Separating and Chronicle of a Death Foretold Essay Example

children, separated after twenty-one years, and finally received one of the first no-fault divorces granted in the state of Massachusetts. ” (Searles Online edition) At the onset, Updike and Marquez are considered as a chronicle of social evils but they pierced into the obstinacy of human predicament in their relationship with others and themselves? In both Separating and Chronicle of a death foretold, they echoed family honor as the most dominating factor as a social behavior.

In a Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Angela was abandoned by the same man she never loved only because she had lost her virginity, and subjected to harassment from the society. She thought Bayardo San Roman was a Polack and forcibly wanted to ingratiate himself into the family but there was no one to listen to her. Irony of the fact was that Santiago Nasar had to bear the brunt of Angela’s obtuse act. On the other hand, Separating is an emotional dilemma faced by the married couple who wanted to take divorce.

The decision of separation brings to the forth number of issues that might have buried since a long time and can cause turmoil in the family. Many people taking divorce ascribe their decision to the fact that they were forced to marry when they were not ready to tie the knot. But this was not the case with Richard and Joan. In twenty years of their married life, they had spent their life taking care of children, looking after the household and had become like good room mates, but one thing they could not do was to keep their flame of love alive. In their quest to preserve

their households, they became like two separate flames.

They were more involved in bringing comforts in life rather than growing relationship between each other. Situation arrived when Richard knew of the fact that he wanted to separate himself from Joan but could not understand why? All their children reacted to their separation in their own way. The youngest of all, Margaret did not become hysterical but took the news lightly. John began to feel insecure. He began to doubt whether their parents care for them at all or not. Judith the eldest of all was reserve in the situation and said that they should stick to one stand: either stay together or separate.

Joan never wanted separation but she gave her cooperation and had also supported him. The way she protested showed her feelings: “your wonderful departure” (2269); “you made it look as though I was kicking you out. ” (2269) The demarcation of social values could be easily seen between Separation and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. In Separation, family life gains great importance whereas in Chronicle of Death Foretold, society values are more important. Woman is shown as sexually repressed and subjugated and she has to adhere to societal norms. She does not have right to choose her husband.

The honor for Caribbean families is important to the extent that Vicario brothers’ did not even think twice to put Santiago Nasar to death and they had openly made this announcement in the public. Though very less number of people in the community, like Clothilde Armenta and Yamil Shaium, had tried to prevent them from murdering yet many of the people turned their face, because according to

them this was the severest crime committed by Santiago Nasar and he deserved to die. Herein also lies the cruelest irony. Though Angela before never loved Bayardo San Roman yet she began to love him and she wrote him letters for complete seventeen years.

Writing letters for her had become a ritual. All these seventeen years Bayardo San Roman received the letters but did not respond to them and when he came, she was delighted. This showed clearly that San Roman would have never accepted Angela if she had not made a ritual of writing letters to him. Also she would have never been considered as an accepted member of the society as she had defied the social conventions of the society. Still, till the end, we are not sure who was the real person to whom she had lost her virginity.

There are many unanswered questions that she did not reveal. Was it love for the person or she wanted to save the person from her brothers? For every woman in the society having relationship with a man before marriage is the most disgraceful and unpardonable thing. Society would never forget her disgraceful act. On the other hand is Separation, decision of Richard and Joan Maple for taking divorce is also considered as the most disgraceful proposition for the family and society but they can be accepted in the society because Richard and his wife had lived together for twenty years.

They had built their beautiful home and religiously devoted themselves to each other in performing their duties. From their hearts, both Richard and John Maple never wanted to separate and from his inner heart he could

not delineate himself from the emotion of separation. He often would tear apart in cries was thus caught in an emotional dilemma. Ironically this process of separation actually brought them closer: “Guiltily, he realized he did not feel separated. ” (2273)

If we compare Richard with Angela, we would definitely say Richard would be more acceptable member of the society on the virtue of his loyalty towards his wife and children and the norms that he accepted through out his life. Even Joan never wanted separation but she merely cooperated with him. This inherently shows how much they both loved each other. Only the vagaries of their family life, their daily responsibilities of running their household created a certain sense of vacuity between the two and it is clear in these lines: “It was a separation for the summer, an experiment.

She and Daddy both agreed it would be good for them; they needed space and time to think: they liked each other but did not make each other happy enough, somehow. ” (2271) Angela had dishonored the family and therefore she would have never be accepted unless she showed her loyalty, which she did in the form of ritual letters that she wrote to San Roman for seventeen long years. Both the writers of their respective ages, John Updike and Gabriel Garcia Marquez delivered us the mirage of society and showed the inner struggles and turbulence each protagonist faced in their respective positions and duties in society.