Chronicle+Character+Clothilde+Armenta

=__Chronicle of a Death Foretole__ //Gabriel Garcia Marquez//=

Role in Plot:
Clotilde Armenta runs the local milk shop, which was to one side of the church and the only place that was open on the town square during the time of Santiago Nasar's murder. Clotilde Armenta "was the first to see [Santiago] in the glow of dawn" (13), and she had already known that Pedro and Pablo Vicario were going to kill him. In fact, the Vicario brothers had waited for almost three hours in Clotilde Armenta's store. "The Vicario brothers had told their plans to more than a dozen people who had gone to buy milk, and these had spread them all over before six o'clock" (58). When Santiago passed by the milk shop in the morning, it was Clotilde Armenta's plea to "leave him for later, if only out of respect for his grace the bishop" that keeps the twins from killing him immediately.

Clotilde Armenta made several attempts to thwart the Vicario brothers' plan by giving them rotgut rum, hoping to get them drunk, and warning Santiago through another person. She sent Father Amador a message, and shouted to Cristo Bedoya at the last moment to prevent the tragedy. Right before the brothers were leaving the shop, Clotilde Armenta had grabbed Pedro Vicario by the shirt and shouted to Santiago Nasar, prompting him to run home.

Significance of Name in Work:
The name "Clotilde" derives from the French name "Clothilde", French form of a Germanic name which was composed of the elements //hlud// "famous" and //hild// "battle". There may be a relation between the 'famous battle' or rather 'famous murder' of Santiago and Clotilde Armenta because the Armenta's milk shop was the place where everyone found out about the Vicario brothers' scheme. Armenta is a common Spanish last name which comes from Latin //armenta// ‘herd(s)’, applied to cattle and horses and, by extension, to places and persons involved with them, hence either an occupational name for a herdsman or a topographic name for someone who lived at a place where cattle or horses were raised. It is interesting to note that Clotilde Armenta runs a milk shop, which is associated with cattle.

Student's Name:
Montanna Cheng