Santiago+Nasar


 * **Character's Name:** || Santiago Nasar ||
 * **Role in Novel:** || The entire novel revolves around Santiago Nasar's death and the events that lead up to his death. As a wealthy, handsome Arab in a spanish community, Santiago Nasar is considered to be untouchable. However, when the disgraced Angela Vicario names Santiago Nasar as her perpetrator, Pablo and Pedro Vicario set out to avenge their sister's honor and kill Santiago Nasar. By morning, nearly everyone in the community knows of the brothers' plan: "there had never been a death more foretold (50)". Yet despite this, Santiago Nasar was never warned, and the brothers were not stopped. The fulfillment of a death so clearly foretold forces the community to examine its part in the murder of the seemingly innocent Santiago Nasar and reassess the price of honor, inaction, and its misplaced attention on the bishop's arrival. ||
 * **Significance of Name:** || The name Santiago is derived from santo, meaning saint, and iago, a spanish variation of James. Saint James may be a reference to James, son of Zebedee, one of Jesus's twelve apostles. St. James was was one of the three apostles that made up the inner circle. This allusion to St. James is especially interesting as he was the first apostle to suffer martyrdom.

//Some similarities may be drawn between Santiago and St. James. The witness purposely made false accusations against St. James that led to the execution. Thus, Gabriel Garcia Marquez hints at Santiago's innocence and Angela Vicario's duplicity through his namesake. Ironically however, the false witness was so moved by St. James's confession that he converted to Christianity and was beheaded together with James. This directly contrasts with Angela Vicario's unwavering insistence that Santiago Nasar was the one who disgraced her. Finally, while Santiago did not willingly choose to die, his death was much like martyrdom in that it caused people in his community to recognize their sins.//

The name Nasar is also a reference to Jesus. Nasar is similar to Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus. In the Koran, Christians are referred to as nasara, the followers of Nasari, or those who follow Jesus.

//Within the novel, Santiago Nasar is set up to be somewhat of a Christ figure. The connection is first established in the beginning of the novel when Santiago puts on a shirt and pants of white linen, similar to the white linen cloth Jesus dons before his death. Though Santiago's innocence is never proven, his bewilderment before his death seems to indicate his innocence. Thus, Santiago, like Jesus, is an innocent man that is murdered because of the sins of his community.// ||