What are the Moral Values in the Chronicle of a Death Foretold?

What you believe is right or wrong are your moral values. Every single person’s moral values vary, as one’s moral values are influenced by one’s upbringing, culture, religion, and surrounding. Though the specifics of each individual’s moral values vary, there are general agreements with values: taking other’s belongings or possessions is considered immoral. This includes stealing, robbing, and killing. Human life is considered the most valuable possession a person could have; therefore taking other’s lives would be considered the worst of all sins. In the Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, however, the characters seem to have rather skewed moral values, as they didn’t seem to value life over everything else.

Family honor, or rather, the social appearance of a family was put before the life of others. In the Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the Vicario brothers set out to murder Santiago Nasar, who allegedly had shamed the Vicario name. The Vicario brothers believed that murder in the name of honor is justified, as they openly said that they were innocent because “it was a matter of honor.” They placed the concept of family honor before the life of a friend; they defended their family name by murdering someone who allegedly shamed their family, but with no solid proof. This goes against the general value that life is the most precious of all. The Vicario brothers found it justified to kill someone over the abstract concept of their family honor, it is shocking how lightly they view life.

Though the Vicario brothers originally did not want to actually kill Santiago, after having announced their plan to the whole town and had been failed to stop, they reluctantly killed Santiago to restore their family honor. There is evidence of internal struggle in the Vicario brothers as they couldn’t uphold family honor and not kill Santiago at the same time. It is evident they did not want to kill Santiago, but the weight of upholding their family honor eventually caused them to; they sacrificed a life for restoring their family name. This is their conflict with this society rather than Santiago because it was expected of the Vicario brothers to kill Santiago since honor was so upheld in their society, they would have been ashamed if they didn’t. If this were to happen in the society today, people would obviously value life over the supposed family honor, but in the society in the Chronicle of a Death Foretold, this was not the case.

Almost everyone in the town seemed to have become an accomplice in the murder of Santiago Nasar unintentionally due to their distorted moral values. No one who knew about the planned murder seemed to take it seriously. Whether it’s the Colonel who went to check on the time for his next game, the priest who forgot to warn Santiago because he was preoccupied with the Bishop’s arrival, or the friends of Santiago who thought other people would warn him; no one seemed to have taken life importantly.

The villagers’ malformed moral values are seen after Santiago’s death as well. After Santiago was brutally murdered, he was mercilessly dissected by an amateur pathologist. It is sickening that even after a victim of distorted moral values dies; he could not be given the most basic form of respect of resting in peace. In addition to that, the perpetrators of Santiago’s death, Pedro and Pablo Vicario, were only sentenced to three years in jail. This shows the worthlessness of life in that society as murderers were given such a short time in jail for such a repulsive crime. The villagers were not surprised by the length of the sentence when the case was finalized, displaying their contorted moral values.

The only person who ran everywhere and did everything he could to warn Santiago of the murder was his friend, Cristo Bedoya. Though he seemed to be a very righteous man and a trustworthy friend, his moral values are also misshapen. It was revealed that he would go see Santiago’s lover, the town prostitute María Alejandrina Cervantes, behind his back, even though she vowed she would not see anyone when Santiago is present. This shows that even though Cristo Bedoya may have higher moral values than his fellow villagers, his moral values are skewed as well because it is wrong to be seeing one’s friend’s lover behind his back.

The characters in the Chronicle of a Death Foretold have different moral values than what would be considered normal, since they undervalue life. Had this story happened in modern society, it would have been a scandalous case because the moral values of the characters are so conflicting with the moral values of people presently. This was the purpose Gabriel Márquez wanted to achieve, to traumatize the readers about the beliefs and values present in the book, and to question the existence of these beliefs and values. Even after thirty years since the book has been first published, hints and traces of these beliefs and values are still seen in occasional horrific cases around the world, leaving the readers unsettling.