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English 241
Mr. Doherty
Summer Reading, 2012
Study Guide: Collected Novellas by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
We will begin our tour of world literature this year with the Collected Novellas of Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, a Nobel Prize winning author from Columbia. He is famous for his tightly
constructed prose, his fanciful and painfully real characters and his portrait of small towns and
villages in South America. This study guide should be completed before you return to school. It
is not intended as a burden but as help in navigating the somewhat unfamiliar waters of
Marquez’s style and story construction. Please be ready to submit your responses, typed, MLA
format when you return.
No One Writes the Colonel
Published in 1961, this extended short story, or novella, is considered to be one of the
finest examples of Marquez’s tightly wound prose and subtly crafted characters. This is not a
story of young love, emotional extremes or pounding, fast paced action. It is a story of patience
and suffering in a small village in Columbia in the fall and winter of 1956.It’s protagonist are
old, poor and victims rather than conquerors. In short, No One Writes the Colonel is an
understated study in futility, repression, crushing poverty and, finally and most powerfully, hope.
I hope that answering the following questions will help you to appreciate this work.
1. What is the setting of the story? Does the setting affect your understanding of the story?
How?
2. What is the function or symbolism of the rooster? He is certainly at the center of this
tale. What contribution does the rooster make to the construction of the plot?
3. Marquez is clearly making a statement about politics in general and politics in South
America specifically. What does he say and imply about the Columbian government of
his time?
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4. The colonel is the central character of this story. In any good work of fiction, the
protagonist should be changed by his struggles. Is the Colonel changed? How? Why?
5. What were the circumstances of the Colonel’s son’s death?
Vocabulary: Please have written definitions for each of the following words as part of your
completed study guide:

pendulum

expansive

dejected

asthma

privy

colonel

Pianola
Leaf Storm
Published in 1955 and translated into English in 1972, Leaf Storm met with indifferent
critical response when first published…it took seven years to find a publisher. It has come to be
recognized as one of Marquez’s signature works.
1. How did the Doctor die? Was he mourned greatly?
2. The story has several narrators. Name three and write a short explanation of the
difference (s) between them.
3. Marquez uses a dramatic scene to introduce his story and then traces backwards. List
three incidents from the plot that lead up to the introductory scene.
4. The story has three basic subject matters…death, solitude and war. Briefly state themes
for the story, each based on each of these elements. This would be a total of three.
Remember, a theme is an author’s comment on a given subject matter. For example, the
theme of Romeo and Juliet is not love. That is the subject matter. The theme is what the
author says about love, “star crossed” or otherwise.
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Vocabulary:

implacable

impetuous

dregs

decomposition

decipher

cowardice

organic

labyrinth
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listlessly
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compassion
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Chronicle of a Death Foretold is the story of the murder of a young man, Santiago Nasar,
and the events leading to his death. It is a tale of arranged marriages, betrayal and honor killings.
In short, it has all of the elements of a great detective tale, but it isn’t. The author is not
concerned with the “what” as much as he is concerned with the “why”. Keep that in mind as you
read.
1. This novella is rich in characters. Give a brief description of the following characters.
This exercise should help you to keep them straight in your mind.

Santiago Nasar

Angela Vicario

Pedro Vicario
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Pablo Vicario

Bayardo San Ramos

Purissima del Carmen
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Poncio Vicario

Placido Lenaro
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2. Women play key roles in this tale. Women in power are especially influential. Who are
the most powerful women in the story? What is the source of their power? How do they
exercise this power?
3. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is famous for his use of “magical realism”. Like many Latin
American writers, he has been inextricably linked to this style of literature known as "magical
realism." Literature of this type is usually characterized by elements of the fantastic woven into
the story with a diminished sense of presentation or surprise. In short, people who would not
question a dog flying if God wills it, will constantly doubt telephones, airplanes, etc. How does
this technique or motif appear in this story? How does it affect your reading of the tale? Can you
“suspend your disbelief” long enough to accept this device in this story?