Psychology in
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Hugo Rodriguez - Lorelei Setzer - Stella Khezri - Angelo Molina-Rossi
History, Author
and Psychology
Hugo Rodriguez
Author's Life
- Born in Columbis on March 6, 1928
- Violent naation
- Roman Catholic country, orthodox
- Childhood
- Did not live with parents, grandparents instead
- Grandparents influenced thinking
- Novel based on a true story
- Cayetano Gentile Chimento
- Journalism career
- Explains lack of chronology
- Narrator is a detective
Geography/Economics
- Based in Columbia
- Strong religious influence
- Small village
- Everyone knew, no one told
- Most people were poor
Psychological Advances
- Psychoanalysis
- Sigmund Freud, 1901
- Interpretation of dreams
- Behaviorism
- Environment shapes what we become
- Leads to social psychology
- Persuasion
- Bystander effect
Easy/Difficult
Topics
Lorelei Setzer
Social Context and Issues
Easy to Understand
- Informational Social Influence
- Clothilde Armenta tells her husband about Santiago's future death
- Officer Leandro Pornoy tells Colonel Lazaro Aponte
- "Officer Leandro Pornoy revealed the Vicatio brothers' intentions to him. He'd settled so many fights between friends the night before."
- Involvement
- Margot tells her mother, Luisa Santiaga, who then warns Placida Linero (p. 23, 24)
Social Context and Issues
Difficult to Understand
- Informational Social Influence
- Father Carmen is told about the Vicario brothers' plan of murder and forgets about it.
- Busy thinking about the Bishop's arrival.
- "When he'd crossed the square, he'd forgotten completely. 'You have to understand,' he told me, 'that the bishop was coming on that unfortunate day." (p. 70)
- Father Carmen is told about the Vicario brothers' plan of murder and forgets about it.
Cultural Context and Issues
Easy to Understand
- Symbolic Convergence Theory
- ​Same value of honor throughout the town
- Merged their thoughts and experiences of the death of Santiago Nasar for years after it happened
- Narrator is still interviewing people 27 years later (p. 3)
- Small town, not much else happens
- Honor is a major part of the culture that murdering someone honorably was very important
Cultural Context and Issues
Difficult to Understand
- In-Group Bias
- Pablo's fiancee, Prudencia Cotes, said that she would not have married him if he had not upheld his sister's honor by killing Santiago Nasar
- "I knew what they were up to and I didn't only agree, I never would have married him if he hadn't done what a man should do." (p. 62)
- Pablo's fiancee, Prudencia Cotes, said that she would not have married him if he had not upheld his sister's honor by killing Santiago Nasar
Cultural
Comparison
Stella Khezri
Columbian Culture
Interactions: Close knit society
Institutions: Primarily religious society
Ideas: Collectivistic society
British Culture
Interactions: Spread out society, bound by culture
Institutions: Royal family and parliament rule
Ideas: Individualistic society
The Culture Cycle
The 4 I's cultural model was developed by Hazel Rose Markus and Alana Conner. The culture cycle consists of four layers of cultural influence that help to explain the interaction between self and culture
Columbian Culture
Cultural Orientation
British Culture
Cultural Psychology: the study of how psychological and behavioral tendencies are rooted in and embodied in culture.
- Collectivistic
- Bystander effect seems to disprove this
- Intertwining stories of witnesses proves otherwise
- Individualistic
- Large group does not have much to unite about except culture
- Follow individual paths, not one goal for the whole culture
Columbian Culture
Ethnocultural Empathy
British Culture
- Not empathetic
- Do not accept foreigners well
- Extremely unaccepting of Bayardo San Roman.
- "A very strange man has come." (p. 26)
- Not empathetic
- More culturally empathetic than the Columbians in the novel
- Isolated culture results in not being very accepting of foreigners
Interesting
Aspects
Angelo Molina-Rossi
Interesting Aspects of the Novel
- Imagery
- Twins give information (p. 58-59)
- Bystander effect
- Detail of murder by people being interviewed
- Flashbulb memory
- Twins give information (p. 58-59)
- Symbolism
- Color red (p. 83)
- Colors in general (ex: gold, red, white) = (power, murder, innocence)
- Embedding
- Virginity in Colombian culture (p. 64)
- Double Standard
Literary Techniques
Interesting Aspects of the Novel
- Foreshadowing
- Plot Style
- Falling action precedes climax
- Magical Realism
- Mother's 6th sense
- Dream Analysis
- Mother's 6th sense
- Journalistic Structure
- Parts 1-5
- Different views and interviews
- Misinformation effect
Literary Techniques
Psychology in Chronicle of a Death Foretold Hugo Rodriguez - Lorelei Setzer - Stella Khezri - Angelo Molina-Rossi