Key Terms for Chronicle of a Death Foretold

What is honor culture?

A social system where personal reputation and honor are highly valued and defended.

What is machismo?

Positive connotation: masculinity, virility, and courage. Negative connotation: a sense of entitlement to dominate and denigrate women.

What is marianismo?

Positive connotation: Emulation of Mary in selfless service to family. Negative connotation: Enabling powerful, badly behaved men while claiming to be virtuous and self-sacrificing.

What does matriarchy refer to?

A social system in which women hold primary power.

What is patriarchy?

A social system in which men hold primary power.

Explain social hierarchy.

The social "pecking order." The ranking of individuals in a community according to status or authority.

What is a taboo?

A social or cultural prohibition against certain actions or discussions.

Define magical realism.

A literary genre in which magical elements are a natural part of an otherwise mundane, realistic environment.

What characterizes journalistic style?

A writing style that emphasizes factual reporting and detail.

What is postmodernism?

Literary movement characterized by a skeptical, self-aware approach to narrative and meaning.

What is an unreliable narrator?

A narrator whose credibility is compromised, leading to a distorted or misleading account of events.

What is a non-linear narrative?

A storytelling technique that does not follow a chronological order.

Define narrative prolepsis.

A narrative technique that involves a flash-forward to future events.

What is cyclical structure in literature?

A narrative structure that ends the story where it began, creating a sense of closure.

What is the panopticon?

A theoretical design for a prison where inmates are always visible to a central observer, symbolizing surveillance.

Define empiricism.

The theory that knowledge is primarily derived from sensory experience and scientific experimentation.

What is epistemology?

The study of knowledge, its nature, sources, and limits. Answers the question: How do we know what we "know"?

Explain determinism.

The philosophical belief that all events, including moral choices, are determined completely by previously existing causes.

What is fatalism?

The belief that all events are predetermined and inevitable.

Define fate.

The development of events beyond a person's control, often regarded as predetermined.

What is free will?

The ability to make choices uncoerced by circumstances. The power of contrary choice.

What does existentialism focus on?

The exploration of individual existence, freedom, and choice as central to life's meaning and purpose.

What is the bystander effect?

A social psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.

Define cognitive dissonance.

The mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas.

What is the collective unconscious?

A concept in Jungian psychology that refers to the part of the unconscious mind shared by all human beings, containing universal experiences and archetypes.

Explain diffusion of responsibility.

Individuals feel less compelled to take action because they assume someone else will act or is in a better position to act.

What is groupthink?

Prioritizing conformity over critical thinking

Define trauma.

A deeply distressing or disturbing experience that can have lasting psychological effects.

What is unreliable memory?

The phenomenon where a person's recollection of events is not accurate or is distorted.

What is eyewitness testimony?

A legal term referring to an account given by people of an event they have witnessed.

What does hermeneutic refer to?

The theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of texts.

Define ambiguity in literature.

The presence of two or more possible meanings within a single text or expression.

What is complicity?

Shared blame or responsibility due to action or inaction

What is a paradox?

A statement that seems to contradict itself but may nonetheless convey a truth