Gabriel García Márquez — Magic Realism and Narrative Techniques

Posted on Feb 11, 2026 in Latin

Gabriel García Márquez and Context

Gabriel García Márquez was born in Aracataca (Colombia) in 1928. He belongs to a group of writers of the 1960s and combined his journalistic activity with writing short stories and novels. His summit was his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.

Key Elements of the Latin American Novel

The most significant elements often found in Latin American novels include:

  • Magic realism
  • Incorporation of the subconscious
  • Incorporation of a mythical-allegorical theme
  • The presence of death
  • Breaking of linear time
  • Illogicality
  • Experimentation with language
  • The sacred sense of the body

Historical, Political and Social Context

Historical, political, social and cultural factors shape these works:

  1. Many South American countries experienced acute political instability throughout the twentieth century.
  2. The social situation of the population is often a mixture of races with little chance of integration because of misery and poverty.
  3. The cultural situation masterfully manages to unite tradition, modernity and experimentation.

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Narrative Type and Characteristics

Trend fiction: a short narrative that blends elements of newspaper reporting and the novel. Its most original features include reduction and temporal anachronism. The central event is concentrated (it covers only a short period, often an hour), while the narration refers to the characters’ past and their imminent aging. It is characterized by:

  • Magic realism
  • Universalism and extension of the issues raised
  • The undisputed centrality of the human being, immersed in an existentially complex predicament
  • Renewal of narrative features:
    • a) Subjectivism
    • b) Breaking the linearity of time
    • c) Incorporation of the subconscious through interior monologue

Themes and Plot Summary

Arguments (plot): The Vicario twins kill Santiago Nasar for what they consider the dishonor of their sister, Angela Vicario, who had been returned by Bayardo San Román after their wedding. From the beginning of the novel the death is announced. Everyone in the town knows he will be killed and nobody effectively prevents it.

The main theme is tragic destiny or fate, related to themes of honor, education, and political-social structures.

Perspective and Narrative Techniques

The narrator reconstructs events in a mode that mixes journalistic inquiry and personal memory. The narrative uses multiple temporal layers and points of view.

Structure: Chapters 1–5

The novel is composed of five chapters, but it is not strictly linear:

  • Chapter 1: Santiago Nasar, aged 21, is killed the day after the wedding. Angela is not a virgin and so Bayardo returns her to her parents. The news spreads to everyone, but nobody prevents the crime.
  • Chapter 2: Bayardo arrives six months earlier; he is attractive and rich and marries Angela. Later it is discovered that she was not a virgin and she is returned to her family; the narrative also relates how Santiago is implicated in the scandal.
  • Chapter 3: The Vicario twins announce they are going to kill Santiago and seek him; the announcement circulates in the town.
  • Chapter 4: Santiago’s family deals with the burial; Bayardo leaves the village. Angela writes letters for 17 years and, eventually, Bayardo and she are reunited (he returns to her).
  • Chapter 5: People remain emotionally affected by the crime for years. When news of Santiago resurfaces, the town remembers; the twins carry out the attack and Santiago dies at his door.

Time, Space and Characters

Time: Time is cyclic and atomized; it decomposes and recomposes. The story is told as a tale of memories of events, sometimes narrated twenty years later.

Space: The action is set in a hometown on García Márquez’s Caribbean coast.

Major Characters

Santiago Nasar: A 21-year-old heir to a hacienda left by his father. Dreamer, happy, peaceful, friendly, well-mannered and believing.

Bayardo San Román: A train engineer (or businessman in some descriptions), well dressed, gallant with women, admired. He had money and liked celebrations.

Angela Vicario: The youngest in her family; not devout but modest with men. She matures after the events and becomes witty, although she hides the whole truth about what happened.

The Vicario twins: They seek to restore their family’s honor. Neither of them wanted to miss this duty; their violent act is not legally tried in the novel’s immediate aftermath.

A journalist: A friend of Santiago who attempts to reconstruct what happened; the investigation becomes a personal attempt to understand the crime.

Language and Style

The language is a mixture of inherited legendary style and magic realism. The prose is dense, with poetic metaphors and incorporated folkloric elements. The narrative contains violent and tragic passages. Vernacular slang appears (the twins come from a humble family), and an ironic treatment of the facts is another characteristic trait of the style.