Key Themes and Character Profiles in García Márquez's Novel

The Author's Position

The author often narrates the work from within, containing the story of the victim, with the narrator participating as a protagonist, secondary character, or simply a witness.

The Narrative Time

The chronological disorder is one of the structural features of this great 20th-century novel. The action is divided into five chapters, and the events span from 5:30 a.m. until 7:00 a.m. on a Monday morning in February, when the action occurs. The narrative covers a day of hard work (referring to the investigation and recollection of events).

Key Characters

Santiago Nasar

• Of Arabic descent, wealthy, with a farm and a good inheritance.
• The unique and pampered son of his father, obsessively concerned about his personal image.
• Wears linen suits, carries weapons, and tries to project nobility and dignity.
• He is linked to the sexual abuse of the young woman (Angela Vicario) and falls madly for the town's main prostitute, María Alejandrina Cervantes.

The Vicario Brothers (Pedro and Pablo)

They are characterized by brutality, irrationality, and inhuman drinking. They repeatedly state their duty to kill Santiago to cleanse their honor, often appearing as idiots and drunks. The fact that they are pig breeders and butchers symbolizes the horror of the crime. The accusation was false, made by Angela Vicario, who is not the murderer but the trigger for the tragedy. She is described as the most beautiful of the Vicario sisters.

Bayardo San Román

A rich man from a notable family in the country. He is handsome, virile, well-trained, athletic, a good drinker, and talkative. He is arrogant, accustomed to getting what he proposes, and enslaving. Incapable of suffering the wound to his pride as a cheated husband, he collapses and gets drunk, causing pain to others. He reappears in the last chapter, fat and bloated, devoid of all his former beauty.

Space and Environment

Dating from the 1970s, the descriptions should be highlighted as a novelty. Certain descriptions abandon their traditional role to acquire symbolic value (though this is now more common). The poetic description serves to transmute reality and accentuate the problem. Allusions abound in the book:

• The heat and pestilence.
• The trash after the party.
• The highway and the murder scene.

This creates a very unpleasant atmosphere that is consistent with the theme: not only is the crime denounced, but also the moral misery of most of the characters. No doubt the author's intention is to produce disgust.

Language Style

The style features an overlay of registers, reflecting the cultural peculiarity of Latin American countries. The expressive use is poetically dense. Hyperbolic expression and the use of irony stand out.

Major Themes

The subjects explored include:

• Collective responsibility.
• The inversion of moral values.
• Honor and machismo assuming tragic fate.
• Violence and the loneliness of the victims.
• Death and the nature of love.
• Religious hypocrisy.
• The unmet search for truth.