Angela's Honor Analysis

In this Colombian society, a powerful construction of honor within the culture caused the murder of an innocent man. Santiago Nasar, a young man, was accused of taking the virginity of of Angela Vicario, the sister to Pedro and Pablo. During this time period, women were perceived as a pieces of property to men. Santiago Nasar has disrespected the Vicario family in the worst way possible by taking Angela’s virginity before marriage because that is the most important part of a woman’s honor code. The loss of a woman’s honor is directly correlated to the family’s honor. The only way to restore the family’s honor is to take the life of the perpetrator. So, being that Senior Vicario is blind, Pedro and Pablo feel obligated to murder Santiago or the community will lose all respect for them. Machismo is a word used to interpret sexism. This is prevalent in this novel because men are expected to demonstrate a manly persona at …show more content…
Garcia states that the lawyer “stood by the thesis of homicide in legitimate defense of honor” (Marquez 55). Then satirically adds the fact that this was upheld by the court in “good faith” (Marquez 55). Human nature evokes the reader’s emotional response of viewing this act as an indiscretion, however, the society portrays the exact opposite reaction by acting apathetic. While in court the reader is able to see this lack of intrinsic values in the testimony of Pablo and Pedro when they state that “they would’ve done it again a thousand times over for the same reason” (Marquez 55). The brothers would have never said this if they believed that defending one’s honor by homicide was wrong. Even after this confession the jury still found the brother’s innocent of the murder. No one in the society would ever question an act if it was made with the intent of preserving one’s

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