Values ​​are a vital part of every community. They shape the identity of a culture and help shape the identity of every individual in that society. Sometimes these ingrained values ​​have more power over a person than anyone would like to admit. Gabriel García Márquez shows the strength of the value of honor in his book Chronicle of a Death Foretold. In García Márquez's writing, the theme of honor proves to have control over most of the characters. Through the many characters in García Márquez's book, we can see that the heavy burden of one's honor is portrayed as the reason for the unfortunate murder of Santiago Nasar. Pedro and Pablo Vicario, being the ones holding the knives that killed him, are the direct cause of Santiago Nasar's death, even if their motive was not an act of jealousy or anger. The underlying reason for their crime was to defend their family's honor after finding out that Santiago Nasar ruined their sister, Angela Vicario, and their family name by taking away her virginity. Many times throughout the novel, it is evident that the twins don't really want to kill Santiago, but feel they have to. Their hesitation can be observed many times in the book by the fact that they wait so long to kill Santiago, and in the meantime they tell everyone they come into contact with about their plan. They repeatedly tell people, “we will kill Santiago Nasar” (59), expressing their plans to “more than a dozen people who had gone to buy milk” (66). Publicizing their intentions leads one to believe that they wanted to be stopped. This feeling is strengthened after Colonel Aponte takes away the boys' knives. Pedro “considered his duty fulfilled when the mayor disarmed them” (69), showing his… middle of paper… fight, girl,” he told her, trembling with anger, “tell us who it was” (53) . García Márquez never lets the reader know for sure that it was Santiago Nasar who took Angela Vicario's virginity, but this never matters much because when Angela "looked for him, [a name], in the shadows" (53 ), and said: “Santiago Nasar” (53), was already dead. Angela Vicario's actions test everyone's honor in Gabriel García Márquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Once shame had been brought upon the Vicario family, it was Pedro and Pablo's obligation to restore their good name. Honor proves to be a strong value in this community, evidenced by the death of Santiago Nasar. Because of the power given to honor, Santiago's death was inevitable. Works Cited García Márquez, Gabriel. Chronicle of a death foretold. Trans. Gregorio Rabassa. New York: Ballantine Books, 1984. Print.