Analyzing socially critical themes in Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Stranger by Albert Camus
Word Count:1469
Cultural and social criticism is a common characteristic of 20th century literature. Conveying critical notions through fiction, allows for artistic amalgamation of the real with the imaginary and of history with fabrication rendering intertextuality and providing the reader with room for interpretation. Chronicle of a death foretold, a Latin-American blend of literary genres, critiques a culture within which murder is both, tolerated, condemned and arbitrarily judged. The Outsider, a French existential novel of the interwar period examines social bias regarding nonconformists. Despite fundamentally different literary styles, intents and origins, both works reveal postmodern influences adapted to the authors respective cultures. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Outsider by Albert Camus, explore concepts of social inequity through equivocal narrative techniques, religious paradoxes and meticulously contrived settings.
Rendering unconventionality and intentional inconsistency to the plot, both narratives complement the novels socially critical themes. Narrated in first person from 27 years in the future, Chronicle of a Death Foretold compiles civilian testimonials, with personal memories and recollections so as to unveil aspects of a murder which fails to demonstrate legitimacy. Part of this failure stems from the discrepancy in individual recounts of the same occurrence. Many people coincided in recalling that it was a radiant morning with a se breeze coming in through the banana groves as was to be expected in a fine February of that period. But most agreed that the weather was funereal with a cloudy, low sky [] (Marquez 4). Although clear in entity, the individual recollections and narrative inferences resemble shards of a broken mirror which have chipped and no longer fit together smoothly. The non linear and non chronological narration not only renders vagueness and ambiguity through contradictory viewpoints but also reflects social fragmentation. Although the Vicario brothers in their reluctance to kill Nasar, publicly announce their intention, each member of the town leaves it to the rest to prevent the murder. Collectively failing to warn Santiago, reflects each town members lack of social responsibility as well as the failure of the society as a whole.
The first-person, stream of consciousness narration in Camus The Stranger is plain, dethatched and sober. Muersault, the protagonist and narrator at once, is a flat character with an adamant apathy towards all aspects of existence. Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I dont know (Camus 9). In his continuous state of passive contentment, he observes his life, looking at it as though from the outside, failing to display any form of reaction to important occurrences such as his mothers death or his incarceration for murder. This display of utter indifference towards everything complements the narrative in delineating thematic concepts on multiple levels. Consequently, the narrative is written in either, past- progressive or past perfect simple. The past progressive tense, alludes to the theme of redundancy and absurdity. So what with my sleeping for hours, remembering things, reading my news story and watching the changes of light and darkness, the time passed (Camus 78). Indicating continuous actions in the past illustrates the meaningless, repetitive flow of things on a literary level. The past perfect simple, eliminates any impression of cause and effect, denoting reference to the existential-nihilist concept that inherent meaning is nonexistent. Notion which is further emphasized through the sentence structure itself, After that there was some meat and fried potatoes. We all ate in silence (Camus 53). Throughout the novel sentences are sharp, distinct and self-contained all ideas originate and end within the confines of a sentence without impacting the next. Lastly returning to the overall structure of the narrative, we realize that not only the writing tenses and sentence structures, but also entire paragraphs, fail to illustrate any forms of complex interconnections, concepts or ideas. Paradoxically enhancing this conjunction deficiency in a similar manner to Marquezs, Camus portrays societys distorted values.
Religious connotations and symbolism allude to the inadequacies of authoritative systems and social conduct. On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on (Marquez 3). Religious authoritarian figures are considered epitomes of integrity and appropriate conduct, they are the ones supposed to set examples and ideals for people to live by. Ironically, Marquez delineates religious ineptitudes from the novels very onset. [] the bishop began to make the sign of the cross in the air opposite the crowd on the pier, and he kept on doing it mechanically afterwards (Marquez 17). Not only did the only prominent religious figure not bother to leave the confines of his boat, he also failed to display any dedication to his scope, only blessing the town from a distance. Furthermore Santiago Nasar, the martyr murdered in the name of honor is elusively compared to Christ. The towns priest Father Amador, having performed Nasars autopsy had brutally disfigured his corpse, It looked like a stigma of the crucified Christ (Marquez 75) was the sole remark he transcribed onto the report, regarding Nasars hand. Like Christ he died in the public eye, on the basis of empty accusations, under his mothers helpless eyes. Marquez employs the powerful visual imagery and religious allusion to demonstrate the amplitude and transcendence of social as well as cultural deficiency.
Equivalently, religious analogies are present throughout The Stranger, Muersaul also compared to Christ is condemned to death for upholding his belief system and refusing to conform to public behavioral norms. I wasnt in despair. I was simply afraid, which was only natural. In that case, God would only help you, he said. Every mad that Ive known in your position has turned towards Him. I remarked that that was up to them (Camus 112). Upholding his principles, refusing to comply with the chaplains wishes and maintaining his indifference, Muersault refuses to adapt in order to meet expectations. Ironically, while on a literary level compared to Christ, in the novel he gets labeled Mr. Antichrist (Camus 70), for his refusal to share the magistrates affinity for religion. Camus utilizes double religious inferences as a means of illustrating societys intolerance and obstinacy to individuality.
A secluded Latin-American town where gossip spreads like wildfire, and an austere Algerian city where outsiders are shunned, constitute ideal settings for moral controversy .The ambiguous Colombian setting establishes surrealism and perplexity, creating the best possible literary groundwork for a recollection of memories enveloped in vagueness and interpretability. The cultural aspects of the town are those which render it the perfect setting for a hazy murder chronicle. I was recovering from the wedding in the apostolic lap of Maria Alejandrina Cervantes (Marquez 5). Grandiose events and call girls, constituting the cultural setting allow for insight into the towns more dire faces. Realizing that the chronicle is narrated by one who wakes up hung-over in the lap of a call girl, which he refers to as apostolic, diminishes the credibility of the entire work. The town setting, with its colorful inhabitants, magical inferences, promiscuities and indirect religious slander, permit for ample criticism on behalf of the author.
Camus, setting the action in Algeria and having a French man feature as the protagonist illustrates social iniquity on the first of multiple levels cultural divergence. Moreover, by attributing an indifferent, nihilist like attitude to the protagonist, in a society where conformity is deemed fundamental, Camus reinforces the novels social dissident concepts. [] he was accused for murder and executed for not crying at his mothers funeral? (Camus 116). A single line from Muersaults internal monologue close to the novels end encompasses the works thematic quintessence. Being a cultural outsider and having an atypical belief system can alter the otherwise impartial judicial systems. Lastly, through the use of light motifs he explores moral and social values in a dysfunctional society. Light is generally used to symbolize knowledge, warmth, truth or enlightenment. Throughout the extract and novel alike, light is used to enhance the setting as well as an analogy and extended metaphor for awareness and meaningfulness of reality. [] the bright morning sunshine hit me like a slap in the face (Camus 49). Juxtaposing darkness, light is used as an allusion to Mersaults inability and refusal to accept socially imposed standards, it causes him discomfort as it represents the worlds attempts of imposing its conventional norms and ideologies upon him. He finds comfort in the dark, in the negation of a greater purpose and in his indifference towards everything.
In conclusion Marquez and Camus alike are subtly dissident of social and legislative systems. Through narration both authors explore and complement their themes on a literary level, through religious symbols and allusions they expose the crooked characters of authoritarian figures in power, and lastly through their respective settings both authors critically depict systems and cultures within which leniency and stringency are relative and amendable according to case.
Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The Stranger. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1988. Print.
Marquez, Garcia Gabriel. A Chronicle of a Death Foretold. New York: Vintage International, 2003. Print.
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