I chose the element of irony as the focus of my essay due to the fact that it is recurrent and present in the events that build up the plot as the chronicle unfolds. Thus the element of irony plays a key role in describing the nature of the outcome of several parts of the story, especially Nasar's death.
García Márquez's novel "Chronicle of a death foretold" contains a great deal of irony due to the fact that the main character is destined to die from the beginning of the story. The title, itself, suggest that the death of the protagonist of the story was long foretold by a dream of his own, which can also be added to the list of events that take place before and after his death. The story's setting takes place in Colombia, in a small society mainly governed by a mixture of honor, and religious beliefs.
The protagonist, Santiago Nasar, had a dream about his own death it is rather ironic that his mother Plácida Linero, famous for dream interpretation was unable to foresee the death of her son due to a misinterpretation of trees and birds, both elements found within her son's dream. If her interpretation had been accurate, Nasar would have probably survived. The previous mistake along with the fact that she closed the door on her own son because he could reach safety, and thus allowed the twins to stab him multiple times serve as reason enough to explain why she never forgave herself.
The most ironic factor that I found in this novel is the fact that the real coverage of this event takes place twenty-seven years after the crime happened. The journalist who is covering this story bases his information on the recounting of the story and how it happened on behalf of the townspeople, thus all information collected is subject to alterations. It is also ironical that the event itself was not given the importance it deserved whilst Nasar was still alive, as nobody did anything to keep him alive; however his death became an everyday topic of conversation, and was still being discussed twenty-seven years later. The only objective, yet useless piece of information he has is the fact that Nasar died on a Monday, other than that the journalist must abide by the way in which the people of Nasar's town prefer to tell the story.
Other ironic aspects of the book include Bayardo San Roman's situation with Angela Vicario, whose siblings later murdered Santiago Nasar. Bayardo San Roman, rich and powerful, was destined to finding a suitable woman for him. The chauvinist background of the society in which women were brought up to take care of the house and are thought basic skills such as sewing, washing, ironing, and making candy among other things, solely for the purpose of getting married put forth Bayardo San Roman as fit to play the role of head of a family. On such grounds it is safe to state that it was in a family's best interest to raise the daughters well so that they may find a good man to take care of them in the future. Bayardo's situation can thus be considered to be a prime example of irony, due to the fact that he received a woman who was not a virgin even after he had provided her with several expensive gifts, among which there was a music box. Local customs suggest that being whom he was, the son of wealthy parents and possessing large sums of money he deserved something better, reason why in the end he is considered the victim. However, despite the fact that he had returned Angela to her family, towards the end of the story, Bayardo San Roman goes back to Angela after receiving countless letters that remained sealed and were stored inside a suitcase, which suggests that he cares. The detail lies not in storing them or keeping them sealed but in the action of mailing things.
Another example of irony can be observed through the perspective that Santiago was killed without knowing why, or who was going to kill him, truth be told that everyone else knew and yet nobody did anything to prevent it from happening either. What becomes even more ironic is the fact that his mother and he are the two people in town who do not know that he is going to be killed as nobody informed it on this because they either left it to the next person to do so, or were prevented from doing so by events in the story. The two brothers who took part in the crime openly declared that they were going to kill him not once but multiple times, and in different parts of towns however nobody took it seriously, not even nearby officers. The motive to kill Santiago stemmed from Angela's claim that he was the one who took her virginity thus causing her family a great deal of pain. This assumption enraged Angela's family members, who were obliged to respond to this offense by plotting Nasar's death, and in this way restoring the family's honor.
The unfortunate chain of events that leads to Nasar's death culminates in the irony that everyone just stared as he was being chased down and stabbed, his mother thought that he was already inside so she closed the door on him right before he could enter the safe premises of their household. Thus in a way the irony of this circumstance lies in the idea that his mother took part in his murder through the action of locking the door prior to his entry to the house. As a result Nasar was unable to escape the rage of the Vicario family who killed him just as they had shouted on the streets.
Early on in the story we see how Nasar's dogs are craving rabbit guts in the kitchen. However this becomes a case of irony based on the fact that after the death of their previous owner, his dogs, which he had always taken care of, tried to eat him.
I must conclude by saying that the several spectra in which irony can be observed in this novel categorize irony as a key element of the novel itself as it provides a different perspective of the way in which the story unfolds through the people who provided their version of the story.
