Treatment of Women in Chronicle Of a Death Foretold and The Stranger Essay

Examine the treatment of women in both chronicles of a death foretold and the Stranger

Women are crucial characters in both Chronicles of a Death Foretold and the Stranger. In chronicles of a death foretold, Angela viicario holds the fate of santiagor Nasaer They are portrayed as symbols of fate. They are the reason as to why the Protagoniststs of both books: Santiago Nasar and Meursult end up dead at the end of the book. Santiago Nasar is killed by the Vicario Brothers so as to restore their sisters honor back to the family. Angela Vicario dishonors her family by marrying another man when she had already slept with another man. A woman sleeping with another man before getting married is considered as a taboo and therefore as a consequence, a family loses its honor in the society.

In order for the Vicario Brothers to restore this honor and clear their Sisters name, they are supposed to kill Santiago Nasar since he is the one who took away her virginity. In the Stranger Meursult is condemned to death by the society for not only killing the Arab but also for not showing emotions at his mothers funeral.

Women are portrayed as sex symbols in which the reader finds quite devastating. In Chronicles of a Death Foretold, the narrator tells us of an incident that occurred between Santiagos father, Ibrahim Nasar and Divinas mother, Victoria Guzman. Santiagos father seduced Victoria when she was young and after forcing her to make love to him for several years, he brought her up to be a house servant after the affection towards her was over. This clearly shows the extent to which a man can go in disrespecting a woman. This incident reveals to the reader that Victoria was not only seen as a sex symbol by Ibrahim but also an object which he can use and dispose any time he wanted. This shows that Ibrahim Nasar only cared for him-self and his physical pleasures. The same thing happens between Ibrahims son Santiago and Victorias daughter Divina. In the Stranger Meursault also sees Marrie as a sex symbol and treats her like an object. The day after his mothers death, he meets Marie at the beach and the next thing we know is that he goes and sleep with her. He treats her like an object because he only likes Marie for what she looks like. This is shown in chapter four when he clearly said that he fancied her because of her physiques.

Violence and cruelty towards women is shown in both books. In the Stranger, when Raymond finds out that one of his mistresses is cheating on him he decides to tell Meursulut about it and plans on how he can get back at her. First he thought of taking her to a hotel and calling in the vice squad to cause her a scandal and have her registered as a prostitute. This clearly shows how cruel and unkind Raymond is towards his mistress. Then he decides to write her a letter which will hurt and at the same time to make her sorry so that when she came back, hed go to bed with her and after that throw her out. This happens later on after he sends the letter. This clearly shows that Raymonds mistress was used as a sex object mainly because, even after his mistress cheating on him, he still wanted to sleep with her. Raymond hitting his mstress shows how violent he is towards her. This incident suggests that women are owned like animals this is because, the way Raymond treated his mistress is the same way Salamano, who is one of their neighbours treated his dog.

In Chronicles of a Death Foretold, violence towards women is shown when Angelas mother aggressively buttered her when she was brought back home by Baynardo San Roman after discovering that she was not a virgin. As described in the book, Angelas mother was known to be a mother of iron meaning that she was very strict. This creates irony as the reader did not expect a girl like Angela who grew up under the rigor of a mother of iron to lose her virginity before she got married. Unlike men in this society, women were expected to stay pure till the day they get married. This clearly shows how unfair the society is towards women. This also shows that women were portrayed as symbols of purity.

Unlike the Stranger, the author in Chronicles of a Death foretold clearly shows how womens opinion and feelings did not matter at all. In chapter two of the book, Angelas parents are giving away their daughter for marriage to Baynardo, a man who Angela barely even knows, mainly because of his money and charms. This clearly reveals to the reader that wealth is a really important factor to this society. It also shows that Angelas parents cared more about money than their own daughter.

Angela vicario recalls the horror of the night on which her family gathered together in the parlor, imposed on her the obligation to marry Baynado San Roman even though it was against her will to marry him since she wasnt in love with him. Instead, her mother demolishes her argument with a single phrase: love can be learned which later on turns to be true. This shows that Angelas family did not care about her feelings. It shows how selfish and greedy they were.

Unlike in the Stranger, the main role of women was to get married: brothers were brought up to be men, the girls had been reared to get married. This phrase suggests that women were controlled. They were not allowed to make their own life decisions instead, they only followed what the society thought it was best for them. The phrase any man would be happy with them because theyve been raised to suffer creates irony since the reader did not expect that after the girls getting married, they were meant to suffer this is because normally if a person gets married, he or she is meant to be happy.

Women really do serve as important characters in both Chronicle of a Death Foretold and The stranger. The authors of both books: Gabriel Gracia and Albert Camus portray them as symbols of fate mainly because they are the reason as to why the protagonists are condemned to death in the end.