your imagination. This image is a bit out of the ordinary and makes Bayardo all the more

interesting. Imagery is again used to describe Bayardo a couple of lines down this time to show us how other

people in the town thought of him . “He looked like a fairy and it was a pity because I could have buttered him

and eaten him alive” said Magdalena Oliver. This image shows Bayardo’s sex appeal. The author could have

simply had Magdalena Oliver say “he was a very attractive man” on the other hand “I could have buttered him

and eaten him alive adds much more meaning and feeling.

There are many images in relation to Santiago Nasar, the one which most appealed to me is that of his

furtive bed. Though it is really Santiago himself who is furtive the author refers to his bed as being furtive. In both

instances the same information is being presented, Marquez’s method allows the reader to imagine abed which is

actually furtive, it makes the reading all the more enjoyable. To describe Angela Vicario the author uses an image

which is more complex saying that she was “born like all the other great queens of history with the umbillicle

chord around her neck”. Not only does this image tell us about how Angela was raised but it also implies that

Bayardo is a king.

Garcia Marquez used imagery most to illustrate character traits but he also used them to illustrate the

feelings of the characters. For example he said that Placidia Linero with an “eternal headache” the last time she saw

her son. An alternative would have been to say that she has not been the same since. The eternal headache gives

the reader a feeling of just how devastating it was for her to lose her son. My favorite image in which the author

illustrates feeling is when Dr.Dioniso Iguran on the subject of the widower Xious selling his house said “He

because of that. He was healthier than the rest of us but when you listened with a stethoscope you could hear the

tears bubbling inside his heart.” I love this image! It really gives the reader a feeling of how much this house meant

to the widower and it also tells how the doctor felt about Bayardo buying it.

The image which most appealed to me throughout the whole book is “trying to put the broken mirror of memory

back together from so many scattered shards.” Not only does this image sum up the whole book but it the most

powerful image in the entire book. It gives the reader a sense of what the author is going through in putting this book

together. Scattered shards of a mirror are an extreamly painful image, showing us how the author felt about what had

taken place.

The images Garcia Marquez creates are imprinted in your brain from the moment you read them. When ever

you read the name Bayardo San Roman you think about his waist of a novice bullfighter this is what makes it so

surprising when he comes back a fat man. If the author’s images didn’t allow us know Santiago Nasar as a person,

his death would have meant nothing to the reader. Chronicle separates its self from other dfas fadf d dfrthftu fgh

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