The Non-Linear Time Structure as a Revelatory Tool in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Anonymous 11th Grade

After having been awakened from a gentle slumber in a brothel expecting to meet the bishop later that day, Santiago Nasar is met with his untimely demise; His death being the product of a pre-existing indifference ingrained within their Caribbean society. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the death of Santiago Nasar highlights his greater purpose in which he asserts the notion that society is inactive towards issues present within it. It is this inactive nature of the society that leads to Nasar’s tragic death. Nasar’s death is the consequence to the issue that Marquez is trying to express within his purpose and message, which is what makes his death significant. By telling the story of Santiago Nasar’s murder in a non-linear fashion, Marquez allows himself to fully develop and shape not only the events occurring in the novel, but also the meaning and significance within Santiago Nasar’s death without having to be mindful of or focused on the strict progression of time. Through his use of a non-linear time structure, Marquez exemplifies that the significance of Nasar’s death through instances of society’s inaction that spans from many years before the incident to 27 years after the incident. With this...