How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
There he obtained the bunch of figures that he needed to calculate what the party had cost. He recounted that they had sacrificed forty turkeys and eleven hogs for the guests, and four calves which the bridegroom had set up to be roasted for the people on the public square. He recounted that 205 cases of contraband alcohol had been consumed and almost two thousand bottles of cane liquor, which had been distributed among the crowd. There wasn't a single person, rich or poor, who hadn't participated in some way in the wildest party the town had ever seen. (1.28)
The wedding must have been the party to end all parties. But even so, the simple fact that everyone in town managed to live it up at this wedding is enough to tell you that this is a pretty small and close-knit community. The events in this novel probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for its small size.
Quote #2
No one even wondered whether Santiago Nasar had been warned, because it seemed impossible to all that he hadn't. (1.36)
Yeah, there are a lot of moments like this in the book where you kind of want to strangle someone. How can the entire town know about this, yet no one thought to warn Santiago?
Quote #3
There weren't very many customers that early, but twenty-two people declared they had heard everything said, and they all coincided in the impression that the only reason the brothers had said it was so that someone would come over to hear them. (3.7)
Pablo and Pedro probably knew that many people in their town were nosey, and assumed that someone would try to stop them. They were right about the first part, at least.
Quote #4
When the bishop's boat bellowed, almost everybody was up to receive him and there were very few of us who didn't know that the Vicario twins were waiting for Santiago Nasar to kill him, and, in addition, the reasons were understood down to the smallest detail. (3.35)
What sort of conversation do you think is happening surrounding this event? Keep in mind that almost everyone is drunk because they had been partying the whole weekend. Are they thinking rationally? Are they just gossiping?
Quote #5
Finally, they drank the bottle in silence, very slowly, gazing with the boobish look of early risers at the dark window in the house across the way, while fake customers buying milk they didn't need and asking for food items that didn't exist went in and out with the purpose of seeing whether it was true that they were waiting for Santiago Nasar to kill him. (3.46)
Now this is just ridiculous. People have not only overheard the Vicario brothers, they're also going out of their way just to see if the rumors are true. How much of their behavior do you think is attributable to mob mentality?
Quote #6
For years we couldn't talk about anything else. Our daily conduct, dominated then by so many linear habits, had suddenly begun to spin around a single common anxiety. (5.1)
The narrator doesn't talk very much about life in the town before the event, but this quote gives us a little insight. He says that their lives are "dominated then by so many linear habits." So it's a town where people do the same thing day in and day out. But then suddenly this event happens, and everything is different. Do you think that people were reluctant to approach the twins because of habit?
Quote #7
Twelve days after the crime, the investigating magistrate came upon a town that was an open wound. (5.3)
Besides being gross, the imagery of an open wound is actually pretty descriptive. Think about it. An open wound is not healing. It has no Band-Aid, it's probably still festering or bleeding, and nothing has been done to fix it. So this town suddenly had a strange event damage their community, and now they have no way to heal the injury that has been inflicted. They'll need a bit more than Neosporin for this.
Quote #8
In the squalid wooden office in the town hall, drinking pot coffee laced with cane liquor against the mirages of the heat, he had to ask for troop reinforcements to control the crowd that was pouring in to testify without having been summoned, everyone eager to show off his own important role in the drama. (5.3)
Before, everyone acted like Santiago's impending doom was none of their business. Now everyone wants to tell the officials their part in the murder. Why do you think the town's attitude suddenly changes so dramatically?
Quote #9
The people had stationed themselves on the square the way they did on parade days. They all saw him come out, and they all understood that now he knew they were going to kill him, and that he was so confused he couldn't find his way home. They say that someone shouted from a balcony: "Not that way, Turk; by the old dock." [...] They began to shout at him from every side, and Santiago Nasar went backward and forward several times, baffled by hearing so many voices at the same time. (5.63)
We want you to visualize this scene, because it just illustrates how ridiculous the situation is. So there's a square in the middle of the town, and everyone is there as if they're going to watch a parade. But instead of the parade, Santiago wanders into the square. A normal person's reaction to this might be to hide him in your house, or something like that. But instead, the crowd of people just yells at him. They yell at him so much that he doesn't even understand what's going on. And no one makes a move to help him get to his own home safely. It almost seems like these are Romans watching gladiators get killed for sport, doesn't it?