Chronicles of a Death Foretold - Best Synopsis Ever - Part I (Background)

Bad judgement. That's what made me think, "Wouldn't it be a brilliant idea to go through Chronicles of a Death Foretold, figure out the timeline and the exact order of events, and then tell it in that order with lots of illustrations? It most certainly would!"
It most certainly was NOT, but since I planned it and spent some time putting events on the timeline, I figured I might as well see this through. I've split it into three parts to make it easier (for me).

I declare it's the best synopsis you'll ever find because it has relevant information sifted out and also provides some entertainment. You may argue about the entertainment value, but I bet it's more entertaining than the actual novella. Why didn't I do this before my exam? Would've made going through this befuddling book much easier.

To start at the beginning - Bayardo San Roman marries Angela Vicario and sends her back home a few hours later - some time after midnight - because he discovers she's not a virgin.

I've tried to stay true to the description - San Roman's unbuttoned shirt and pants held up by suspenders, and Angela with the dress in shreds, wrapped in a towel up to her waist.

What a douche, right? Anyway, apparently Angela's been raped, and here's what her mom does: whips her for two hours straight. You'd think a girl would protest, but Angela's too good for that.

All right, maybe she didn't use a whip like that, but that's hardly the point!

After she's whipped for a couple of hours, her twin brothers Pablo and Pedro come back home after a night of revelry and demand to know what happened. It's now a little before 03:00

She's supposed to be sitting on the dining table while the other two are standing. Thus the weird heights. 

Well, the twins decide that they ought to kill Nasar to preserve their family's honour and go off to the butcher's to sharpen their knives, at 03:20. Faustino Santos (the butcher) asks them what they're doing and they tell him their plan.

Santos doesn't quite believe them but thinks he'll let a Leandro Pornoy (a policeman) know, just in case.

Pornoy (*snigger*) tells Colonel Aponte, who takes his own sweet time to get ready with the perfect bow tie for the Bishop, eat his breakfast of fried liver and onion rings, and basically enjoy his lazy morning.

Meanwhile, about five minutes before 04:00, Santiago Nasar, his friend Cristo Bedoya, the unnamed narrator, and the narrator's brother Luis Enrique think it a swell idea to go sing for the newlyweds outside their house. They set off fireworks and rockets from their lawn, singing loudly outside the windows with Enrique on the guitar, oblivious to the fact that Angela has been sent back to her house.

By 04:10, the twins have their knives sharpened and are waiting outside Clotilde Armenta's shop. It's the only shop open at this time, and it's right opposite Nasar's house, so they'll see him when he gets home and finish off the job quickly, or so they hope.

Yeah, Achmed style!

A little later, the merry party of four mentioned above breaks up. Enrique stops by Armenta's shop to buy something and the twins ask him where Nasar is. Looking back, Enrique can't remember what he said because, you know, he's drunk out of his mind, but the twins claim this is what happened:

 Please note that drunk Enrique has a mole on his face ;)

A few minutes after this, at 04:20, Nasar himself is back home and asleep in bed, but the twins don't know that because he takes the back door, and doesn't turn on any lights.

Nasar's dreams = omens of impending doom

Colonel Aponte, while eating breakfast, hears the gossip about Angela from his wife and puts the pieces of the puzzle together.

He then goes to Armenta's store at around 05:00, and after talking to the twins, he takes away their knives.

Armenta tells Aponte to arrest the twins, but he says no one gets arrested on plain suspicion of murder, and Armenta explains:

Important theme - victimization by society and its expectations

But of course, he has to show he's boss and will do whatever he likes, and won't take orders from a mere woman. Little does he know that the twins are debating over getting new knives. Although the murder was originally his idea, Pedro is scared as shit now, so he can't even pee against a tamarind tree in peace (It says so in the book, I kid you not). While he attempts to do his business, his brother Pablo goes to the pig pen and brings out two knives and talks his brother into not giving up.

 Some foreshadowing there. Nasar's fate is sealed.

They stop by Prudencia Cotes' for coffee, and on their way to Armenta's shop again, some woman named Hortensia Baute sees their swords dripping blood and thinks they've already killed Nasar.

Supernatural element, and more foreshadowing. Couldn't decide if she saw the blood through the newspaper the swords were wrapped in, or if she saw no newspaper at all. Thus I leave room for options.

The twins get to Armenta's shop again. The good lady gives them a bottle of rotgut rum, hoping to get them so drunk they won't remember about Nasar. Pedro puts on a random show of machismo by shaving with his butcher's knife (which probably isn't integral to the story in any way, but it's funny)

Really, what is up with these guys?

So now the twins are waiting, and Nasar is up and ready for the bishop. He goes to the kitchen for breakfast and is horrified at the way in which rabbit guts are being pulled out, which is a little strange coming from him because he goes hunting every once in a while.

MORE foreshadowing. It's like Nasar has a strong feeling he'll be in the rabbit's position soon. (Oh, you'll have to imagine the rabbit guts being pulled out, because I didn't have the heart to draw that.)

This is about it until Nasar steps out of his house at 06:05 to greet the Bishop. That happens in the next part.