Mercedes+Barcha


 * Character's name || Mercedes Barcha ||
 * Role in plot || Mercedes Barcha was the fiance and eventual wife of the narrator. He proposed to her at Angela Vicario and Bayardo San Roman's wedding party. The narrator says that he first proposes to her as soon as she finised primary school. ||
 * Significance of name in work || Mercedes Barcha was the name of Gabriel Marquez's wife in real life. They were married in 1958. She supported him and their two children as he wrote. Marquez first met his future wife when he was an undergraduate student visiting his parents. He was introduced to a 13-year-old girl named Mercedes Barcha Pardo, who was of Egyptian descent. He described her as 'the most interesting person' he had ever met. After he graduated fron university, he proposed to her on a family vacation. Mercedes Barcha agreed, but said she wanted to finish school first. Their engagement lasted 14 years, during which Mercedes promised to stay true to him.  Marquez frequently incorporates elements of his own life into his novels such as __Chronicle of a Death Foretold__ and __One Hundred Years of Solitude__. The distinction between reality and fantasy is blurred, a common theme in __Chronicle of a Death Foretold__ relating to the unreliability of memory. He will often incorporate real names into a mix of fictional names. This way, real events are tied more strongly to a fixed reality. Mercedes is Spanish for 'merciful'. ||
 * Student's name || Madeline Yin ||