Womens Role in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Essay -- Gabriel Garcia

In Latin America, women are treated differently from men and children. They do lots of work for unexplainable reasons. Others for religious reasons and family orders and others because of the men involved. Women are like objects to men and have to obey their orders to either be rich or to live. Some have sex to get the men’s approval, others marry a rich man that they don’t even know very well, and become slaves. An important book called Chronicles of a Death Foretold is an example of how these women are treated. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario's mother, has raised Angela and her sisters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until late in life, rarely socializing beyond the outsides of their own home. They spend their time sewing, weaving, washing and ironing. Other occupations include arranging flowers, cleaning up the house, and writing engagement letters to other men. They also keep the old traditions alive, such as helping the sick, comforting the dying, and covering the dead. While their mother believes they are perfect, men view them as too tied to their women's traditions. The men are afraid that the women would pay more attention to their job more than the men. Throughout the book, the women receive the respect they deserve from the men and others around them. â€Å"Any man will be happy with them because they have been raised to suffer† (pg 31, Marquez) This quote talks about how the daughters are taught embroidery, machine sewing, lace weaving, helping the unfortunate, and serving just to cope with the society. Most married women get engaged at the age of 14. The man may be 17 or 18. Not saying that if a female is a hard worker but looks ugly that she wouldn’t get a forced marriage. Many Latin American women would li... ...es one forgot she existed.† The daughters she raises are â€Å"perfect†¦ any man will be happy with them because they’ve been raised to suffer.† As for marriage, they must do as their family says, not out of love. This means they can’t pick anyone they want to marry, the family does. Most Latin American families want their lady to marry a wealthy man. They know that wealthy man is aggressive, so Angela or her sisters would be perfect since they are raised to deal with harsh situations. So when Angela Vicario is told by her parents that she must marry Bayardo San Romà ¡n, a wealthy and somewhat mysterious stranger who knows from the instant he sees Angela, that she is the woman he must have. She has no choice but to consent, particularly since her family is of modest means. Bibliography: Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicles of a Death Foretold, 2008, Vintage.