In the novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez exemplifies a sympathetic mood towards Santiago by portraying him as a Christ like figure, however, he writes about the town having a negative viewpoint associated with him, helping to question the murder and whether he was wrongfully killed. By doing this, it causes the reader to delve deeper into the murder, and also into the Colombian honor code and whether or not they agree or disagree with it. The combination of the Christ like symbol in Santiago and the mood he exemplifies allows the reader to question Colombian society and sympathize with Santiago. This tying together the idea of magical realism and it's role within the novel.
In the beginning of the novel, Santiago is portrayed as an antagonist by multiple characters along with his actions. First, is the incident with Divina Flor, where Santiago molests Divina and uses the strong phrase (pg. 9)"The time has come for you to be tamed". This not only shows Santiago's dark side because of the actual molestation, but using "tamed" shows how lowly he thought of Divina, using a word that is associated with animals. Also, Santiago is a lot like his father, not only from how they both molested their servants, but their personality. People in the town compare Santiago to his father, from Victoria Guzman (pg. 10) "He was just like his father, a shit". Also, the town was relatively poor, noticing when someone had money, they thought it defined the person. Fausta Lopez says about Santiago (pg.101) "He thought his money made him untouchable. Just like all Turks." In this quote Fausta is stereotyping not only the wealthy but the Arabs at the same time. Showing the attitude towards the two classes of people Santiago belonged to. .
While the previous evidence leads you to believe that Santiago is guilty, however Marquez provides countless examples showing his sympathy towards Santiago and makes the reader question if Santiago actually committed the murder.
